Chaetostoma thomasi

[homebunnyj]

My local Petsmart has rubberlip pleco's, Chaetostoma thomasi, for 3.99 right now. I was shocked to see anything but a common there. I have googled it but am still coming up short on info. Planet Catfish apparently doesn't list it as far as I can tell, just the Chaetostome milesi, which apparently is a species more commonly seen as rubberlip pleco. I am wondering if the two resemble each other enough that the C. milesi info would also apply to the C. thomasi. Also, it seems that a powerhead would be a good idea if I got this pleco. I suppose it'd need to go into the tank with my black skirts, bronze cories, glolights, et al. I have driftwood in the tank, but am not sure it needs wood. The info I did find mentioned that it is omnivorous, eating algae wafers, flake food, and other foods. I really hadn't thought of setting up this tank with fast current, as I have always intended to add angels.
Any thoughts on whether this pleco would work in this 55g tank? Any more specific care info that you know of that I can go look over? Thanks.

 

[Lotus]

I've gotten rubberlips from PetSmart before. I'm not sure if they have the scientific name right at the store. He or she would be fine in a 55g. They get to about 5". Ours have been good tankmates, although they're a little shy and we don't see them very often. Ours keep our glass really clean. Ours seem to prefer veggie foods over meaty ones. I've found them to be pretty hardy fish, and I haven't had any problems with them, although I recently lost one when it jumped out of the tank at night (no idea how, there was like a 1/4" gap). I think we'd had him about 2 years, could be 3.

Here's the Planet Catfish profile: PlanetCatfish :: Cat-eLog :: Loricariidae :: Chaetostoma cf_thomsoni