PlanetCatfish.com

Parson me in advance for the lousy pics as my phone is my only camera...
I don't really like shopping at Petsmart, but occasionally they have good sales and occasionally I find something interesting. They have a pretty steady supply of Bulldog aka Rubbermouth or Rubberlip plecos. I bought a there a while back and (knock on wood) it is doing good.
I had noticed a different looking fellow in the store up in Port Huron, and when I got home kicked myself for not buying it. I have been stalking the local store and sure enough, three of these fellows were there today. This one is in the quarantine tank for now. Just want to verify it is a chaetostoma L445...?

Hi jodilynn,

Yes you are correct... The pictures leave room for improvement. (just playing)

Usually the bycatch mixed with formosae at Petco/PetSMART is . But with your pictures, I think L445 (which likely = ) is a better match. Dorsale doesn't have any black spots on the body.

Cheers, Eric

Lol I know my pics suck!

He is an all over light silvery grey with a green sheen and darker blue gray spots.

I will have to look for that third species now! I picked up 4 used tanks for next to nothing so I will be setting up catfish only tanks here soon (I hope).

Looks like my specimen that came from MartinS on here ~5.5 years ago (and still with me), which I now believe is Chaetostoma joropo.

I'm in Madison, Wisconsin right now for Catfish-Cataclysm. Nearby is a PetSMART, and in spite of all the amazing fish that are for sale here, I couldn't resist stopping in. They have a tank-full of the same joropo-like rubberlips. Now that I've seen them live, I am confirmed in my thought that they don't quite look the same as the L445 I've seen before. The spots are smaller and more densely packed on these fish. So whether or not L445 will prove to joropo (I still think it will), I think these fish are joropo. If there's room in my styro boxes when I go home, I may swing by PetSMART and grab these. I would wait till I got home to look at my local PetSMART, but I've never seen these before in my local stores.

Cheers, Eric

I think I saw a at my fave LFS. But it scooted out of sight before I could get a good look at it. The rest appeared to be the ones like the one I just purchased.

Any ideas about food? I am hoping he ate the zucchini I put in last night. I have a piece of sweet potato, a slice of zucchini, a few peas and a mulberry and catapa leaf in the tank. The stupid Mylasian trumpet snails are in heaven .

Many Chaetostoma spp will not eat veggies, while others show a strong preference for greens. It is necessary to experiment to find the right foods. I have kept spp that loved frozen foods and spp that would not go near them. I have bred spp on a diet of tetra bits while another sp avoids eating any dry food. Once you figure out what they will eat they are quite hardy.
-Shane

Hi All,

Here are the rubber lips at the PetSMART in Madison, Wisconsin. To me, they really look like , and they don't look like .

@Shane, what are your thoughts? Have you seen this particular type of rubber lip before? Do you think they are the same as L445?

Thanks, Eric

I would bet a beer on joropo. Note the lighter coloration in the upper caudal lobe. This spp gets pretty big and we mainly have pics of large adults so it may take a few months of growth before I would id at a higher level of certainty.
-Shane

Okay, thanks Shane...

Wait, a beer that it IS joropo? Or a beer that it isn't?

I understand the message to wait and let them grow before confirmation, but is your bet a hopeful one or a doubtful one?

Cheers, Eric

@bekateen The specimens in that those recent photos look like my one that came from MartinS in 2012, which I believe is . The tell-tale signs for me of this species is densely packed, round black spots over a vast majority of their upper body, with a white patch that extends forwards from their under-slung mouth to the upper front section.

My specimen was at least 5cm SL in 2012, he (I think it has extended fins and often rests on the underside of a large piece of bogwood fanning, not that I've ever seen eggs) is now at least 9cm SL. He is ~2cm longer than my two possible (they have square spots over most of rear ~66% of their upper body) and dwarves my ~5cm SL , just like my ~5cm SL that sadly passed away earlier this summer after having it a few years.

That it is Eric.
-Shane

Ok, so the consensus is that these particular Pet Smart specimens are in fact C. joropo?

Both this one and my C. formosae seem to be big fans of zucchini. I have put various algae, spirulina and zucchini tabs in, as well as something called "Bug Bites" that I found that are supposed to be excellent for plecos. Also occassionally throw in brine shrimp or shrimp tablets.

He doesn't seem anymore robust than when I got him, but he is hanging in there.

I may have a pleco addiction...

Here's the two best photos I've managed to get so far of MartinS' old Chaetostoma, that I believe is a C. joropo...





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