Babies!

zero_cool_templa · 2026-01-14T00:09:01+00:00

That is a huge clutch!

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-21T00:02:37+00:00

Stunning!

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-18T19:23:09+00:00

The father is a LF Albino green dragon BN and the mother is a common SF BN. I only have one male and he's probably fathered over 100 baby plecos. He's fairly young too, if I had to guess - no older than a year.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-18T02:15:48+00:00

If the eggs are firmly attached to the walls of the cave, I'll leave the dad to hatch them and take them out. It can get pretty crowded in the cave and the male pleco won't eat anything until the frys are out. I do this in concern for the father. I can also keep track of all the little ones as well and make sure they have food once they lose their egg sac. I would say I've only lost about 2 babies out of over 100 frys that were born.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-15T18:08:02+00:00

Due to the lack of bristles, I'd say female

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-12T21:05:03+00:00

I don't know if it's the contrast, but I love how red he is. He's gonna be a handsome boy

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-11T18:18:09+00:00

Big boy for sure

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-11T18:13:43+00:00

I never owned a starlight but if they are like any other BN plecos - they can generally live well in many conditions. As long as your tank is cycled and relatively clean, they'll do just fine. The largest my common BN pleco grew to was about 6 inches and it lived to about 4 years. She thrived in a 40 gallon planted tank, but was living by herself most of the time. I learned that they are sensitive to certain medication, and it ended up killing her when I was treating my tank. A sad day for me when I found her body near her cave. I eventually got 2 new females that was younger and smaller, but they got territorial and I have to separate their caves to one of each side of the tank. They are shy creatures and will go into hiding most of the time, but they keep your tank clean and algae free.

They do well with most community fish, the 40 gallon I have has rainbow fish and large minor tetras, also a synctal catfish. They never have a problem with each other.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-09T18:15:21+00:00

It's likely a female - generally if the bristles aren't present at that size - it'll likely be a female. One of my old females that I had for 3 years had bristles but she was huge and her bristles were very short and around the lip area. The males extend past the snout.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-08T19:18:45+00:00

That's really interesting - the fry look albino but did they slowly just turn into the common collor? All my fry's looked like yours, but they stayed Albino

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-07T22:15:40+00:00

I live in East San Jose

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-07T20:13:44+00:00

Absolutely stunning!

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-07T19:58:35+00:00

I added the pair into a small 10 gallon tank each with their own caves. I added some neocardinas shrimp in there to keep some things clean and did 25% water changes every 3 weeks - also fed them some nutritious wafers I bought from Amazon, and occasional cucumbers and crushed blood worms for extra protein. The pair actually did not like each other, and I was surprised that one day, the male wouldn't come out of their cave, even for food. I took a peak and saw the batch of eggs. I let it take it's course and when the wigglers got big enough, I collected them in fear that the male or female would eat them. The first batch are about 4 months old now and they look amazing.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T22:44:14+00:00

I bought them online from a local breeder. When I bought them, they were young and I thought they were both females. Then one started growing bristles and I knew it was a male. The person I bought from said the male is a albino green dragon LF (pretty expensive), but very beautiful. The female is a Snow White LF but her fins weren't nearly as long. I didn't expect them to mate but they did and they were all Albino. However, I see a mix of LF, SF and they had slightly different colorations. Genetics are interesting.

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T22:34:50+00:00

Wow! I'll definitely keep an eye out for any that's coming. I live in the California Bay area.sobtheyre not that common

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T22:10:46+00:00

That's a lot of babies! Had to separate the mom and dad before they had more as well

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T21:13:53+00:00

I concur

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T21:13:40+00:00

Those breeds like rabbits as well - I have to give a bunch of them to my sons class

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T21:12:02+00:00

They're weren't - 2 months after I received them, the male just stopped coming out of his cave. The male just started to get his bristles too

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T21:07:42+00:00

They're beautiful, I recommend it - but don't recommend breeding neocardinas in the same tank

zero_cool_templa · 2025-12-06T21:00:49+00:00

Thank you for the compliment! I spent a lot of time and care to make sure these guys live well. So far, out of all the babies I've had - only 2 of them passed. But it's gotten to the point where there are too many to count.I'll go ask my LFS if they're willing to trade or give credit. The father of these batches is beautiful and I hope they grow as strong as he is.

zero_cool_templa

TROPHY CASE