Weird pleco?

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 00:48

I bought Murphy about 2 years ago. He's really shy but hes a sweetie. Problem is, I can't figure out what the heck he is. He looks like L-087 but I really don't notice any of the spots on him. I finally got a few pics because I cleaned my tank tonight. I changed the gravel and he has no idea where he is and I think he is too scared to move.

Anyways, here are the pics:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... D=67480399
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... D=67480398

Any help would be appreciated...I'd love to know what kind of pleco my buddy is and if he really is an L-087 or what other L number could he be.
(if the pics don't show let me know, ill post them on a different site.)

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 22 Sep 2009, 01:16

freelancer_tex001 wrote: (if the pics don't show let me know, ill post them on a different site.)

Can't see the pics.

I don't have Myspace.

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 01:33

Sorry, didn't think of that at first.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 22 Sep 2009, 01:57

Looks like a , but its hard to say which one with those pictures.

Try to take some more photos when the fish in not in stress colouration. A shot of him with his dorsal fin up would also help.

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 02:10

pretty hard to get him with his fin up, but i will try.

bsmith · Post by **bsmith** » 22 Sep 2009, 04:53

Looks like a Rhino to me.

[clog]Pterygoplichthys scrophus[/clog]

[Mod edit: Replace URL with clog-link. --Mats]

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Sep 2009, 08:26

I'm with stlpleco:

--
Mats

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:08

Hey, thanks guys. It seems that Murphy has finally found his way back into his hideout now since we have changed his area a little. He will hardly ever come out now. Once he gets into that hideout I usually never see him, but I can hear him crackling around at night in the gravel. I probably won't get any more pics of him for a long time.

Any idea if he looks normal size? According to the pics that stlpleco showed me, they all appear skinnier than Murph. I feed him two algae wafers at night and they are gone in the morning, tank stays mostly clean so I don't think hes foraging algae from anywhere. Does anyone else think that he is a little on the chubby side?

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:19

Well actually, scratch that last post. Was watching him for a while, he was wiggling into the decoration that he hides in, one of the cats jumped in front of the tank and freaked him out. Right away he shot out and stuck his fin up. The pictures are a bit blurry because he was laying in the back of the tank but I got him.

bsmith · Post by **bsmith** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:20

Rhino for sure.

Post by **Borbi** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:21

Hi,

I´d put my money on a Hypostomus species, if I had any.
The number of dorsal fin rays (although hard to count) appears too low to justify calling him Pterygoplichthys.
Wouldn´t dare to go down to species level, though, there are way to many brownish ones with black dots..

Cheers, Sandor

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:49

Okay, well thanks everyone. I'd been looking on the net for a long time to figure out what he was. Maybe hes a cross between a Rhino and a Hypostomus. I got him from a store that really didn't know what kind he was so they just threw "common pleco" at him. Maybe he's a mutt. LOL Anyways, thanks guys! You are all great!

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Sep 2009, 21:20

I very much doubt that Hypostomus and Pterygoplichthys cross-breed. They may do, but I find it rather unlikely, they are overlapping in many areas, and if they cross-bred, they would not remain two separate species/genera.

I agree with those saying it's Hypostomus - my previous ID was based on body-shape. Your fish certainly hasn't got 10 or more dorsal rays, so it's not a Pterygoplichthys.

--
Mats

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 22 Sep 2009, 23:12

Ok. Thanks

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 22 Sep 2009, 23:46

Nice work on getting that fin photo so quickly freelancer_tex001.

stlpleco wrote:Rhino for sure.

Absolutely not. These new photos clearly rule out , as Sandor and Mats said. There are 8 dorsal fin rays, consistent with . Pterygoplichthys has 10+ dorsal fin rays.

On top of that, the Armbruster Key says:

Armbruster Key wrote:[P. scrophus]Dorsal fin without spots or vermiculations. Caudal fin dark with much lighter upper spine..... Body without spots, usually with large dorsal saddles. Large supraoccipital crest present.

The lack of a supraoccipital crest is obvious in this fish, as is the presence of numerous spots on the dorsal fin.

I hope I have convinced you stlpleco?

Borbi wrote:Wouldn´t dare to go down to species level, though, there are way to many brownish ones with black dots..

This is a more difficult question. There are few candidate species including , , , , , and a few others without L numbers from Recife and Peru.

I fancy , as have seen these in the shops and they seem to be a pretty good match as far as spot pattern and body shape go.

Care for all of these species is the same though.

bsmith · Post by **bsmith** » 22 Sep 2009, 23:51

Yeah, didnt get a clear look at the rays. Its hard to distinguish where the ray starts and where it ends.

mangopleco · Post by **mangopleco** » 23 Sep 2009, 01:41

I have a rino and that pleco is a rino pleco but mine has more brown and his tail is black

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 23 Sep 2009, 02:46

I have a rino and that pl*co is a rino pl*co

No, it is not a rhino pleco (). It does not even belong in the same genus.

AlvinBrockway · Post by **AlvinBrockway** » 23 Sep 2009, 04:56

its a northern pike! no but serioulsy i have no idea lol

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Sep 2009, 12:02

AlvinBrockway wrote:its a northern pike! no but serioulsy i have no idea lol

And this post, I can identify as the common name of "posting meaningless nonsense" aka Trivialus postus.

--
Mats

Carp37 · Post by **Carp37** » 23 Sep 2009, 12:58

Whilst I absolutely agree it's not Pterygoplichthys, I'm struck by how early the fin rays split (i.e. how close to the body they start branching)- none of the photos I've looked at in the CateLog for genera of the "larger" plecos seem to match that, even though there's a fair degree of individual variation within species.

freelancer_tex001 · Post by **freelancer_tex001** » 23 Sep 2009, 17:57

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows what he is. But I do know I may have to get rid of him soon. He is getting very big for a 10 gal. tank. When I get my new fish and frog, I will probably take him to Petco and let them sell him to a more roomy home.

At the moment I have just changed my gravel and did a whole tank cleaning mission, for some reason he came out and started wiggling like hell in one corner to get the gravel to come up. As I speak, he has a good 4 inch pile in the center of the tank...never seen him do it before.

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