Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
As so often happens, I bought this plec on impulse in the LFS yesterday but I have no idea what it is. The owner reckoned it would only grow to 10-12cm max and should be ok in my 90L two foot tank so that's the main reason that I need an id. He'll take it back if its a larger species but I really hope it isn't as it's just beautiful. Excluding its tail, it's about 6cm at the moment. I was thinking that it's some sort of Peckoltia but I'm not sure. Thanks.
Ok, having had a trawl through all the photos of Peckoltia sp., my plec is very similar to L205 except that the spots on the body are discrete rather than blotchy as in L205.
Well, a couple of more shots to show the markings on its back and belly. Sorry about the poor quality - it was in motion in the first photo and the second was taken from above so it's blurred by the water. I'd forgotten that plecs do that "chameleon" thing so now its body markings do look more like the L205 but I'd appreciate it, if someone who has one, could confirm this for me. Thanks.
Well, 88 views and no replies apart from indigoj (a fellow newbie) so I'll just assume that it is L205 since nobody is telling me differently. Thanks anyway.
Thanks Matien. I'd forgotten that wild caught fish are often half-starved so I've just put in a slice of courgette (as we call it for him.
Well, to my inexperienced eye, the L147 seems to have a more gracile form than the L205 and my plec is definitely of the stocky variety so I'm going to go with the L205 for the time being.
What can make you for sure differenciate L205 from L147
Its very hard to describe in words, but they are quite different in my eyes.
Agreed.
While the body markings on my plec change from discrete spots to banded areas, the spots on the head area are far apart as in L205 whereas in the L147, they seem quite close together.
Thank you.
It look pretty obvious on these pictures.
I will have to take pictures of some of my fishes to show them, as they are supposed to be L147, and I am not confident anymore...
Trillian: Yes, I think your fish is L205. It's more a question of "how do you tell the difference". I think spots on the tummy is a clear indication, but I'd like to have it verified by owners of for example L147.