Set up of the Hypancistrus yudja L174:
Aquarium:
Dimensions: 60 x 30 x 30cm, 54 liter
Water parameters (regular):
Conductivity: 350 - 400 mS, temperature: 28 °C, pH: 6.8 - 7, water change: 50 % weekly
Technology:
Filter: air lifter 20 mm with sponge; HMF
Water movement: streaming pump (Tunze 6025), air stone
Lighting: LED spots 7 watt
Heating: immersion heater (Eheim Jäger)
Decoration:
Substrate: quartz sand / quartz gravel
Hiding places: 7 ceramic caves round (2,5 x 12 cm and 3 x 13cm), slate slabs, rounded pebbles
Animals:
4.3. Hypancistrus yudja L174, 7 - 8 cm length
My breeding experience:
When I imported the Hypancistrus yudja L174 they were around 5 - 6cm. This was end November 2018. They were with 6 in the group and I decided to keep them them in this group and put them at that time just in a grown-up aquarium. They grew good and in March 2020, when moving, they came in the aquarium where they are still in now.
The group harmonized really good and around .. 2020 they started to be more active towards each other. The first time they were tunneling was on ... 2020. This took in total 2 days and then they had a quite big egg batch of .. eggs. For the first time it was not bad!
We let the eggs as long as possible with the father in the cave, just that he could take care and also to learn to do it himself. Because the father took really good care of the eggs and the cave is really small it was almost impossible to see how many eggs there were in the cave.
On day .. the babies came out of the eggs and already soon they were loose in the aquarium. We decided to take the babies out and put them in a floating breeding ring with air lifter.
Spawning:
To get Hypancistrus yudja L174 to spawn, first a good ratio of adult (5 - 8 cm) males to females is necessary. It is always good to have slightly more males than females in the aquarium. That way females can chose with which male they want to spawn. The tank shouldn't be to crowded. An ideal group consists of 6 - 8 specimens in a 100 liter aquarium. The tank should be set up with a lot of hiding spaces, in form of stone slate - constructions. In between the gaps and on the floor, pleco caves should be added. We made best results with caves of the length of 10 cm and a diameter of around 3 - 3,5 cm.
The water parameters should now measure 30 °C, and a e.c. of 100 - 150 micro siemens. Best is, to change the water regularly with osmosis water. To get the highly oxygenated water to where it's needed, it's best to place a streaming pump facing to the entrances of the caves.
The plecos should now be fed really good and rich in proteins. This can be achieved by frosted food or processed food. We made best experiences with snail- and krill granules. Soon the females will build up eggs and the males get spiky and will sit in their caves fanning with their fins.
Once a female is interested in a potential mating partner, it sits mostly for several days next to the cave, that male is occupying. Is everything right, the pair starts to tunnel in the cave. This mostly takes not longer than two days with our breeding group.
After one or two days, only the male sits in the cave. Mostly a bit elevated since he sits with his mouth on a egg batch. This species lays rather small eggs and has spawns up to 10 - 15 eggs. These eggs will now be protected and cleaned by the father, till the larvae hatch. Thats mostly after around 6 - 7 days, depending on temperature.
Sometimes the male kicks out the egg batch before hatching. This can happen because of disturbances, bad water quality, bad fertilization or inexperience. Are the eggs older than 2 - 3 days, there is a good chance to incubate them successfully in a floating breeding ring or an egg-tumbler. Both works really well, as long as the eggs are moved and oxygenated enough.
Once the fry hatch, the male still takes care of the brood for several days. In this stage the larvae eat from their yolk sac. Also with arteficial rearing, the babies shouldn't be feed, before the yolk sac is gone. This only has an bad impact on the water quality, which should always be perfect, for a good developement of the youngsters.
The pigmentation of the first white larvae, starts before the yolk sac is gone. Once they are ready, small doses of grinded food can be given. Best is to feed them two times a day. Non eaten food has to be removed. An easy way to keep the breeding boxes clean, is to add some snails in it. These snails will eat all the left over food. It should only be taken care, that there are not to many snails in the box, stealing the food of the babies.
For shelter a small piece of wood or ceramic, placed in the middle of the breeding box, does its work quite well.
This species is not a fast grower and reaches it 4 cm body length after around 1 - 1,5 years. At this size they are stable and can be given away.
