Mini ranger pleco?

[dmckercher]

I got some what is named ranger pleco's. I was told that they grow to about 2 inches max. They don't look like any ranger I've seen before.

They are only about 1 inch. Any ranger pleco juvie or adult have spots and not stripes like these little fella's

[bekateen]

I've heard mixed things about "mini rangers." Mostly, peopke have said that the name is contrived and that "mini rangers" will grow to full-sized rangers if you take good care of them. I have also heard a few people say that mini rangers stay mini, but I have know idea if those people have kept them long enough, and in good quality conditions, to say the small size is real, natural, and permanent.

I tend to suspect they'll grow big since, after all, they are a

Pterygoplichthys

.

Good luck with them.

[Bas Pels]

Once I got similar fish, which grew out to be Pterogoblichthys punctaus or similar.

Perhaps not the most cvolorfull one in the genus, but very nicely sized at max 30 cm.

Perhaps you will be as luckey as I was.

[bekateen]

Once I got similar fish, which grew out to be

Pterygoplichthys punctatus

or similar.
... max 30 cm.

Let's hope not. A regular

ranger pleco

is supposed to max out at 20cm (SL). Still no dwarf.

Cheers, Eric

[Narwhal72]

Years ago, Pterygoplichthys weberi were being imported into the U.S. as very attractive small juveniles for a short time. I still have a half dozen of them that maxed out at about 8" SL. I will say that they look similar, but not the same as the fish in your photo.

[dmckercher]

So, It's been 10 days. They are starting to look like standard Ranger plecos. Losing their stripes, Body getting light brown, Eating like there is no tomorrow., And grew about 1/2 inch in these past 10 days. Still real cool looking pleco. I'm starting to eye my 120 tank for a future home as the standard ranger tops off at around 7 - 11 inches. Time will tell.

[bekateen]

They are so pretty at that size!
Cheers, Eric

[Acanthicus]

The "minis" are nothing but P. punctatus, if you are lucky you end up with a P. weberi.

The exporters might either name them like this to sell them better, or maybe just get fooled by the juvenile pattern themselves, leading them to think they are a different species, because they look so different.

[Jools]

It's like "jumbo cardinal tetra" but in reverse. The mini just means a small ranger pleco which as we know means one of the big brown spotted ones eventually - anything else is social mumbo jumbo. Great bit of marketing.

When really small they have red caudal fins - makes you wonder what other big plecos look like that small.

HTH,

Jools