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Yeah, he's staying in there almost exclusively during the lights on time. Most of the time he stays where he is in the pic, on the edge of opening kinda half in/half out. If I open the lid to feed or water test or something he goes more inside the shipwreck onto the gravel. I can still see him though heh heh heh.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Yes, he looks exactly like that. I noticed when he was out the other day that his black seem to be 'faded' a little like it was more a purplish/grey....so this is a rarer fishy and totally normal? Am I still taking care of him right by feeding him bloodworms and brine shrimp? I also bought Hikari carnivore pellets for him.

Edit: I'll try my best to get a really good non-blurry pic of him. He's still hides in the day, but I think I can get him at night

Last edited by crazyred at 19-Dec-2005 16:00

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

The more I look at it, the less it looks like a L-129. The color appears far more purplish (as opposed to greenish yellow-or is that just the camera?)and he seems slightly more elongated. Tell me, does your fish look like this:

http://www.transfish.de/LCode/L318.jpg ?

If so, I think you've got an L-318, which is a noticeably rarer fish .

Rio Jari has recently seen quite a bit of action in the exporting department. That probably explains the influx of rare species such as 316 and 318. But indeed, they are quite a ways rare than L129, and have, until now, only been sporadically available. The faded blotches coloration usually occurs at night or when suddenly startled. This is their "stress" coloration. However, if the entire coloration of the fish is lightly faded, that's probably just the color of the animal. Your feeding regime is fine. I don't usually feed my hypancistrus anything but sinking carnivore pellets and homemade gelatin mix.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 19-Dec-2005 16:26

Wow, cool recipe. I'd like to have the proportions. Do you skin the peas? Is this regular shrimp chopped up or brine shrimp? I think I could make that. I snapped this pic last night. It's still blurry, but you can see him a little better. I hate this digi camera. It's kind of a cheapy. I'm going to try to get a good one of him with my hubby's camera.....it's a nice one. I know, I gave it to him for Christmas 2 years ago.

Maybe you can tell more about Scribble Lips by this pic.

crazyred attached this image:

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

My verdict still stands on the ID .

Here's the recipe:
whole green peas (frozen), deshelled shrimp (you can use whole shrimp, heads on and everything, but my food processor is ancient, so I stick with the deshelled stuff), and bay scallops (generally cheaper) in equal parts.

Toss in a clove of garlic.

Mince.

Add half a handful of good flake

add a dash of spirulina powder

Mince again.

dissolve gelatin in another bowl and add until just sufficient to hold the stuff together (not too much)


EDIT: just a bit of help with the camera. Try to set the camera to macro (signified by a flower symbol on most cameras). Then turn the flash down a bit. Finally, set the camera to "fast moving" pictures, usually symbolized by a man running. It should aid the quality of your shots quite a bit.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 20-Dec-2005 11:20

That's a great recipe, and I just happen to have most of that stuff on hand. Except the gelatin. I suppose Knox brand will work? I appreciate you posting that. Do you just toss the cube in there frozen for your Hypancistrus or do you let it thaw. Maybe a dumb question.... the little guys might freeze their lips off if tossed in there frozen. I always thaw out my bloodworm or brine shrimp cubes with tank water and use a 5 mL medicine dropper to put the stuff in the tank.

I'm glad the ID still stands....that sure would explain the "faded" grey/purple look that I have been worried about. He just never seemed as dark as the other pics of the L-129 that I have seen.....especially if I happen to catch him out. He's "fuzzy" too. Is this normal? When light reflects off of him it looks like there are little hairs all over him. He needs a shave. Such a cute fishy. I couldn't sleep last night (hence the pics) apparantly he comes out in full at night....he was on the glass pretty high up last night.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

"Fuzzy" growth are actually tiny spines called odontodal growths. Males generally exhibit more of this stuff than females, and even then only after they are well conditioned .

Once the stuff comes together, you put it in the fridge to let it set. Once set, put it in the freezer and it'll store indefinitely. From there on out, you can just throw the stuff in the tank and the fish will eat it as it is. I mix up what goes into the recipe to ensure they get a variety of foods. If you can find them, too, freshwater vitamin drops could be added to ensure the fish get the nutrients that may be lost in the freezing process, though this is unnecessary if you alternate between dry foods and this stuff.

