The 183 is a blackwater species. Because few people actually keep them in this sort of water, many do not do well in captivity.
L-183 starlight bristlenose pleco care?
- Thread starter homedog98
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+1 to the blackwater thing...i don't keep my tank full full full blackwater but i do keep a very tannin rich environment, if you look through the tank lengthwise the water is a deep burgundy, orange, tea color. pH is low, and the water is abnormally soft coming out of the tap. GH is 1 or less (hardness tests have a hard time on my water).
I keep mine with angels, pricilla tetras, paleatus corys, habrosus corys, various snails and shrimp and a L204 panaque male. The Panaque is very very mature and dominant so i may need to move snowflake (my L183) to another tank and get another L204 lady...but at this point since snowflake is still juvie (about 3 inches) they share caves without even blinking at eachother.
EDIT: just reading over this again...i forgot to mention...there is an element to the caving behavior (with my panaque, not my L183, I will have to see if the L183 acquires the behavior in adulthood) where he simply doesn't want to be seen by me, there is a nook in the cave that will completely hide him and although he normally doesn't go into it, when he's nervous or i'm doing maintenance i won't see him for 12-24 hours. It sucks for me when i'm trying to show off my centerpiece fish but i think it helps him not feel stressed continuously which increases life expectancy.
All of that is to say; make some tight cozy caves for him to hide from everybody (including you) and feel totally alone and secluded, i think it helps them.
I keep mine with angels, pricilla tetras, paleatus corys, habrosus corys, various snails and shrimp and a L204 panaque male. The Panaque is very very mature and dominant so i may need to move snowflake (my L183) to another tank and get another L204 lady...but at this point since snowflake is still juvie (about 3 inches) they share caves without even blinking at eachother.
EDIT: just reading over this again...i forgot to mention...there is an element to the caving behavior (with my panaque, not my L183, I will have to see if the L183 acquires the behavior in adulthood) where he simply doesn't want to be seen by me, there is a nook in the cave that will completely hide him and although he normally doesn't go into it, when he's nervous or i'm doing maintenance i won't see him for 12-24 hours. It sucks for me when i'm trying to show off my centerpiece fish but i think it helps him not feel stressed continuously which increases life expectancy.
All of that is to say; make some tight cozy caves for him to hide from everybody (including you) and feel totally alone and secluded, i think it helps them.
Not likely the 204 will be bothered by the 183, they don't compete for food. One thing though, unlike most SA plecos the 204 actually comes from hard, alkaline water. Keeping it in soft/acidic may shorten its life span, I'm not sure how wide their adaptability range is.
Yeah I've come across that with these guys before. The particular line i'm working with was tank bred and him and his parents were both kept in water conditions very similar to mine. (part of the reason i'm not TRUE blackwater.) I've tried to find a happy medium between both their water conditions and they both seem to have adapted fairly well to it, in fact the L204 (from what i can understand) solicits for a female almost continuously (fastidiously cleans the cave, slowly swings his tail back and forth in the mouth of the cave displaying it, and displaying himself in and around the mouth of the cave during day time, as well as choosing a specific territory to care for and defend.) So, its certainly a learning experience for me and one that i'm prepared to adjust to as time passes.
My Ph is 6.8 out of the tap, but it gasses off to 6.0. Are the tannins required for backwater or will the low Ph and hiding spots be enough?
tannins are leached into the water by wood and taken out by activated carbon...just don't run carbon in your filter and add wood or if you want to make it a real blackwater you can get some of the Indian tea leaves from msjinkzd.
My wood doesn't have tannins lol. I might could find a leaching piece of mopani at petsmart though. does it matter how dark the tannins make the water, or does it just have to leach? But I'm still curious as to exactly what benefit the tannins have... Other then lowering the Ph...
they lower the pH and soften the water. It simulates the fish's natural habitat where instead of having a bunch of rocks that buffer the water the substrate and banks are mostly made of peat which is basically decaying plant matter, which leaches tannins which soften the water, tint it orange, and lower the pH. Hence the water parameters that the L183 is used to...easiest way to replicate those water parameters is with tannins, making it a blackwater. I'd think that if you just had crystal clear, mildly acidic, soft water they'd do well in it too...it simply be harder to maintain the parameters stably without simply going blackwater with the tank.
This just my understanding of the process, if i'm wrong feel free to jump on me folks
EDIT: if you don't want to get more wood get the tea leaves, they're very affordable, and from my research seem to be the most effective way of making a tank blackwater.
This just my understanding of the process, if i'm wrong feel free to jump on me folks
EDIT: if you don't want to get more wood get the tea leaves, they're very affordable, and from my research seem to be the most effective way of making a tank blackwater.
Cool. 
i'll think about it. could I put the leaves in the filter so I wouldn't be looking at them all the time?
i'll think about it. could I put the leaves in the filter so I wouldn't be looking at them all the time?
Ok... Another question. What do you guys feed yours? I was thinking zucchini definitely, maybe try mango, brussel sprouts, carrots, and spinach... and occasionally stuffed zucchini with shrimp pellets/bloodworms/spurina (sp?) sticks for protein, but I don't know for sure... Any suggestions?
