Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
I kept a gibbiceps in a 200l for 15 years. It was about 10-11 inches when I got it and never grew any more. If you arrange your tank well, it should have no problems getting around in comfort! I always leave a nice long runway clear. They spit their tablets out underneath themselves when they eat and have to march backwards to keep up with them. Great fish!
imo thats Lipsarcus pardalis. Apart from the color pattern that resembles L. pardalis rather than G. gibbiceps, the predorsal hump is too small for a Glyptoperichthys. Moreover 90% of the plecos sold as "common pleco" or Hypostomus punctatus are L. pardalis.
I agre with you on the dorsal fin T,but what size is you're Gibby?
My chap is just about 4 inches, so the double spines at the of his dorsal fin might open up more as he grows.
His pattern is only just starting to show ,he was all grey and black network pattern when I got him .
i also question wheter its a gibby, i think that at 4 inches he should show more signs...also compare the caudal fins to that of a gibby...i think Lip. pardalis may be closer...that being said who knows really until he is full grown...but i dont think he shows indefinately that he is a gibby...however i just looked at your first pick and although his dorsal is questionable the caudal seems right...i guess i am now leaning towards gibby...also it seems to me that you can find more and more of these guys being sold as common at least here in Minnesota...if he were only a little darker it may be easier to positively identify him...anyway i just picked up what i believe to be a sailfin of some sort and he, rather than cream colored marbelling has a dark red...anyone seen one like that...i bought him as well for the price of a common 3 dollars and he definately is not a common...damn i gotta get a digital cam
The sailfin was about 4-5" when I took that pic.I had him since he was about 1" and even from an early age his colours and fin made him easily identifiable as a gibby.
Cat,
I know the kind of sailfin your talking about.They call them "red marble sailfins" or "gold spot sialfins" around here.They are closely related to the normal gibby.