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I purchased this guy at a local pet store as a common pleco. While trying to ID him, that is one thing he is most definatly not.

He seems closest to a l275 in coloration with the darker color on top of the lighter color, but coloration does not match up well in the dorsal area. He also lacks the elongated upper ray that seems to be present in this species. And has orange tinted fins at the tips. He also does not have a Lyre type tail that I've seen in some species.

So no on l008 and l006 body form and coloration is slightly off.

I am pretty sure he/she is some type of Pseudacanthicus, but no other species seems to have the same fin type that this one has. As you can see on the pectoral and anterior (? my fish anatomy is long out of use) this fish has a ragged apperance to the fins, this appears on all fins and does not appear to be damage all the curves are smooth and match left to right. In addition this ragged appearence is not the same from ray to ray and is very apparent on the dorsal fin. I apologize but this guy is very secreative and has not given me a good chance to get a good shot of him.

He has been in the tank 3 months and seems to be thriving on 1/2 algea wafers that are offered on a 2-3 times a week basis. I have not seen him go for the bloodworms that are offered to the redeye tetra that are in the tank. he is currently just under 4 inches.

HELP!! this is driving me nuts, I have been through each l and lda number at least 2 times trying to do this one myself. I know nothing of juv forms and potential color morphs and fin morphs in these species.

This is a common ().

I'll second that.

P. pardalis is a very variable species in colour and pattern.

Another clue is in the price. If he was cheap, then he is much more likely to be P. pardalis.

There is an easy (sort of) way to determine that it's NOT L275: If it's got 10 or more rays in the dorsal fin, it's a species.

--
Mats

Judging from that stringy poo, he could do with more vegetables in his diet (said in Scorttish Gillian McKeith accent).





God I hate that woman, correction, witch.

Thanks, no I see it as a younger form of that species. I feel slightly dumb on that one.

I do have a question about the fins though. The fringed appearance is not something I have seen in any other pics of any species. Like I said this is not caused by damage but appears to be the normal growth for this individual.

any ideas?

I do have a question about the fins though. The fringed appearance is not something I have seen in any other pics of any species. Like I said this is not caused by damage but appears to be the normal growth for this individual.

Well that definitely isn't normal for the species.

I would think that it is some kind of damage.

Fins on some fish heal really quickly, but other times it can take forever.

I guess it must depend on lots of factors.


I had a plec with symmetrical notches in his pelvic fins, and they took about a year to disappear. I was convinced they were supposed to be like that.

I can't really offer a better explanation than that really. Try and get some better pictures of the fins.