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I received several of this small "Pleco" into my shop and was unsure of the correct identification.
They came in as Red Zebra. Look something like L288, however the facial patterns are different.
Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!
Don

Panaqolus of some kind, IMHO. One of the species with the fine lines on the face. Examples include:

• Panaqolus sp(l002)
• Panaqolus sp(l271)
• Panaqolus sp(l397)

Can you get better photos, color correct?

Cheers, Eric

Eric, Thank you. That was an iPhone picture and as you are aware they are not super photogenic. They do seem to take off when I go near the tank and as clients pass by it all day they are not out too often. I will try for a better upload, but this gives me something to go by and I hate to mis-identify a fish for customers.

donpetty wrote:Eric, Thank you. That was an iPhone picture and as you are aware they are not super photogenic. They do seem to take off when I go near the tank and as clients pass by it all day they are not out too often. I will try for a better upload, but this gives me something to go by and I hate to mis-identify a fish for customers.

Don, It appears to be in the "tiger clown pleco" group, based on the facial and body color patterns.

The small eye makes me think of .

Jools

Jools wrote:The small eye makes me think of

Panaqolus changae

.

Seems reasonable. I didn't mean to suggest a particular ID, but rather I was merely highlighting the lines on the face to confirm Panaqolus.

Thanks for the detail on the eyes.

Cheers, Eric

Looks exactly like my L271.

Thank you all very much this places me closer to an identification!
I hate to be "that" fish shop that mis identifies stuff.
Don

PlecosAndLoaches wrote:Looks exactly like my L271.

If it does, then your doesn't have very red fins nor does it have smaller eyes...

Jools

Jools wrote:

PlecosAndLoaches wrote:Looks exactly like my L271.

If it does, then your

L271

doesn't have very red fins nor does it have smaller eyes...

Jools

Jools - fair point - I should re-word my original post to say "exactly like the fish sold to me as L271"

And I would be happy to stand corrected on the ID of my fish from L271 to something else - perhaps L458?

Here's what appears to be a male from my group of 3...

It looks really close to a L052 Butterfly Pleco. Though seems to be red in tone and a bit bigger stripes. This simply could be a very young fish.

It looks really close to a L052 Butterfly Pleco. Though seems to be red in tone and a bit bigger stripes. This simply could be a very young fish.
He is actually very young. According to the lady at the store at most a month after the hatching process. Though I am doing weekly pictures to track the changes over time for several species for owners and study. This should also help ID down the road for others mid ownership of growing fish.

Pniko2443 wrote:It looks really close to a L052 Butterfly Pleco. Though seems to be red in tone and a bit bigger stripes. This simply could be a very young fish.
20170110_l052_butterfly_pleco-dekeyseria_sp-233025.jpg

Hi Pniko2443,
Your fish is not a butterfly. Yours resembles .

Cheers, Eric

I agree with Bekateen- That is , Definetely not .

catfishchaos wrote: ↑15 Jan 2017, 19:23 I agree with Bekateen- That is

Panaqolus maccus

, Definetely not

Dekeyseria sp(l052)

.

I really hope you are wrong on this one. Though he or she does portray similar traits of the clown I do own except the body armor is very different.

bekateen wrote: ↑15 Jan 2017, 02:30

Pniko2443 wrote:It looks really close to a L052 Butterfly Pleco. Though seems to be red in tone and a bit bigger stripes. This simply could be a very young fish.
20170110_l052_butterfly_pleco-dekeyseria_sp-233025.jpg

Hi Pniko2443,
Your fish is not a butterfly. Yours resembles

Panaqolus maccus

.

Cheers, Eric

I did go look at the several sections of butterfly pleco and it does indeed not look right. Although when I bought the little guy he did resemble the butterfly pleco. If this is indeed a clown pleco then I am going to have some words with the fish manager about this. I paid 15 dollars for the little guy.

You might ask your fish store where they get their fish from. For example, the wholesaler Aquarium Glaser in Germany sells Panaqolus maccus as clown plecos. But they also sell a fish under the name Peckoltia pulcher, and it too is in fact Panaqolus maccus. The problem with this is "Peckoltia pulcher" is a scientifically recognized synonym for one species of butterfly pleco. So a LFS ordering these from the wholesaler might think they're buying butterflies, but they get clowns.

Cheers, Eric

This is not a buttferfly/l52. It is a clown pleco. There is nothing about the two species that would look alike in any way and there is no room for a mistake here. It can not be a butterfly.

Your fish is also way older than 1 Month. It's at least 6 Month+. Your fish lady is telling anything she likes. Sorry.