Jim for the win!
^^^^^seriously, Jim knows his stuff and I would like to affirm that if you have a chance to meet him, do it!

Ha - ditto to what Eric said, but here's what I wrote prior to noticing he just replied:
Yours is a great question and one I suspect we all struggle with to varying degrees. IMHO, the things you mentioned are important but there's some other even more important factors that might determine whether a ...

Looks exactly like my L271.

If it does, then your L271 doesn't have very red fins nor does it have smaller eyes...

Jools

Jools - fair point - I should re-word my original post to say "exactly like the fish sold to me as L271"

And I would be happy to stand corrected on the ID of my fish from ...

Looks exactly like my L271.

Heavy heart here as I'm parting with some of my favorites:
http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/5799276502.html

Other fish:
http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/5799249331.html

And equipment:
http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/5799215933.html
http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/5799293862 ...

I recommend checking with Jamie and Christine at Freshwater Exotics. If they don't have it, there's a chance they can get it.
https://www.facebook.com/Freshwater-Exo ... 350928108/
http://www.freshwaterexotics.com/

You can also check with Jamie and Christine at Freshwater Exotics. If Jamie doesn't have it, he might be able to order it for you. I've bought a LOT of plecs from them over the last couple years. Good luck.

He/she is only about 3" TL but I suspect fully grown. I also expect that the color pattern will stay. I've had the fish for about 18 months and my guess is it was already 6 mos-1 yr old when I picked it up. Got it from Chuck Carmoney, who posts on Planet Catfish occasionally. The 211 is a great ...

How about L211? Here's mine (just last night):

Love this fish. I have one that I picked up from Freshwater Exotics in Oct 2014 @ ~4" TL. He/she has since almost doubled in size to 8" now. I anticipate it will top out at around 9-10". Built like a bulldozer but not aggressive with other fish in the tank (smaller L14, L18, L47, L128, L142, L177 ...

Looks to me like a bruiser of a L128. Colors in this species (L200/L128) have been shown to vary by collection point. If it was my fish, it'd be priceless. Nice fish!

My vote would be L15, seen here:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=7256
I have one that looks almost exactly like yours.

Don't waste your money on expensive aquarium sand. Keep looking on this site - there are lots of threads covering this topic. For what it's worth, I've rarely, if ever, heard of anyone crashing their tank or killing fish because they used the play sand available at Home Depot. Likely you were ...

Ordered some Ted's Most Excellent gel food - looking forward to trying it out!

I buy a lot from Jamie & Christine at Freshwater Exotics and they have L018 right now:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freshwat ... 0350928108
Good luck!

My experience is that they are a bit more "feisty" than other Hemiancistrus species, but my sample size for that observation is, admittedly, just 1. He/she is among the smaller plecs in with bigger L200, L128, L137 etc. but stakes out certain territories and bullies the others. Small skirmishes ...

Mine hides, too. I end up seeing its tail poking out of some crevice. Every so often I "mute" a flashlight and check on my tanks at night to see all the activity.

The reality is, most dark-bodied plecos with bright spots or fringe come from dark environments so they're much more comfortable coming ...

Mine are what I'd consider shy, but they're also very active...darting in & out of rocks, caves, wood, etc...seldom coming out in the open but always moving. The only reason you should have cause for concern would be if they've stopped moving around and are just laying there still for long periods ...

Great idea! My two cents:

1.) Forum basics (incl. rules for posting)
2.) How to register (and how to save your login info so you don't have to re-login everytime you visit the site)
3.) My Fish & My Aquaria ("tell us what you've got")
4.) Search feature
5.) Cat-eLog (how to get the most out of the ...

Read, observe your fish, read some more, repeat!

Seriously, I've learned more from this site than practically anything else online.

Good luck.

These should be Hypostomus commersoni
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1863

I have one: acquired 2 years ago at 3.5" and now about 8.5" TL. In true Hypostomus fashion, not shy at all. Color & complexion changes depending on mood. Intensity of red color has faded a bit with ...

I think that comes down to personal preference of the aquarist, not the fish. I have a substrate of sand and/or gravel in all my tanks as I think it keeps things more 'natural' and, though I have no proof, makes the environment more comfortable for the fish. (I also keep some Corys, Geophagus ...

If you haven't already seen it, here's the cLog page for L200 (per #3 in my earlier post):
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/spe ... es_id=1805

vanillarum, here are some options if you want to see pics for fish or tanks...

1.) Click on the link to "My Cats" under someone's profile on the right of their post

2.) Go to this page:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/contributors.php?sort=total_my_aquaria
This is basically a list of the top ...

I think this might be what you're looking for...
http://www.plecocaves.com/Caves.htm/Lar ... -cave.html

I have no experience with these caves - I keep L200 but I don't breed them - but have ordered from this site before. You won't be disappointed.

Re: L200, in terms of looks, the closest thing I can think of is Hemiancistrus guahiborum . The profile says they grow to 5.9", but I've never seen them bigger than 4". Agreed on L201 and H. contradens - both excellent and stay small and add a little intrigue to the tank because they like to hide.

Of course, that's if Santa doesn't deliver...

I recommend connecting with Jamie and Christine at Freshwater Exotics. They post their stock list from time to time here (username is Freshwater Exotics). Their FB page is:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freshwater-Exotics/225670350928108

From your wish list, I know they have L66, L134 and L333. I ...

What kind of filtration are you using and how often does that get changed/rinsed/cleaned? By exporting the waste in your filter(s), it seems like you'd be almost balanced, but not quite. Either way, nice job on maintaining a system where the fish are happy & healthy and there's minimal maintenance ...

PM sent - thanks for posting here.