PlanetCatfish.com

Hi to all pleco experts out there~ If anyone of you knows, please help me ID my pleco. I call him Mr. Poo Poo because ever since I got him he has always been really fervent at excretion:P However, he has grown tremendously in relatively short period of time. I just wish I had asked what his ID was when I got him at a lfs!
Below is an image of him and his smaller friend. Believe it or not, he was smaller than the small guy in the picture when I first got him but has now outgrew all the others!




Thank you all!


Paul

Yup, they're both common plecos (Liposarcus pardalis). How big is your tank? These guys grow to 10", so you need a really big one to house two comfortably.

Silurus wrote:These guys grow to 10", so you need a really big one to house two comfortably.

Mine was 31,5 cm (about 12,5"). Also they're very active swimmers, even in the open water, not just bottom, so space is needed indeed. I had mine in a 580 litres tank, 200x58x50 cm, but sadly lost her to a tumor.

yup they are common plecs.. they grow very big!!!

I guess the funny bit is that the one outgrew the other - what do you feed your little monsters? Funny that one would not grow so - my last common grew from < 10 cm to about 35 cm in less than two years, cr*pping all the way - had to get rid of him because he was fouling my 125 litre tank, not to mention that the tank was way too small - crying shame, ended up giving him to the lfs more concerned for his welfare than getting a few measlies . . . even though he took a nice chunk out of my hand one day when I was cleaning the tank - reached in to grab a plant and he was hiding under it - scared the you know what out of me, I don't know whose heart was beating faster . . .

if you're feeding them with the flakes or your other fishes' food, please note they love spirulina wafers/tablets (if you can get them), but of course this will only help them grow to be big monsters. . . they also appreciate a place to hide . . .

Hey, thanks, you guys for all your help!

Man, so Mr. Poo Poo is just another regular pleco? D@mn it! I might've gotten ripped off then. But the thing is, if you look at him closely you could notice that he does look a bit different than the smaller one. He has red eyelids with red tips on the dorsal and pectoral fins. Cost me like 19 bucks when I got him and the store clerk said it is not a regular pleco but due to my lack of experience I forgot to ask her what its ID was!
I will try to take more clear photos of him next time to show you what I meant by the red marks. It was even more apparent when he was smaller.

As to what I fed him to make him grow that big, well, I fed him just the same as I did with others. Maybe he simply hogged it all, haha! I do feed all my plecos a variety of foods from fresh melon to mango to lettuce to zucchini to processed fish foods. Also, I know I should get a bigger tank for them; you guys will probably scold me when I tell you I currently keep FIVE different genera of plecos in a 29-gal tank. I actually got that new tank as a solution to them! However, maybe now I have less fear to worry as they are all pretty small; under 4 inches. Mr Poo Poo is biggest at 5 inch, but all others are much smaller. They all seem to get along with occasional fin nipping:P

Currently. there are Sun Shine(Scobioancistrus aureatus), Chocolate(An albino but I am not sure what his ID is; looks similar to Regular), Regular(again, could be a common pleco, but nowadays, WHAT IS common pleco? Hypostomus plecostomus?), Brownie (Ancistrus spp; common name is white-spot ancistrus) I will let you guys know how they all are doing from time to time; thanks!



Paul

Chocolate (An albino but I am not sure what his ID is

Chocolate albino plecos are just albino normal plecos (Liposarcus).