Sold as LDA-44 but I don't think so...

[wax32]

Hi! I've been lurking here a while but this is my first post.

I just picked up this small pleco today. The shop said he was "some kind of bristlenose". Any clue?

They showed me LDA-44 in their big hard cover book and it looked nothing like this lol.

[wax32]

Here is a pic of him in my tank.

[wax32]

Even a genus to start from would help. I know little to nothing about plecos.

[wax32]

Possibly L265? That's the picture that looks the closest to me.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/nu ... ies_id=901

[Andrewjw]

Looks like one of the commom rubber nosed plecos, like Chaetostoma formosa
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/spe ... ies_id=318
That seems more likely...
Cheers,
Andy

[wax32]

Thanks Andy! I'm pretty sure that's the one.

Hopefully it will acclimate to the tank. I think it's a very cool looking little pleco. So far he has only moved a few inches since being put in the tank.

[N0body Of The Goat]

I would suspect Chaetostoma formosae also, formerly known as L-444.

Do you have experience of keeping Chaetostoma before? They are usually wild caught and can be extremely problematic to convert to prepared hobby foods, quarantining new purchases is definitely recommended.

[wax32]

No, I've never kept them before. The only plecos I have previous experience with are the big common ones back when I kept oscars.

This one didn't make it through the night. When I got up this morning it was dead. I'm not having very good luck with plecos it seems. The bristlenose I tried a couple months ago didn't make it either!

I do have a Pterygoplichthys scrophus that I've had for about 6 months and a P. maccus I've had for maybe 4 months. Looking forward to learning more about these cool cats!

Looks like I'll be converting the spare 20 gallon in the snake room into a quarantine tank for my next purchase!