Who am I?

Tuti · Post by **Tuti** » 18 Aug 2006, 21:46

This nice catfish is swimming in my girlfriends tank, but we're not sure what's his name. She thinks it's a Peckoltia vittata L015, but We are not sure of it.

Can anybody help?

Thanks!

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 19 Aug 2006, 01:02

Hi!

Peckoltia for sure but to determine the species we would need more pictures and info if possible!!

Cheers
Yann

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 19 Aug 2006, 06:05

This Peckoltia looks verymuch like what was sold to me as L199

Tuti · Post by **Tuti** » 19 Aug 2006, 07:46

Ok, I hope this picture is better

:

I'm pretty sure that it's not a L199. It was sold to me being a L52 or a L168, but the eyes on these two species look different.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 19 Aug 2006, 08:00

I will be most interested in finding out what this pleco's correct I.D. is. All I know is that my version was sold as L199 but that doesn't make it so. It is a recurring pattern making a correct I.D. difficult as there are 1/2 dozen possibililties that are close in appearance. I want to know what I have, too.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 19 Aug 2006, 12:16

Hi!

If it was sold as L52 or L168, there is a good chance that he might come from Colombia!
The overall body and coloration is similar to Peckoltia vittata, but similar species occure elswhere in Brasil and Colombia, so it is quite hard to give an accruate id!
Cheers
Yann

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 19 Aug 2006, 13:21

I have come to accept that my Peckoltia will remain unidentified but the photo published is as close as anything I could have posted of the specimens I have. It was originally sold to me on line as L204! It clearly isn't that. Some photos of P.maccus look like it but it is much different in morphology being much more gracile in build. It also was fairly expensive at $20 each. Which is also a reason for wanting an I.D. I do believe it was collected in Venezuela but can't be sure of that either. Of the many L### plecos of small size it is the most carnivorous pleco in my collection. They will sit on a pile of live blackworms where it slurps them up like spaghetti until it's belly is swollen and it likes to chew on wood.
Larry

Mars · Post by **Mars** » 19 Aug 2006, 20:04

Well I registered myself, that's a bit easier

...

The main reason why I doubt that it might be a L168 are the eyes. As you can see, my catfish has a little thing in his pupil of the eyes, which isn't visible on pictures of L152 or L168, but the P. vittata does have this thing.

And another thing is... that de Dekeyseria species are really flat, which isn't the case with my catfish.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Aug 2006, 09:50

Mars,

That's looks the same as the fish as I've got, and when I got it, it (together with a conspecific that I lost a while back) was identified as Peckoltia vittata. My fish was listed as "Clown pleco", which is a case of confused identity - I have some of those too, and they aren't even close in pattern or behaviour.

--
Mats

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 21 Aug 2006, 15:55

This Peckoltia species is much more streamlined than P. maccus or P. vitatta. I have 4 of them, lost 2 when they first came in. They are much more outgoing than the species I just mentioned. When they get hungry they eat snails by extracting them from their shells, Physa, common pond snails that is, they leave the trupet snails alone. All in all its an interesting pleco. The photos are so good that I hoped we could get this one identified. When I became more interested in plecos I accumulated 7 P.maccus which were always in hiding in a 75 gallon. I bought them while I still thought they were algae eating plecos. I see them more now that I added 8 L066 which seemed to either make them more confident about coming out or maybe the L066 took over the best hiding places.
But back to the fish in question, maybe those among us who are most familiar with this group could list the possible L### and in the meanwhile I know the vendor I bought them from will tell me where the were imported from as I know he said they were shipped to me by mistake and that he was going to keep them for possibily breeding. At the time I was told that they were somewhat rare in the USA. I will pass on their origin as soon as I can ask him.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Aug 2006, 16:20

Larry, I'm not seeking to argue with you, but I _DO_ think that the fish in the pictures in this thread are .

You may have a different fish - in which case pictures of that one would be beneficial [preferrably in a new thread].

My fish can be found in an old thread:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=11528

--
Mats

Javier · Post by **Javier** » 21 Aug 2006, 17:49

Larry, I'm not seeking to argue with you, but I _DO_ think that the fish in the pictures in this thread are Peckoltia vittata.

I think so, Mat.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 21 Aug 2006, 18:31

Hi Matt,
There is no argument going on. My fish are probably Peckoltia vittata. I was misled in part by the vendor who sold me these fish "by mistake" trying to inflate their value to try to make me feel lucky to have these sent instead of L204's. I was under the impression that P. vittata had narrow light colored bands but wider than P. maccus.
I live in a rural part of the USA and the only way I have to obtain interesting fish is through on-line vendors and some just take advantage of the lack of recourse to send what ever they want and then just say oops, so sorry, we'll make it up on your NEXT order. It's just part of a scam to keep the customer coming back not because of satisfaction but to attempt to recover the money involved.
I will chalk this up to experience and will be all the more careful in my future dealings with them. On the whole I have had good experience with this particular vendor but I now insist that the owner picks out my fish and not the help.
Larry

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 21 Aug 2006, 19:05

I've done the complete review of the data and Shane's reproduction article and I have no doubts that my fish are P. vittata. $20ea plus freight makes them seriously overpriced.

Mars · Post by **Mars** » 22 Aug 2006, 08:06

Ok, thanks everybody. I thought it might be the P. vittata for a while now. Too bad, because I think the L168 is more beautiful, but I doubt if the L168 is more active than the P. vittata (because this one is very active, even when the lights are on).

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Aug 2006, 09:41

Larry,
$20 ea isn't too bad, and I guess you'd pay shipping whatever you get from mail order... [I do realize that this isn't exactly what you wanted, and that's obviously a slightly different matter - finding a trustworthy supplier can be hard, I think...]

To compare, I paid 20 GBP, which makes about $36 each for mine...

--
Mats

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Aug 2006, 09:52

Larry,
$20 ea isn't too bad, and I guess you'd pay shipping whatever you get from mail order... [I do realize that this isn't exactly what you wanted, and that's obviously a slightly different matter - finding a trustworthy supplier can be hard, I think...]

To compare, I paid 20 GBP, which makes about $36 each for mine...

--
Mats

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 22 Aug 2006, 13:15

I guess the price paid for my P. vittata was reasonable enough and as Mars said they do come out a lot which can,t always be said for P. maccus.. They have actually been pretty out going and at times, as the photos you guys were able to post, they are nicely marked and colored. The photos of the fry in the spawning article makes me hope mine spawn someday. The fry are very attractive and the adults don't get very big so they fit into my 20L pleco tanks, The biggest pleco I have are L066 and everything else stays smaller than that I'm glad they have been properly identified at last.