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I'm having a hard time finding a mate for my loiselli thats the right size. It seems the specimens I'm finding are too small. My female is around 4 inches. All the loiselli I'm finding at the local fish stores are about 2 inches. I would consider trading her in and starting new with 4 to 5 specimens, but I've already grown attached to her. Would a smaller male get killed by a larger female?

During my search, I've come across Jags (Managuense) that are about the right size, 4-5 inches. Would a Male Jag be alright with my female loiselli?

I'd try the smaller loisellei myself. I'd get around 4 juveniles and divide the tank in half. I'd power feed the side with the juvies while lightly feeding the larger female. Also I would do water changes of at least 50-60% and if you get a male he should catch up fairly quickly. When the male is large enough to introduce to the female I would take them both out and completely rearrange the tank then re-introduce them at the same time.

A male jag will grow far too large for your 60 gallon tank. Males can easily hit 16" and I've heard of them growing up to 18-20". Some reports claim males can reach 24" but I've never seen a picture as proof.

Jason

Thanks Jason!

So a jag definitely wouldnt work.

When you say 50-60% water change...aprox how often would that be? Once, twice, a week??? Right now my maintenance schedule is gravel vacs every 4-5 days which includes my water change, roughly 20-30%.

So its time to head to the local Home Depot for supplies on making a divider.

jag definitely would get too big.

as for the water changes, 30% every 4 days would be good. this will make sure the water is always fresh and a male loisellei should grow fairly quickly if they're anything like their other guapote cousins.

as for the divider, some egg crate, 2 pvc pipes of decent size and some aquarium sealant makes a great divider. This is assuming the holes in the eggcrate are small enough for juvenile loisellei not to get through.

Jason

Cool!

Update: Newbie trouble.
Disaster strikes!

The construction of the divider went smoothly.
$10 for a sheet of egg-crate.
$3 for 6-pieces of suction cups.
I already some pvc pipe.
an hour of dremeling....
six pack of beer.

The divider went up, a week or so went by, then I bought two 2" Loisellei.
Last two in the store...so I was hoping at least one was male. Not a day after their arrival, the two began to fight relentlessly, lip-locking. It really seemed as if they were trying to kill each other. Meanwhile, the female Lois--on the other side of the divider, would try to attack anything that came close to it. Aggression at its finest!

Another day went by, the weaker of the two new inhabitants was pretty much de-scaled with torn up fins. And both had cottony growth on their wounds. I had no meds on hand, 'cept aquarium salt, so in it went. Next day, I dosed with Jungle Labs Fungus clear. I didnt act in time. They were both dead soon after.

So the divider came down. The female had the whole tank to herself again. She didnt have any fungus on her, but is now experiencing lack of hunger, and shakes and scratches every-now-and-then.



[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-09-09 23:22][/span]