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I am hoping to get a group of Chubby plecos (Parancistrus aurantiacus) later this week if they came in. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these plecos and also I was curious of their actual color change. I have read many different conflicting views on their color changing behavior, some say they are yellow in the wild and convert to dark once in the aquarium, some can go from yellow to dark and back and also they can be anything in between.
Thanks.

Hi CatWhat,

Check out this thread. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=46449#p312719

@jac has a good deal of experience with these.

Cheers, Eric

Hello CatWhat,
I've been lucky enough to breed them as well (see my breeding report). Regarding the color change, all fry I have had were brown, even though both parents were golden. The fry aren't large enough yet to change color, but I have heard they can change at about 3 inches in length. I have had large ones go from gold to brown and from brown to gold, and even some go back and forth a few times. I haven't figured out the triggers or reasons for the change.
Andy

Thanks for the info guys,
Andy, what size were your breeders? I'm hoping to get a spawn from them as with any fish that enters the fish room lol.
What are you feeding your group?

I received a group of 13, 2.5 - 3" plecos today. All are brown, but some are lighter than others as well.

Mine spawned at a relatively small size actually. About 4 inches TL.....which i found interesting, because i had larger fish (7-8 inchers) in a separate spawning tank, and the smaller ones in a large, grow out community tank, where most of the spawns took place. The big ones never did spawn, but the small ones (two different sets of parents) have on several occasions. They seemed to prefer the standard grey slate cave with a rectangular opening.

I feed Xtreme Catfish wafers, Hikari Carnivore or Massivore pellets (and now the cichlid pellets) and sometimes Repashy (a variety of flavors).

Here is a pic of the group floating in the tank and the other two is of one particular one that is more so speckled as such, where as the others are more so solid with some variance. Has the build and shape of a chubby pleco but the pattern of a BN almost.
Any here they are, hopefully they work under onedrive.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsJGY5z151_jgXxE6-diKIlFGyvQ
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsJGY5z151_jgX3njPCELmUFlXtA
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsJGY5z151_jgX67UBZmomRlPojs

Would be nice if the pictures were actually shown here on the forum, versus just a link.