That is awesome....maybe he is a boy since he's so hairy...and in good condition too.

Thanks for all your help Cup!! You've been so great. My little pleco's gonna be so fat and healthy because of your help.

Everyone with a bottom feeder should pay attention when you speak.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Pea/shrimp/flake/spirulina mix with gelatin added, then frozen.

He came out of his cave and I got this very blurry pic of him......(dang I need to figure out this digital camera!! ) Here's my little "Scribble Lips"

crazyred attached this image:

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Looks like he's got himself a nice cave.

Okay, I managed to get a fairly good shot of him in the shipwreck. I turned off the tank lights and used the flash. You can see his black & white stripes. He's a hider, this may be as good as the pics can get unless I can catch him out at night!

crazyred attached this image:

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

He's doing great, thank you for asking!! He's come out from being wedged behind a piece of driftwood at the back of the tank and is staying 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the shipwreck now, but at least I can see him even if he thinks I can't. I've seen him out on the gravel and in all areas of the tank after lights out, so I know he's comfy. Feeding him is challenging, but not impossible.

I think I know how I can get a good pic of him, I'm going to try it today......I'm going to turn the tank lights out and use a flashlight to snap a pic of him. We'll see how well it works......stay tuned.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

So, how is Scribbly Lips? We haven't had an update recently. Is he coming out more? Also can we see some more pics?


Christina

Thank you so much Cup....it's folks like you that help a person out. I knew this fishy was more carnivorous than your typical pleco, but I really appreciate the feeding and behaviour tips.

It's interesting to note that how when most fish are hiding it indicates that something's wrong, but in this case if the fish is not hiding something might be wrong. I've been conditioned for the other way of thinking. I can usually see this little guy's tail if nothing else, so most of the time I know where he is, I'll let him hide to his little heart's content. Thanks again, Cup!

BTW: Our common pleco's name was "Lips" and my son wanted to name this one Lips in honor of him, but I wanted to call him "Scribble" because he's a scribble pleco......we settled on "Scribble Lips" because he has scribbly lips! It's silly, but I thought I would throw that in there.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

IMO, the less you see of him, the happier he is, as he's probably found a tight corner in the shipwreck where he feels safe and comfortable. Eventually, he may become accustomed to your hand being placed into the tank, equating the action with getting food. Thus, after putting the food in, if you stand back and stay very still, he may come 'a pokin around for food. Glad to hear he's eating well.

Thanks so much for your help with this Cup....I always try to make sure my fish are well fed.

I squirted some blood worms behind his driftwood last night and I noticed him moving around back and forth back there so, hopefully, he was eating them. I also dropped a couple of shrimp pellets close to the back for him. They were gone this morning, and my water prams were good (no elevated nitrites to indicate an overfeed). I can't say for sure if he ate them, or if it was the other fish (they're pigs--all of them), but at least it was available to him....I'm pretty sure he got his fair share.

He was out some this morning. He came out from behind the driftwood and was hanging around the shipwreck---half in, half out Do you think he'll eventually get to a point where he's not so spooky and comes out to see us more? It's kind of shame that one of the cutest fish in my tank hides so much.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

He won't necessarily touch the vegetables. With hypancistrus, it's a hit or miss; some take fondly to roughage, while other won't touch it at all. I'd suggest just feeding some bloodworm right after lights out, or at least in a dark room where he feels free to exit his cave to obtain food.

Awwww....babies are so cute.

My current tank inhabitants are: 1 opaline gourami, 6 platies, 6 cherry barbs, 10 harlequin rasboras, and 2 hillstream loaches (that never touch the gravel---too busy sucking on filters, glass, plants etc.) All very peaceful fish. The opaline gourami is a female that's as sweet as she can be--no aggression at all.

I do have blood worms that I feed the others. I rotate between, blood worms, brine shrimp, tropical flakes, spirulina flakes, and tropical crisps. I'll see if I can stick some worms down behind his driftwood....I haven't seen any of the other fish terrorizing him...in fact, I'm not sure if they've even noticed him.

What kind of fruits and veggies would be best to give him?

I'll see that he gets some worms and brine shrimp....I have no lack of that stuff in my freezer.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."