What Is This Cutie?

[Dzanda]

I discovered PlanetCatfish about a month ago, and have been voraciously reading the wonderful content ever since. I'm about to set up a new aquarium, and want to find a Plec that will be a good match for it (the new tank will be a 30 USGAL/110 liter community tank, and my intent is to go with a soft, moderately acidic, blackwater environment; and I may try going planted)... so the site has been extremely helpful as I search for a smallish Plec that will like that environment.

But it's time for my first post, and of course, it's a question!

I recently spotted some very attractive little Plecs at a LFS, and I'm not at all confident that they have them identified correctly, not to mention that I don't trust much of their information at all.

The store lists them as "Yellow-spotted Plecos, Scobiancistrus L82", but they don't match what I've found in the Cat-elog under either L82 or Scobiancistrus. They're pretty small (but I think that they're young), at about 2 inches/5 cm total length. Not much else I can tell you about them, other than that they seem to like shade, and are usually hanging out on or near driftwood in their display aquarium (by the way: they don't seem to be munching on the wood). I'm sorry, but I've never gotten a good look at their mouths, let alone gotten a picture of them; and I had no luck catching them with their fins unfurled, either.

So here are a couple of pix of the little critters:





Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[grokefish]

I would most certainly say they are L082 "opal plecs" as I have six of them and they look just like that.
However there is an outside chance that they are

Hypancistrus contradens

but I don't think so.

Matt

[Dzanda]

grokefish,

Wow!!!.... how could I have missed that (I must have looked at that L082 page a dozen times)? I think that I was thrown off by the more muted coloration of the specimen in the sample picture:



So... the Cat-eLog doesn't have much detail on L082, the Opal spot Plec; would you mind telling me a bit more about them? Even though they grow to be about twice the maximum size I had planned for my new aquarium, I have other, larger tanks that might be a better fit. Specifically:

• How fast do they grow?
• Are they compatible in community (small tetras, etc.) aquaria?
• Nutritional and environmental preferences
• etc.

Thanks so much for straightening me out so quickly... this site is terrific!

[MatsP]

Size of the eyes would indicate a Hypancistrus species, so L201 or H. contradens would be candidates, IMO. These are also very common in the trade at this time - I've seen a few tanks full of them.

--
Mats

[DutchFry]

agreed. this is L201!

[ahodge84]

My first instinct was also 201 - doesn't exactly look like the one I owned, but the L 201 category has some variations within it. I have a new 201 on the way (the other died in a velvet outbreak that killed off most of the fish in my 37g ). I will post a picture for comparison next week.

If the fish in question is truly a 201, I would highly recommend getting at least one. They are definitely community friendly (mine went about his business, never paying any attention to his tankmates), easy to feed (mine did well on a variety of shrimp pellets, algae discs, bloodworms, plankton, and some tubifex cubes), and easy to house (mine hung around a piece of driftwood most of the time). In terms of size, they grow slowly and probably don't get much bigger than 4, maaaaybe 5 inches.

[Dzanda]

Hmmm... I guess I was too ready to expect a quick, definitive answer, eh?

But, if those fish are indeed L201s, then that's actually pretty good news, since I'm looking for a smallish Plec for my new tank. Any additional info (on L201, that is) will be greatly appreciated.

...In terms of size, they grow slowly and probably don't get much bigger than 4, maaaaybe 5 inches.

Are we talking standard or total length, here?

Thanks to all for helping me out (including any future posters).

[ahodge84]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... es_id=2178

3.5 in SL. Just be warned- don't let the pictures in the profile throw you off. My 201 looked nothing like some of them.

[racoll]

I also believe these are

Hypancistrus sp(l201)

.

Care is the same as for all other

Hypancistrus

, so lots of info out there to read.

They need warm, well oxygenated water at about 27-29C.

Feed them a meaty diet but also some vegetables too. Quite shy, but if you decorate the tank well, you will see them when you feed them.