Is a rubberlip pleco a rubbernose pleco?

Silent Doh · Post by **Silent Doh** » 31 Dec 2005, 19:17

I recently visited my LFS to purchase some fish to stock my new 20 gallon tank. I asked one of the workers if they had any small plecos , they showed me the otocinclus, but I usually have algae problems with green spot algae, which they do not eat. They also showed me a pleco under the name rubberlip pleco. According to the card it get 4" long. Unlike the common pleco, this pleco has a suckermouth shaped like a football. It also seems to have the same "build" as a rubbernose pleco. It is dark grey with manu small, white spots all over its body. I'll try to get some pics in, if you need them.

Post by **Silurus** » 31 Dec 2005, 19:27

Is it this?

Silent Doh · Post by **Silent Doh** » 31 Dec 2005, 19:39

That seems to be my catfish. Thanks for the speedy reply as well.

B-2 · Post by **B-2** » 31 Dec 2005, 21:18

I saw the fish a few days ago and it looks like a Chaetostoma milesi to me. I could be wrong though since I didn't look at it too closely. At the pet store it looked like a Chaetostoma milesi. It could be the lighting was different. Whatever it is it is some Chaetostoma species for sure. I just wish pet stores could be more clear on what they are selling us.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 02 Jan 2006, 17:16

Sort of like this?

Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 03 Jan 2006, 10:05

bettinacharlotta wrote:I saw the fish a few days ago and it looks like a Chaetostoma milesi to me. I could be wrong though since I didn't look at it too closely. At the pet store it looked like a Chaetostoma milesi. It could be the lighting was different. Whatever it is it is some Chaetostoma species for sure. I just wish pet stores could be more clear on what they are selling us.

Me too. However, if you consider that this web-site has some of the finest people in the world that knows about all sorts of catfish, and even they are sometimes stuck for identifying exactly which specie the fish is, you can imagine that the shop will struggle to correctly identify some species. If you then consider that the LFS has to cope with recognising many species of Cichlids, Tetras, Barbs and other "families" of fish.

Further more complicated by the fact that if the wholesaler/importer/exporter says it's specie X, why should the shop "change" that to indicate something else? And of course, the exporter may have a box of "mixed Chaetostoma", which goes to the wholesaler, and they pick three fish to ship to a paritcular LFS, which all end up being ONE specie, but the original wholesaler lot had three or four different species...

We're not talking about cars or electrical equipment that comes with a big label that says what it is here...

This is of course not an excuse valid for the LFS that says "Hypostomus Plecostomus" on the label of something that is clearly not a Hypostomus at all. A "best effort" is a good start. Also, it would be great if the LFS was LESS clear when they are unsure, rather than saying something that is clearly wrong.

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Mats

B-2 · Post by **B-2** » 03 Jan 2006, 17:11

Also, it would be great if the employees were educated more. I can understand if a Brochis splendens is labled as a emerald green corydora (even though the scientific name is right next to it) because they look similar to cories. Hovever, last week when I was at petsmart helping Silent Doh pick out new fish, he asked the employee what kind of cories they had. She said, "We have spotted, peppered, emerald green, and the upside-down catfish." Like I said, Brochis are often mistaken as cories, but I was ready to yell at her, "Upside-down catfish are Synos not cories!" Even though I didn't, I probably should have. That lady thought she knew everything. When I was telling Silent Doh to get 6 zebra danios instead of 4, I asked him, "Who's the aquarium expert?" and as I expected he said "You." But then the lady rudely said she was. I am not very happy with that petsmart right now for other reasons also. I should probably complain to the manager.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 03 Jan 2006, 17:23

Yeah, well, they say "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys", and I think that holds true, particularly for larger organisations. If you employ 1000 people, that work an average of 160 hours per month, you save $160000 per month if you can drop the hourly pay by $1...

The fact that customers decide to go elsewhere to buy their fish (or other stuff) doesn't matter much when most customers only come back once every three or six months.

And it's fairly common for sales-staff to be ignorant and cocky at the same time...

Fortunately, so far, England doesn't have a PetSmart, although I have a feeling that Pets At Home is trying to become one. I wouldn't buy the fish at the local one. Aside from not having anything interesting, half the tanks have corpses, and the rest of them aren't exactly looking great...

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Mats

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 03 Jan 2006, 17:45

I went to a pets at home once, and the fish selection was basic, but they were healthy.

My local World of Water is one of the worst stores i've ever been to. Every time I go there there are tanks full of dead and dying exotic plecos riddled with disease.

I makes me very sad and angry , especially when they import them from the wild. They must lose so many.

If I had room I would rescue them all, but that would just make them import more!

[sorry to go off topic]

Fish Demon · Post by **Fish Demon** » 04 Jan 2006, 07:39

When I was telling Silent Doh to get 6 zebra danios instead of 4, I asked him, "Who's the aquarium expert?" and as I expected he said "You." But then the lady rudely said she was.

That literally made me "laugh out loud".

Is a rubberlip pleco a rubbernose pleco?

Is a rubberlip pleco a rubbernose pleco?

thanks

Similar species

Re: Similar species

Wrong names