Blue-Eyed Panaque? ID, Please!

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 23 May 2004, 22:26

I was sent here from another aquarium forum so you could ID a Plecostomous for me. I, and the other people at the site, beleive that its a Blue-Eyed Panaque. We found pictures of the species, and mine looks exactly like them. Sorry that the photo isn't a full body-shot, but I can try to get one if you require it.

Link to picture-

http://www.geocities.com/parrotfish100

Thank you!

Post by **Silurus** » 23 May 2004, 23:02

Yup, it is.

Post by **Rusty** » 23 May 2004, 23:07

Yep, the blue eyed Panaque (an undescriped Panaque sp., not Panaque suttonorum). Congrats. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it?

Rusty

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 24 May 2004, 00:55

Rusty wrote: If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it?
Rusty

It gets better, I know the answer from another forum.

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 24 May 2004, 01:09

Heh, get this. I payed nothing. It was a gift from my English teacher. She was moving, so she gave me her 50 gallon, along with all of the fish. Its 9 years old (the Panaque). How much are they worth?

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 24 May 2004, 01:15

Hi!

thank your english teacher with a bottle of good wine or cognac...

here they range from 150-300 euros...us should be even more expensive..

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 24 May 2004, 01:24

Eep! Now Im afraid its going to die on me! Lol!

Post by **Barbie** » 24 May 2004, 08:10

Hi Parrotfish, nice to see you wandered over from AC

I gather he is still doing alright? Not attacking more decor? There was a girl named Sam in Texas that was trying to work with these and get them spawning a few years ago. I haven't seen her around, but I'll see if I can locate her. I read in the thread on the other forum that you are considering taking it to the LFS. PLEASE don't do that. The odds are good it would then be purchased by a collector, not necessarily with the intention of breeding them and making them available in the hobby again. Larry (pleco breeder here on the board) has spawned them in the past, but doesn't have any of them at the moment. I know that another one was sold on the board at aquamojo.com a few months ago. You might see if you can find out who purchased that one and what sex it was. It would be a shame to have a nice adult that could really forward someone's breeding program get lost in the shuffle.

Have you ever shipped fish before? Where exactly are you located and maybe we can help you hook up with someone that could help you with that department also, if you do decide to let him go?

There are rumours that they are being seen occasionally now at wholesalers again, but I still have yet to see one that isn't at least 8 inches and old enough to have been collected years ago. Hopefully you can continue to keep your's healthy and happy until you figure out what you want to do with it.

Barbie

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 25 May 2004, 02:32

Ok, I won't take it to the lfs. Its is in perfect health that I can tell, except a little thing on its nose which I am trying to treat.

Lol, it hasn't been attacking any other decor in the tank, except when I tried to put the Ghost House back in... it was PISSED. It was literally shaking. I don't know much about terretorial behavior of plecos, but that fish was angry, lol

I live in Lincoln, CA (about 40 minutes away from Sacramento)

Post by **Barbie** » 25 May 2004, 04:07

Little thing on it's nose? Are your ammonia and nitrite levels staying at 0? Your tank was recently moved and reset up, right? Be very careful with treating plecos. You can usually do just as much good with partial daily water changes to keep their water quality optimal.

Barbie

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 25 May 2004, 05:21

Its almost like a little yellowish indent. I don't have either of those test kits (I only have a pH), so I will try to keep the water changes up.

Post by **Barbie** » 25 May 2004, 06:06

Could you possibly go buy those two test kits? The idea of that fish being in an uncycled tank makes my hair stand on end a bit, to be honest. How long has the tank been set up at your house now?

Barbie

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 26 May 2004, 00:45

Its been up a few weeks now, but we left in about half a tankful of the water it lived in, and kept the old filter running (it still is) so there was less stress on the fish.

I will try to buy the test kits when I get some money, Im broke right now

Post by **Barbie** » 26 May 2004, 04:16

Just keeping up with frequent 30% water changes and not overfeeding will help also. I'm sure you're doing a lovely job with him, I'm just a worry wart, don't mind me ;)

Barbie

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 26 May 2004, 23:15

Lol, its ok. Your worrying keeps me on my toes, since this is my first pleco ever

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 26 May 2004, 23:29

since this is my first pl*co ever

Very funny that its beginning with the King Of Plecos

that others dream about

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 27 May 2004, 02:54

Lol, yeah. I was EXTREMELY suprised when I heard about that! I was thinking it was too good to be true... these things normally don't happen to me. But now that I do know its real, I'm really proud to have one.

