Very new to Forum's and am hoping for help

[Jobro]

Hey Laura, I did not read through all of it, just a little here and there, sorry. But I have quite some L183 myself and might offer some help though.

Yours looks like a nice L183 male with 10 soft dorsal rays. Congrats on that one!

L183 prefer meatier foods. They will eat veggies as well. But starting off with some frozen foods like black mosquito larvae or brine shrimps (artemia) would be my route.

The strange pattern on his back is pretty common and mostly all L183 show it during low lights and at night. If he shows it during full lights periods, there might be something wrong with him, though (stress).

They also like sweet fruits over veggies. Here is a vid of one of my males chewing on watermelon. He usually doesn't come out to eat during daytime, but that watermelon was quite irresistable. Soft, ripe mango, peach and grapes are quite popular as well.

Best of luck to you and your fish!
Johannes

[LauraG]

That is awesome! I do have some green grapes in the fridge, maybe I will give that a try, until I go to the grocery store. I saw him this morning in the light, and I know that is not a good sign, so I snapped a quick pic. I have put the divider back in, and am trying to see if I can get him to eat anything that I can tell. He is still lively though, but he doesn't look great. I also ordered repashy soilent green and super green, and they should be here tomorrow. Tonight he has bottom scratcher on a rock, shrimp and vegie pellets, and zucchini. will try a grape tomorrow morning when I take out the zucchini. This way he is uninterrupted, and will hopefully eat

. I am beginning to suspect the dojo loach is hovering over the food, and scaring him away. I may need to find the dojo a good home, I have had him for about 3 years, but I can't have him bullying any new fish I introduce into the tank. Here is a pic, it does look like the original mottling is gone, but I can see all his ribs and am very worried.

[Lycosid]

I can see all his ribs and am very worried.

I would also find this worrisome but, pedantic note, loricariid catfishes are covered in armor plates across their bodies and so the internal skeleton isn't what you're seeing. (See, for instance, this lovely scan of a Panaque skeleton.) Still, that indicates that the skin is being pulled tight against the plates.

Maybe less pedantic: this internal anatomy should also mean that the only part of a loricariid to shrink or grow much in response to feeding is the stomach, since the dorsal and lateral aspects of the fish are internally supported by bone.

One of the people who has kept this species may be able to tell you more clearly what the exact worry point is.

[LauraG]

My Batteries ran out half way through the night, but half the bottom scratcher is gone this morning, so maybe he ate well last night. I will keep trying...

[Jobro]

Laura, your fish is looking perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong about his sides, this is not being skinny. It's healthy.

Younger L183 will come out during day. It is not a sign of a problem. He is having a good time there on his root. It'is actually a sign of low levels of stress.

I would not be worried about this fish right now. keep your feeding up. You would be surprised, by how little these guys feed at once, so don't expect to see major portions of your food being gone by a single young L183

[LauraG]

Thank you, I have been worried. Since I already had the divider in, I decided to leave it in place through the weekend, so I can try to identify the food he is eating. If everything goes well, I am glad I won't have to give up to Dojo. He is one of the most interactive fish I have, and is so ugly he is cute. I also read the L183's can have melon, strawberries and other fruits, as well as squash and peas (does that mean a pod pea like sugar snap peas or shelled peas?). So far I have not had any luck with any fresh food, but if I can get him to try one kind, eventually he might like a treat of fresh veggies and fruit. I am still working on it. He has been out much more since the divider was put in, and is solid black with no mottling, I haven't been able to get a look at his belly though.

[MarcW]

Generally when peas are mentioned, it would mean shelled peas, some people gently squash them, some blanch them in boiling water for a minute or two, some remove the outer skin. Its a bit of trial and error to see what your fish like, but I would start but removing the thin skin around the pea and feeding them raw, maybe weigh them down or put them on a fork so they don't get blown around or end up under some decorations. Hopefully with the divider in, you can see it feeding over the weekend to give you some re-assurance that its ok.

[Jobro]

A healthy fish will start eating by himself. Don't be too focused on that. Even if you can't see him eating, it doesn't mean he is not eating at all. Since your tank houses plants and algae, it is not likely, that he is too keen on eating supplemental veggies right now. He is probably the only surface scratching inhabitant in your tank, and as it happens to be in such cycled tanks, there will be plenty of matter for him to scratch from all kinds of surfaces. This happens to be his natural diet and it is going to supplement him for quite some time. If it is a tank raised fish you can be pretty assured that he is also eating some of the foods you offer. A single pleco of it's size just doesn't eat enough for you to notice, don't forget that he is already eating what your tank provides all day long! If it is a wild caught fish, he will rely on eating from the surfaces of your tank for quite some time, until he happens to randomly find a better food source. But this can take quite a while with a single wild caught fish.

[LauraG]

Thanks everyone for your help, I will stop worrying, as he seems to have settled into a routine. He is under the trunk root most times even during the day (but a least I can see his silhouette), but has picked one of the round caves as a back-up. Even though I still have not seen him eat any particular thing, I will continue to offer different fresh foods a couple times a week, and all the fish seem to nibble at the repashy, so I will add those as normal food as well. I will have had him for a month as of Jan 19th, and he still seems lively (especially when he see me peeking at him), so this must be his normal behavior. All traces of mottling are gone, and his bristles seem to be growing a bit. Thanks again, I have learned a lot during this experience, and having the night vision camera has been very en-lighting, I highly recommend it! If I ever figure out how to turn a video into a you tube with link, I will post it.

[MarcW]

Good to hear it is still getting on ok, your feeding plan sounds good.

I agree the night vision cameras are interesting to watch, especially when you have fish that don't seem to do much during the day, and you can see a big change in behaviour at night!

[LauraG]

Just a quick update, if anyone is interested... I put my dojo loach into a spare tank, and will see if the L183 is out in the open more. I saw him this morning, he was out for a few minutes even after the tank light was turned on, and his belly is plump. I think we are good! I am not sure what he is eating yet, but offer small amounts of a variety of foods. After reading ingredients though, I will be on full repashy at some point, with some omega one foods as a variety, both have good ingredients.

[MarcW]

That's great news! It's so pleasing to see a fish you've been worried about with full stomach!

I really only use Repashy for my catfish now, I have several varieties and mix them up based on each fishes diet. I've had very good results using it. I do feed other foods occasionally, mainly just to get rid of the other foods I have on the shelf!

[LauraG]

I have decided to rehome my gold dojo female. I think the personalities between the L183 being shy, and the dojo being pushy, was the majority of the problems I had with trying to raise the juveniles L183's (that and not enough of the right kind of caves). Since I have separated the dojo, the L183 is out in the open occasionally, especially under the lowest light setting. He looks good, and I think he is still tank cleaning, since he is all over the tank since I removed the dojo.

Quick question, there is a lot of poop in the caves, do I need to worry about dumping it out occasionally while tank cleaning, since there is only the one opening in each cave?

[MarcW]

Sounds like you have found a solution, it's often tricky keeping fish with such different personalities together.

I would try to remove the poop from the caves if you can during water changes, just check there aren't any fish in the cave first! Don't worry if you can't get everything out, it's unlikely a small amount leftover will cause any issues.

[LauraG]

Thanks Marc!