PURE...pleco question

[brian1973]

pleco question

Pure, I havent known you long but it is obvious that you are the undisputed pleco expert here. Any help you can provide so I can provide better care for these 2 plecs.

Any chance of Id'ing this pleco for me. These are older (3 months or so)pics but it hasnt grown much, maybe an inch or 2 since this pic was taken.

The pic below is my large Pleco..I believe he is a common pleco..I am wondering if he is getting to much protien from cleaning up the leftovers from the oscars and if i shoul be feeding it more wafers.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

[Pure]

shhh...don't call for me in your thread title..You gonna get the mods whupin up on me. I'll answer even without my name being mentioned..I'm not that much of an egomaniac.

Err the ID is going to take a few mins..leme dig through my cat-E-log and I'll get back to you.

You definitely should be feeding that big guy some fresh veggies, but to look at him I would say no he hasn't gotten too much protein. You'll know it if he does because he will probably develop bloat. But he has gotten that large in your care living with those Oscars all this time and has had no trouble. So unless you do something silly like start tossing steak in their for the Os to eat he should be fine...

FYI, I haven't been online much this past yr as I've been without a computer so..I was doing some research today on bloat with plecos and come to find out the common cure for treating bloat in tropheous seems to work very well on plecos. It's a 2 part cure and I don't remember exactly what the meds are but can look them up if ever need be.

 

[brian1973]

lol...sorry changed it...dont worry though i'm the troublemaker around here so i had to get in good with the MOD's...LOL

Well i tried to change it anyway...he is a bit bloated but seems to be going down...I reduced the size of pellets I was feeding the Oscars to reduce th waste..seems to be working

he was actually given to me by my sis in law he was about 8in at that time living in brown watr that was about 4in deep in a 10g...he spent some time with me in a 30g and now in a 90g

 

[Pure]

When they get bloat there is no mistaking it.

Dang man..Where did you get that first plec? He isn't matching anything I can find in the aqualog L numbers book, and he doesn't match anything listed on planetcatfish. I just went through ALL of their thumbnails and nothing.

The couple of spotted plecs he comes close to all either have smaller spots on the face or they all have a small fin behind the dorsal just before the tail. He doesn't have that. grr He could be an older species that was Identified Scientifically before the L numbering system came out or he could be a young version of a species that drastically changes markings as it gets older. There are a lot of fish on planetcatfish that all they have are pictures of adults and other ones that you have to know what the name of the complete species is in order to look them up. Or it could be that it's 1:30 in the morning and my eyes are tired

Go on plecofanatics.com and ask for ID there.

Do post back here if they get you an ID..

 

[brian1973]

I got him about 8 months ago at petco... I have asked before here and got sailfin but figured you might know more.. I will post at that other site tomorrow and see what I get. Also I will try to get a new updated pic but his markings havent changed any as of yet.
Thanks.

 

[brian1973]

Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps • Loricariidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish heres the answer i got. Mine does have the smaller dorsal fin it just isnt vry noticable...Thanks again for taking the time.

 

[Pure]

That's what I thougt, but if you look closely at the caudal peduncle of both your fish and this Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps • Loricariidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish fish, it just doesn't mach. Als the dorsal on the gibby extends towards the tail, where yours looks like the dorsal stops further back, not extending. Looking at your pic with fresh eyes...I think it's just the angle of the pic.

caudal peduncle is the area of the tail behind the dorsal fin to just before the tail fin.