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Hi,

iI was hoping to get a bit of reassurance on my pleco's health. Was sod to me as a L600 i believe but a bit of research points more towards L114 (if there is a difference). was discounted on account of his snub.

Has always been a shy fish so difficult to monitor, but 'Rodger' doesnt appear to eat much and hasn't grown much. His eyes also bulge and are a little cloudy. He was in a 125ltr for around 6-9 months and was moved into a 340ltr around 4 months ago. since the move he does seem to be out and around more, but this could be partly due to new ''active' tank mates.

First pic a week ago. First pic also shows the deformed mouth. Second pic is a old photo probably a year old,

Any advice would be helpful, particularity food that might pique Rodgers appetite. tried lots of different veg, pellets and frozen.

Thanks , Steve

pic

Very strange, have never seen anything like it.
Might be a genetic defect. If so you probably cannot impact his health too much other than water perimeters, food, and tank layout. You could try some live foods though. Most fish go crazy for live foods. Preferred veg for my fish is zucchini if you haven't tried that yet.

Good luck with him!

Slightly better picture.

I have fed live food on occasions, but doesn't show much interest. I often leave courgette in overnight so he could be nibbling. He is more active evenings and nights.

I feed mine fresh shrimp, mussels, Repashy and they love it
-Tony

When mine were young they ate more vegetables items, then switched to meatier foods as they got older

Hi

snubnosed Pseudacanthicus don't grow as fast and as big as normal Pseudacanthicus do. I once had a group of 5 of those snubnosed specimens, which were selected from hundreds of well formed ones, and they always looked skinny and by far did not grow as good as their siblings, but they survived. It's a difference I could observe to Hypancistrus snubnoses, which grow just as fast as normal ones and also reach the same size. It might of course be due to their deformed mouth, which is different in each specimen, some dont seem tobe able to use it at all, I never saw the "take it in your mouth - roll it the whole time - but never loose it - behaviour" in snubnoses which others do all the time, especially when eating prawns or big pieces of mussels.

Yours looks like it has a really small mouth, so the grazing part of their food sourcing might be impossible for it.

Hi,
Daniel is right on the mark.
Mouth deformities typically affect growth in two ways. The first is the mouth doesn’t function properly so they can’t chew or grind hard foods.
The other is the throat is too small or partially blocked and they can’t eat enough.

Snub noses are not genetic issues but water and nutrition issues.

Jim

Thanks chaps, helpful stuff. Ill keep trying new foods, in different sizes, in the hope i find something that he can get his mouth around.

When you mention water and nutrition as the cause, i assume this is at fry stage?