Breeding question

Jake g · Jul 12, 2024

Don’t know if this is the correct place to ask. So sorry in advance.
I have 1 L46. From a store
3 L46 from private breeders
Then another 3 from a different breeder.
all from different states. All about 1.5inch so still have some time .
my question is is it ok to put them all in the same tank so they can start to pair off? Or would some in breeding happen?
I also have some 8 dwarf snowballs 4 from one state and 4 from a different. All these were bought at different times and either tank raised or wild caught to get as faraway from any inbreeding mishaps as possible. Each group of fish has its own tank but I’m wanting to down size to species only so I can have room for my GBRs fry.

Jake g · Jul 12, 2024

I also have a chance to buy some adult male L46 aroun 85ea would this be beneficial at all decently priced. I can also get a breeding pair of Super whites for about 600.

phreeflow · Jul 12, 2024

You can put them all together. It takes longer than 1 or 2 generations for issues and the fact that you already have some from different breeders already lessens that risk further.

At only 1.5 inches, they will not be pairing anytime soon so if it were me, I’d personally separate them into 2 different groups as a backup. Never keep expensive fish like that all in one tank if you are looking to breed. You wanna have a backup colony just in case something happens.

I have colony bred L46 but the problem is, it’s usually just the alpha male and female that breed. On occasion, I’ve had more than one male breed at the same time but typically, the main male and female do most of the breeding. For production, separate tanks of pairs or trios works better.

Jake g · Jul 12, 2024

Amazing thank you! Last question. Can I keep the zebras and snowballs together. Have multiple tanks but split them up.

phreeflow · Jul 13, 2024

Jake g said:
Amazing thank you! Last question. Can I keep the zebras and snowballs together. Have multiple tanks but split them up.

You can keep them together but if you’re serious about breeding, I’d separate them and tightly control the environment for each.

Also, it depends on which species of “snowball” you have. L471 and L201 stay smaller but the L102 get quite large. Not sure which you have.

Even then, they’ll likely be fine together unless they are competing for caves. Sometimes, they can get stubborn and trap each other in caves or jab each other with their pectorals.

I never kept my L46 breeding colony with any other plecos as it just wasn’t worth the worry. I only kept spare backup males or females in community tanks with other plecos