Breeding the Mega Clown Pleco L340

The Mega Clown Pleco L340 is a Hypancistrus species from the Orinoco River in South America.

It is typically a meat eater but listed as an insectivore in its natural habitat.

Keeping the L340 pleco is relatively easy. It requires warm oxygenated water 26 to 30 degrees Celsius and a pH of 6 to 7.5.

Despite being called the Mega Clown pleco it only grows to 8cm in length.

I bought 6 L340 in late 2022 that were 5cm long which were being sold as sub adults.

I kept them in a 120cm long 180 litre aquarium with some other pleco varieties.

I fed the L340 plecos on protein pellets, shrimp wafers and Fuzzy Fox insectivore mix.

Initially the L340s settled in well with the other plecos in the aquarium.

I didn't notice any spawning activity with the L340s though one regularly used a cave that I had in the aquarium.

I assumed that this fish was a male as they often use caves to hide whilst females hide elsewhere.

The other L340s tended to be dispersed around the aquarium and were usually hiding in the driftwood that I had placed in the aquarium.

One piece of driftwood had a hollow section inside it and I noticed that one of the L340s was holding in the end of the hollow section.

I assumed that this fish was a male as well.

In September 2023 I found one L340 fry unexpectedly when I was doing a water change on the pleco aquarium.

It had only just absorbed its egg sack and was ready to be moved.

I transferred it to a fry tank and looked around the pleco aquarium to see if there were any more but to no avail.

In late October 2023 I then noticed that the L340 in the hollow piece of driftwood was fanning with its anal fins and I could see some fry ahead of it.

I took the wood from the aquarium and stripped out the fry.

There were 7 L340 fry which I moved into a fry raising aquarium with the same water parameters as the parent aquarium.

The fry were fed zucchini and algae wafers and they grew well.

After I stripped the fry I placed the driftwood piece back into the aquarium and it wasn't long before I noticed a female L340 in the hollow with the breeding male L340.

The next spawn was 5 L340 fry which I strpped and moved into the same fry raising aquarium.

I then did some internet research on breeding L340 plecos and I found a breeding report that said that having a low TDS helped with getting get them to spawn.

I have been using rain water in my plecо aquarium to keep the TDS low (under 100ppm) because I have been breeding L002 plecos in the same aquarium.

I also read that L340 spawns are typically small at between 10 and 15 fry.

I am hoping that any future L340 spawns are bigger in number as the breeding group mature.

As of the last spawn my water parameters in the pleco breeding aquarium were pH 6.8 temperature 27 degrees Celsius and TDS 90.

The Mega Clown pleco is quite attractive for a small Hypancistrus species having a grey body with fine white lines.

They cost between 100 to 150 dollars each for 4cm size juveniles and are available in aquarium shops at times.

Being a Hypancistrus species they are classed as an easy fish to breed so they are well worth keeping as a home hobbyist.