PlanetCatfish.com

Hey gang. Thinking of acquiring some of these and I was wondering what size cave those of you who have them, use ? Would a 2" diameter and 6-7" long cave suffice, or does it need to be bigger ? Thanx in advance.

I know someone who has a group they are trying to breed. The caves they use are more like a flattened triangle than the typical round caves. I think they like it pretty tight but because of their size they need a bigger but flatter opening.

Good luck.

Thanx for your reply. I am looking a bit for dimensions. AND, 163 people listed on the my cats section that are keeping these - and no one has any info ?!!! That's amazing...

My I- 200 is breeding in normal clay pipes, 16-18cm long tubes(Hemiancistrus subviridis)

The caves my friend has are about 3" across and about 2" tall. They are about 7" deep.

I think this might be what you're looking for...
http://www.plecocaves.com/Caves.htm/Lar ... -cave.html

I have no experience with these caves - I keep L200 but I don't breed them - but have ordered from this site before. You won't be disappointed.

Thanx to everyone who offered advice and information. It is much appreciated.

PlecosAndLoaches, just out of curiousity, how big are your 200s, what species are they and how old are they ? Just curious. And I would love to see pics of them. Thanx.

vanillarum, here are some options if you want to see pics for fish or tanks...

1.) Click on the link to "My Cats" under someone's profile on the right of their post

2.) Go to this page:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/con ... my_aquaria
This is basically a list of the top contributors to the site. People can contribute in many ways...by posting responses to questions, registering their fish or their tanks or a breeding report, etc. Scroll through the list and pay special attention to the columns labeled "Species" and "Aquaria". Under species, if it says "10 (i:5, k:8)", that means that that person has kept 10 different species of catfish, they have 5 images uploaded to PlanetCatfish and they are currently keeping 8 different species (I think). Same idea for the Aquaria column. Anyway, you can easily get your fix for fish pics this way - just look for people with a "high i:" number. I'm on the list around #58 or something. If you REALLY want to see L200 tanks done "right" (in my opinion), check out the tanks of Havard Store Andresen (#23 on the list). Amazing stuff.

3.) On the cLog page for L200, there's a section for "Registered Keepers" - scroll through this list, click on the names and see if they've posted pics of their L200.

Anyway, to answer your question, I currently have just one L200 and it's the Hemiancistrus subviridus version of L200 (not High-fin). Good luck w/ your L200s.

If you haven't already seen it, here's the cLog page for L200 (per #3 in my earlier post):
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/spe ... es_id=1805

There is a really good article on breeding L200 in a back issue of Amazonas. Not sure which issue though.

Thanx, I'll check it out. I noticed that many, if not all pics of these fish, use sand as a substrate. I assume this is the norm. I know they come from granite rocky areas. I was going to go bare bottom, as all of my pleco breeding colonies are. Not a good idea ?

I think that comes down to personal preference of the aquarist, not the fish. I have a substrate of sand and/or gravel in all my tanks as I think it keeps things more 'natural' and, though I have no proof, makes the environment more comfortable for the fish. (I also keep some Corys, Geophagus cichlids, burrowing loaches, etc. for whom sand is a must.) That said, I can totally see the benefits in less upkeep (fish waste more likely to be sucked up into your filters) by going bare bottom...in the tanks that is.

The Amazonas issue is March/April of 2013. It is a great article.