some new photos of my L239 "vincent" (pic heavy)

[inkyjenn]

hes such a handsome guy now that hes not starved, the flukes are gone and hes recovered from being poisoned (thanks to the water company) and a bout of ich from the stress after the poisoning. hes back to his old self, eating and active. hes the most terrific shade of blue again. enjoy

[Richard B]

I gotta say, he/she is lookin' good

I am liking this species more & more these days, now where can i fit another tank in........?

[andywoolloo]

that is a very handsome/beautiful pl*co!!! he/she looks absolutely stunning!!!!

running to look up L239 in the cat e log

kinda blank in there under L239. is he an omnivore or carnivore, what temp does he like, did you have to special order him?

[inkyjenn]

mine seems to be primarily herbivore. ive offered him krill, shrimp pellets, shrimp, bloodworms, and mysis shrimp but he doesnt seem to touch them. he likes hikari sinking algae wafers, the wafers for cories, and broccoli more than anything else. but he eats regularly and well. it was tricky at first; he was starving when i got him (belly sunken in, eyes sunken as well) but he wouldnt eat. i got a tip about crushing food and mixing it with egg white and painting it on rocks to get him to eat. hes about 3.5-4" long now and shouldnt get over 6"

they are hard to come buy and a little pricy. in the us expect to pay $45-60 for one. not as bad as zebra plecos, but not a cheap fish. people seem to have a hard time keeping these little guys as they can be tricky to feed and there arent a lot of captive bred specimens available yet, so a lot of these guys are wild caught. this can mean they are tricky to acclimate and they can be infested with parasites. i got mine for $20 at a fish meet and after i noticed the flukes all over his body, i figured out why he was so cheap.

it took a month in quarantine with repeated treatments of prazipro to get rid of the flukes. he was doing wonderfully until my tank had a water disaster. me and my bf spent about 3 hours holding him under the flow of a powerhead (he had a seizure, was rigid and vibrating with all of his fins stuck stiffly out; his eyes pointed straight down, he kept flopping over on his back, he was a pale gray color, it was nuts) in another tank before he began to act okay. after about 48 hours he seemed normal again, and another 24 hours later, he developed ich. these guys can be a little touchy about water parameters. i was so used to my gibby who is just a TANK in comparison.

this is not a beginners pl*co imo. im sure there are types that are trickier than these guys, but compared to a lot of other species available these guys are a right pain in the prat. but once settled, they are gorgeous. and they stay small so you dont have to get an enormous set up for them. they are pretty shy as well. make sure you provide lots of hiding places for them. ive got two other small pl*co (clown aka panaque maccus and a flounder aka dekeyseria brachyura) species in my 55 with him and there has been absolutely no signs of territoriality or aggression towards the others. the tank is pretty well planted with 3 separate areas of driftwood which should give all a territory to call their own. the other two pl*cos are 1.5" and 1" respectively.

[andywoolloo]

well he is a beauty! thank you for all the info! You sure take good care of him, saving him from starving and flukes and holding him in front of the powerhead!

I thought he'd be more then 45 - 60 bucks, I paid 90 and 70 for my two king tigers and i thought your pl*co would be about 100.

[DutchFry]

it really is a beauty!!

[Death Pony]

Very pretty pleco. I've never seen one quite like it before.

[inkyjenn]

L239s and blue phantoms are the only known pl*cos that are blue...

so far anyway.

[taz_1228]

Need some help on getting my 3 L239 healthy, they are wild caught and starting to get ick, can you tell me what kind of medicine you used to getrid of it. I bought these guys from a guy who sells them on aquabid and Monsterfishkeepers.com for $27 each and some L066 for $30 each if interested. his user name is snookn21. Thanks again for any tips.

[Farid]

hi there,
what i do if i any one get's dots, oodinium or similar things is :

Temp up to 34 degrees! a powerhead with diffusor and another airstone for about 7-10 days
every 4 days a 100% waterchange

at the end another 100% waterchange and setting the temp. back to 30 degrees and at the same time i take the pump and oxigen out of the tank.

no medicals salt or anything else

farid

[inkyjenn]

i couldnt get the stuff to die with just air and heat. i ended up doing a half strength salt treatment with the heat and air. then the stuff cleared up really quickly and once the dots had been gone for 48 hours, lots of water changes to get the salt content down. i kept them in quarantine for 2 weeks after the dots were gone. once the dots were gone, they never came back.

hes so perky now that hes back in the main tank. he comes out to feed now when the lights are on and will actually charge in to grab a wafer from the cories. hes completely endearing and eats like a horse