Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

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damage17
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Nov 2011, 23:30
Location 2: New York

Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by damage17 »

I saw this pleco at my LFS and they have it listed as a L-264. But, when I look that up, it looks nothing like this one. I am interested in purchasing it, but want to know more about it before I do so. I want to keep it with my discus. It is currently approx 2 inches long and it is on the bottom of the tank on it's side sucking on the glass.
Unknown Pleco.JPG
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MatsP
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Location 1: North of Cambridge
Location 2: England.

Re: Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by MatsP »

Looks like a young to me - but I have to reserve my judgement by saying that a "from behind" is not the best way to ID any fish, and this is not an exception.

The best way to identify Leporacanthicus is by looking at the mouth - it has some "frills" on the front edge of the mouth, only two teeth in the upper (front) jaw, and a few teeth in the lower (rear) jaw. But it may be hard to see on such a small fish...

What makes you think it's not?

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Mats
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racoll
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Re: Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by racoll »

Looks like a young () to me too.
damage17
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Nov 2011, 23:30
Location 2: New York

Re: Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by damage17 »

Thanks! I just never saw one colored this way (all black with black spots and white tips). Sorry, about the angle of the picture, I waited for a while to get a better shot. But, it wasn't making moves from that spot.
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MatsP
Posts: 21038
Joined: 06 Oct 2004, 13:58
My articles: 4
My images: 28
My cats species list: 117 (i:33, k:0)
My aquaria list: 10 (i:8)
My BLogs: 4 (i:0, p:164)
Spotted: 187
Location 1: North of Cambridge
Location 2: England.

Re: Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by MatsP »

Young ones have white tips on the fins. This reduces/disappears as they grow older. Black spots on grey base is normal colouration. I'd expect the base colour to vary dependsing on mood, background, etc.

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Mats
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racoll
Posts: 5258
Joined: 26 Jan 2004, 12:18
My articles: 6
My images: 181
My catfish: 2
My cats species list: 2 (i:2, k:0)
My aquaria list: 1 (i:0)
Spotted: 238
Location 1: London
Location 2: UK

Re: Can anyone help me ID this Pleco?

Post by racoll »

I believe you, but from the photo it looks like the typical colouration to me (grey, black spots, white fin tips).

Just like this one from the cat-elog.

Image
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