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As a some of you may have already read, I purchased a group of 3 L066 pleco's and what I ended up with was 3 L129s; thanks for the ID Suckermouth. One of the three plecos is a color morph. I contacted the LFS and they said its passed the policy time (by 3 days), they're currently out of stock on L066, they haven't received any other order error notices (which I hope if anyone else got any will sooner rather than later realize they too didn't get the fish they ordered), etc. I figured I'd get a response like that, lesson learned, I'll have to video ever time I get an order in the mail next time & positively ID each fish.

Anyway, Pleco22 wanted me to post some more pictures of the fish, so since I had time, & did a water change today, I got a few new pictures. I've posted some below and also here is the link to my flickr set of the plecos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56841689@N ... 095757968/

Also, If anyone wants to help sex them, I think they might be too young, but since they only grow to 2.8" They might not be that young.

Here's a picture of all 3


Color Morph when it arrived


Two of them. (Color Morph Now, 35 days later)


The third


A Side view of the color morph (Kind of blurry but best one of him/her in the tank I got so far)


Thanks.

That color morph favors hypan sp 1. I have had no luck when getting the correct species i ask for when ordering through lfs. i have also received debiliterra when my lfs argued about them being l204. I feel you did luck out though that is a beautiful specimen.

Current thinking says that this colour morph is "just" a nice example of . Some refer to it as Hypancistrus sp. "Last Emperor", Hypancistrus sp. "Corroncho Plata" or Hypancistrus sp. "Platinum". Do a forum search on those names.

I wouldn't try to breed it with the standard you have. They are clearly different enough to warrant separating.

So I'm 90% sure the two are L129, I think the 10% is uncertainty from similar looking species of L340 in pics online (like this one: http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2138, which kind of looks like one of my pics)

Im not quite sure to call the other one a L340, it looks like a "platinum" pattern except its a caramel color. Though it kind of looks like the photo here: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 7&start=40

I'll separate them as soon as I get a new tank up, cycled, and all set parameter wise. Hopefully I can get more opinions from the pleco experts.

They both look like L129 to me.

Hi,

this fish is very interesting of course. These kind of fish are sold as Hypancistrus sp. "platinum". They are very rare. i am very interested in this kind of pattern.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 20#p228746
If this is L 129 this pattern is like turned around. What usually ist dark yellow is now dark brown and thw way around. I was lucky to breed Hypancistrus "Last Emperor". Both male and femal have such a "negative" pattern. I have around 150 fry - and no is colored like a parent. They are beautiful, but they fit in L 399 or L 287 or other Xingu Hypancistrus. The question is: Do the pattern will occur in F2, or if I mix the fry with the parents?

One thing is clear - this pattern is great - and you have made a big deal.

regards

So, Pleco22, you think that this is could be an inverted pattern on a L129. If it is, this kind of reminds me of 'shiny' pokemon.
(Here, for those who haven't played pokemon: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/ ... k%C3%A9mon)
I've never gotten a shiny pokemon in the game, but I'll take a real 'shiny' pleco.

Thanks for the info.

Hi, sorry I am not an expert in this pokemon things. But of course you could be lucky. Keep this fish in conditions and try to breed it.

And please provide some better pictures.

Sad News.

One of my L129 had a cloudy eye a few days ago, water changes & a little salt cleared it up, but yesterday I noticed what looked like fungus on him. Started medication however today after coming home I found them all dead, even the color morph) in their caves. Only the pleco's seem to have gotten whatever it is/was. 0.25 ammonia (api testing kit has never given me a 0 rating), 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites. & I was about to put them in a breeder tank I was cycling for over a month... uggh. Just thought I'd let you know. Sorry Pleco22

Sounds like Columnaris to me. I had it wipe out an entire tank of L028s and L333s in a 48 hour period. Nasty stuff. Don't move anything from that tank to any other tanks.

Hi all,

One of my L129 had a cloudy eye a few days ago, water changes & a little salt cleared it up, but yesterday I noticed what looked like fungus on him. Started medication however today after coming home I found them all dead, even the color morph) in their caves.

Sorry to hear of your loss, my suspicion would be that it is an oxygenation and water quality issue, rather than a specific disease. A lot of plecs like Hypancistrus spp. are rheophilic fish, they live in water which is very fast flowing and well oxygenated, they can't cope with falls in the level of oxygen that won't harm other fish. Oxygen levels that are sub-lethal will lead to some of the problems you have experienced, whilst any sudden fall in oxygen level will lead to death.

Oxygen deficiency very frequently relates to biological filtration, because the conversion of NH3 - NO2 - NO3 is an oxygen intensive process. Have a look here at Shane's PC article: <http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... ved+oxygen> and at this one that I wrote based upon our work on "land-fill leachate", at present hosted by "Plecoplanet" "Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium" here: <http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=829>.

0.25 ammonia (api testing kit has never given me a 0 rating), 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites

Not every-one will agree, but throw the kits away, they don't tell you any thing useful, for example you definitely don't have 0ppm nitrate (NO3). I wish this wasn't true, and there really were cheap and quick test that worked, but there aren't. I have access to £100,000's worth of analytical kit (with fish tanks in the lab next door), and even with that it is really difficult to get repeatable, meaningful results for many parameters. The only easy to use, cheap meter that gives reliable, repeatable results is a conductivity meter.

I use the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) concept for tank management, again we can't actually measure BOD, but it makes tank management a lot easier. Details towards the end of: <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hilit=+BOD>

water changes & a little salt cleared it up, but yesterday I noticed what looked like fungus on him

Again I know other peoples views will differ but I can't see any use for salt (NaCl) with fish from soft water. These fish come from water with low conductivity and very few salts of any kind, so why should salt be therapeutic? it doesn't make any sense to me, I've read the suggestion that it helps with osmotic balance etc.

This links to a very good water quality article "Water Chemistry: Osmoregulation, Ionic Imbalance & pH" by Joe Gargas at: <http://www.tbas1.com/Exchange/The%20New ... d%2011.pdf>.

cheers Darrel