What pleco is this??

[NohArshavin]

Hi all need help to identify this pleco...LFS sold me as a L90C Thanks

[bekateen]

Hi NohArshavin.

Welcome to PlanetCatfish!

Your photo shows a type of Panaqolus. I'm not sure of the species, but it looks like

Panaqolus nocturnus

or

Panaqolus cf_nocturnus

or

Panaqolus sp(l351)

.

Is the fish wild- caught? Do you know where the fish came from?

Cheers, Eric

[NohArshavin]

Hi NohArshavin.

Welcome to PlanetCatfish!

Your photo shows a type of Panaqolus. I'm not sure of the species, but it looks like

Panaqolus nocturnus

or

Panaqolus cf_nocturnus

or

Panaqolus sp(l351)

.

Is the fish wild- caught? Do you know where the fish came from?

Cheers, Eric

Hi Eric thanks for the reply I bought this from my local LFS and the staff told me its a L90C but I have doubt about it but still proceed of buying it and I did not know where is the fish origin as the staff did not mention anything about it...

[bekateen]

Hi Eric thanks for the reply I bought this from my local LFS and the staff told me its a L90C but I have doubt about it but still proceed of buying it and I did not know where is the fish origin as the staff did not mention anything about it...

Hi NohArshavin,

Panaque and Panaqolus do have some similarities, and I agree the body color pattern looks close to some versions of L090, although I'm not familiar with "L090c" specifically. But to me, the tail color pattern does not look like any Panaque I've ever seen. That striped tail is very typical of many Panaqolus species.

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

I had to look up L090c. Apparently that was renumbered as L203,

Panaque schaeferi

. Your fish is not that.

Cheers,
Eric

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Looks like a young probable male L351. Almost certainly WC, as few (if any) people seem to breed the uncommonly-collected black-and-white Panaqolus spp. of Peru.

[bekateen]

Looks like a young probable male L351. Almost certainly WC, as few (if any) people seem to breed the uncommonly-collected black-and-white Panaqolus spp. of Peru.

Yes, I agree about the most likely wild caught.

Interestingly, I see that L351 and P. cf. nocturus are both from the Huallaga area. They could very well be the same species. As for them being the same as actual P. nocturus, I'm not aware of real nocturus being documented in the Huallaga. Someone would have to do DNA testing to confirm that (frankly for all 3 of these).

Cheers,
Eric

[NohArshavin]

Thanks everyone now I know it's a L351 rather than a L90C as claim from the LFS.
It can be confusing sometimes when buying this pleco some of the LFS did not know the correct L series.

[Acanthicus]

It's not the fault of your LFS, the species often comes from Peru as L 90c. For two reasons I think: L 90 is one of the best selling numbers and they look somehow similar to the untrained eye. Once they are adult, they will loose their current colouration as well as pattern and look dark-grey. Some years ago we already had the discussion of L 351 being P. nocturnus, and remained that it's very likely to be the case. L 329 was part of the discussion too, bot overall bodyshape doesn't really match P. nocturnus.