I would also like to thank everyone who is posting in this topic for taking interest in my fish, and for helping me out!

Viridis · Post by **Viridis** » 27 May 2004, 09:48

I'm new here, and have been out of the aquarium hobby for quite a few years -- I'm just getting back in, and have a special fondness for loricariids. I worked in an aquarium store in Canada for years (as a teenager) back in the late 70s-early 80s, and did most of the ordering. Back then, there were just a few high-dollar plecos available, and the two most popular ones were the "blue-eyed pleco" (just like the one pictured) and the "royal pleco" (I'd have to check L-numbers -- you know, the big striped one from Colombia).

They were nearly always available, but the prices were somewhat prohibitive -- a blue-eyed pleco could sell (retail) for as much as $15-$20 (Cdn), and they cost over $5 wholesale! So we rarely stocked more than a couple, and the blue-eyes in particular seemed somewhat delicate. I finally figured out that they liked some water movement and were fairly carnivorous. And (surprise) they really liked to hang out on driftwood. A few of our really dedicated customers did well with them under these conditions, but also reported that they were aggressive to others of the same species.

This is "primitive" information, but they were always one of my favorites and I worked hard to help them thrive. I really hope they'll become established in the hobby again, and am sad to hear of their decline in the wild.

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 13 Jul 2004, 07:26

Well, I went to yet another website to brag about my Pleco

And they claim it is not a Panaque suttoni, but a Panaque cochliodon (spelling?)... I don't really beleive them, since I have so much evidence for it being a suttoni, and so much against the other. I borrowed a book from my library called Aquarium Fish. Its an Eyewitness book, so I highly doubt it was wrong. It was listed as a Suttoni, and it was the freakin EXACT same fish as mine. Even down to the rows of teeth in a diamond-pattern!

Heres more pics in case you are interested:

http://www.geocities.com/parrotfish100

Its still a little hard to see the blue in its eyes, but its visible

It was kinda like that in the book, as well.... the eyes weren't REALLY bright.

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 13 Jul 2004, 08:19

third post in this thread...

Yep, the blue eyed Panaque (an undescriped Panaque sp., not Panaque suttonorum).

actually the suttoni/suttonorum (spelling mistake) was a misidentification.
Recently Ingo Seidel from Germany "discovered" the blue eye to be P.cochliodon which is not 100% either i think.

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 13 Jul 2004, 09:09

Agh, I just took a look at the index on the main menu of Planetcatfish... Yeah, I guess it was a mis-identification... Now I'm even more confused

But it is a beautiful fish

ChrisM · Post by **ChrisM** » 14 Jul 2004, 02:50

I just got a great deal on one of these bad-boys too. $70 at a LFS.... it was a trade in and the store owner is a friend. He was well aware what he could have asked for the fish, but for some reason he let me have it for relatively cheap.

pics here:
http://www.forum.planetcatfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=7416

What have you had luck with feeding yours? The LFS guy said the previous owner was feeding spirulina pellets and tetramin tabs... but I find that too good to be true. I've only had it a couple days and I got mine really really fat. So, I haven't seen it eat any of my offerings (so far just wood and hikari algae wafers)... but that maybe because it's still a little stressed and still full from his previous owners last meal.

Parrotfish100 · Post by **Parrotfish100** » 14 Jul 2004, 06:57

I'm not sure what it's previous owner fed it (if anything), but I am currently feeding mine Hikari Algae Wafers, 1-2 per night. I want to experiment with other foods, but don't know what to try

BTW- About how much do the Cochliodons go for?

Post by **Rusty** » 14 Jul 2004, 16:42

Parrotfish100, don't forget that the fish needs wood in its diet to survive. Make sure you supply a piece that the pleco can chew through. Also beware that the sawdust the fish will produce will clog filters very easily.

I'd think $300-500 would be a reasonable price if the fish is in good condition.

Rusty