Breeding L002 Pleco Catfish

The L002 pleco is a freshwater suckermouth catfish from South America which feeds predominantly on wood in the wild.

There must be driftwood in the aquarium to eat as part of the L002s diet.

Panaqolus (meaning small Panaque) are smaller than normal Panaques reaching only 10 to 15cm.

I have a colony of 6 L002 plecos (4 females and 2 males) which I keep in a 120cm long aquarium of around 160 litres volume.

The L002s share the aquarium with some other L number plecos but I provide plenty of caves and driftwood for hiding places to avoid any aggression between males.

The L002 are now around 18 months old and have spawned for me twice since Christmas 2022.

L002 plecos are cave spawners and the spawning ritual is the same as most cave spawning plecos.

The male entices the female into the cave and traps her inside until she has laid her eggs then he fertilises them and lets the female out.

The cave must have an end so that the female cannot escape until the eggs are laid. Once finished the male remains in the cave fanning the eggs until the fry hatch and are ready to leave the cave and fend for themselves.

Sexing male and female L002s is easy with the male having odontode hair like growths on the pectoral fins and tail making it look “furry” whilst the females do not have any odontode growths at all.

Despite the L002 being readily available in aquarium shops in Australia I have found their spawning requirements to be quite specific.

Obviously the male and female L002 need to be sexually mature which is usually from 12 months of age onward.

I conditioned my L002s with par boiled zucchini and shrimp wafers whilst having a mix of driftwood for them to graze on.

I kept them at 28 degrees Celsius and gave them a variety of caves to spawn in.

My water parameters must not have been quite right because there was no spawning activity from my L002s and after some research I found that they require soft acidic water for best results.

I was using a neutral regulator to keep the Ph at 7 but found that the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) were getting too high and were upward of 300.

Neutral regulator contains Phosphate and although stating that it softens water I found that mixed in ordinary tap water it raised the TDS significantly.

I stopped using the neutral regulator and started using rain water every water change. Not long after this new regime of water changes the TDS fell below 200 and the Ph went to around 6.5.

On the 30th Of December 2022 I checked on one of the male L002s with a torch. It was in a bamboo cave and was fanning a clutch of eggs.

I measured the TDS at 135 and the Ph at 6.

The water parameters must have entered into the right range for the L002s to spawn. I believe now that previously the TDS and Ph were both too high for a spawning event.

The L002 eggs hatched in about 7 days and when the fry were ready to move which was on the 10th of January 2023 I stripped them out of the cave. There were 6 fry which was a small batch but it was only their first spawn.

I placed the 6 fry into a fry saver in the parent aquarium and gave them raw spinach leaves and algae discs. They were still absorbing part of their egg sacks but were appearing to eat the spinach.

I continued with rain water for each water change and this kept the TDS nice and low but also reduced the Ph way below 6.

I found that all the plecos in the aquarium stopped eating and the fry started to die off.

I realised that the Ph had dropped too low because of the rain water and having no buffer added.

Unfortunately all the fry died.

I did a large water change of about 40% using tap water instead of rain water and added some neutral regulator. This must have brought the water parameters back into the desirable range for the L002s to spawn.

When I checked on the male L002 that had previously spawned I saw that he had a female trapped in the bamboo cave.

I checked the male again the next day which was on the 2nd of February 2023 and he was fanning a clutch of eggs.

With the water change and lift in Ph the plecos also began eating again which I was very happy about.

I did more research into Ph buffers and found that KH buffer was a better product to stabilise Ph and it did not contain Phosphate.

I found that the KH buffer still raised TDS like the neutral regulator did but it keeps the Ph stable for longer so it doesn’t have to be used as regularly as the neutral regulator and the TDS does not get as high as previously recorded.

I used KH buffer on the next water change but must have used too much as the Ph went over 7 and the L002 eggs were gone the next day. I presume that the male ate the eggs because of the change in water parameters.

KH buffer is difficult to dose because it gives the Ph stability but using too much increases Ph to alkaline levels.

I have since gone back to rain water for water changes and the TDS is back under 200 while the Ph is now around 6.8. This has taken me about a week of small daily rain water changes and I am hoping that I can get another spawn from the L002s soon.

If they spawn again this will prove to me that I am on the right path with checking the water parameters and trying to keep them in a range.

At this stage I believe that for spawning the L002s a TDS of 150 and a Ph of 6 to 6.5 is required.

I am currently checking the TDS and Ph daily and will experiment more with the KH buffer dose to stabilise the Ph.

Since writing this article in early 2023 I have raised many spawns of L002 catfish using the rainwater and KH buffer.

I try to keep the pH at 6.5 and TDS around 100 but a TDS of up to 150 seems okay for the L002s to spawn.

I now remove the fry and raise them in a separate fry aquarium with a neutral pH which has worked well for me.