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I've had this Gold Nugget for about a year he's grown a little under an inch since I got him. I got him at 2.5". I've searched other postings and to me it looks like he may be a L177. Although I'm no expert. Thoughts anyone?
As an aside he is in a 40 gallon tank with the following :

1) 4 bloodfin tetras
2) 4 gold tetras
3) 3 diamond tetras
4) 2 roseline sharks
5) 2 Japonica shrimp
6) 1 Female ancistrus

The roselines were the last additions. They were probably a bad move but they were a surprise purchase by my girlfriend. I was left no option. The GN and the ancistrus leave each other alone. I think the fact that the ancistrus is a female helps, shes not aggressive at all. In the tank a have this slab of rock that has three little compartment ( you see the first and second compartments in the first photo). The GN likes to hang around the middle teir. Its his favorite spot. To the right i have driftwood and grapewood with two plants fixed on them. The wood is arranged on top of some rocks as to make a makeshift cave underneath.

I realized that the tank is over stocked. The folks at the fish store said he would be fine a small tank for now because he will grow slow and that i should put him in a bigger tank in two to three years. I would like to upgrade to a bigger tank in about two years. Knowing the kind of GN he is will help me plan on how big my next tank would be. I would think 50 to 75 gal if L177 and 75 to 100 if L018. Any critique would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I would think that it's NOT L177, as the spots look too small - L177 at 10cm/4" has spots that are about 3mm/1/8" in size, and the spots get smaller as they grow bigger. Having said that, I'm far from convinced that the different forms of these fish aren't a continous range of everything from large spots to small spots, and whatever other variations we can find.

Let it grow a bit, and see what it looks like in a year or three.

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Mats

he is very pretty. what are his fav foods so far?

Andy Thank You

My GN and ancistrus both love watermelon. They will come out of hiding for watermelon. Defrosted cucumber and Hikari pleco wafers are staples. I've also given them seeded kiwi every now and then.

The fruits and veggies I give them during day light. Wafers are at night hidden in the caves. I give the wafers at night so to keep the tetras and roselines off of them.

Well, we can pretty much settle this by the scientific name of , which covers both L18 and L177 in it's scientific description.

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Mats