Genus species of the following pleco ...

[blani12345]

It was sold to us in January 2022 as a "lemon" pleco and was maybe 2 inches long, now as of August 2022 is pushing 6+ inches. I am leaning towards a "albino chocolate" pleco, based on pictures I have seen online .... but I am looking for a genus species name if possible, and a sex would be nice too ... but I know that might be asking a lot with these pictures. I have taken a bunch of pictures so could send others if someone needs a different view. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Brian

[bekateen]

Hi Brian,

Welcome to Planetcatfish!

Albino chocolate plecos are

Pterygoplichthys pardalis

. There is an albino

Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps

, but they look different.

Cheers,Eric

[TwoTankAmin]

Maybe https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/sp ... ies_id=905

[bekateen]

Maybe https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/sp ... ies_id=905

I've seen people buy Ancistrus with this "lemon" name, but the photos above are definitely Pterygoplichthys, with so many dorsal rays.

Cheers, Eric

[blani12345]

Thank you very much for the responses everyone. I was afraid that it might have been something like a Pterygoplichthys sp. after it grew that big so fast. I was trying to avoid getting such a large species and having to deal with buying a much much larger tank to house it. But my housemates bought it thinking it was a female albino/"lemon" bushynose, since we have a couple males that are of the more standard color morph. Actually at least one of the pictures has a smaller male bushynose sitting beneath it, recently bought it really small and was also hoping for a female. I think next time I will be buying an Ancistrus group of maybe 6 or so from an online source, instead of a LFS around here (they seem to only end up with males, or other species ). Maybe we can finally get at least 1 female if I buy a larger group of them.