Pleco Identification

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.
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MissNoodle
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by MissNoodle »

Photos from the first week:
FB_IMG_1679097577400.jpg
FB_IMG_1679097581475.jpg
FB_IMG_1679097584841.jpg
FB_IMG_1679097588204.jpg

And most recent, today, at 41 days old:
20230317_193237.jpg
Corydoras, Hoplosternum, Farlowella, Pleco
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Jools »

I'd like to revisit this again. If I've got it right we have this species in the cat-elog as - but the pics don't look quite like the one pictured? If so, while not assigning it to a described species, what do we think about calling it A. aff. bodenhameri?

Jools
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by bekateen »

Jools wrote: 16 Aug 2023, 12:46 I'd like to revisit this again. If I've got it right we have this species in the cat-elog as - but the pics don't look quite like the one pictured? If so, while not assigning it to a described species, what do we think about calling it A. aff. bodenhameri?

Jools
Hi Jools,

No this is the wrong fish. Except for the lack of abdominal mottling, these do look similar to and (and unrelated, they resemble my now-deceased , although I don't know if these will grow as large as mine had).

The fish called are my fish, which my LFS imported from Petra Aqua as Ancistrus bodenhameri, but bears no resemblance to the original description of A. bodenhameri. My fish look like the fish we've called here . The Ancistrus sp(8) thread is here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=50536

Cheers, Eric
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

Here's a more recent baby pic if that helps at all
20230814_223645.jpg
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by bekateen »

Casscats wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:23 Here's a more recent baby pic if that helps at all

20230814_223645.jpg
Now that looks very much like my fish, except that it's what my ADULT fish look like, and even after all these months, my adults are still only 5-6cm SL. And my fish, juvies and adults, are distinctly green irridescent.

Casscats, how long are your largest adults?

Cheers, Eric
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

bekateen wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:36
Casscats wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:23 Here's a more recent baby pic if that helps at all

20230814_223645.jpg
Now that looks very much like my fish, except that it's what my ADULT fish look like, and even after all these months, my adults are still only 5-6cm SL. And my fish, juvies and adults, are distinctly green irridescent.

Casscats, how long are your largest adults?

Cheers, Eric
The male looks to be about 3-3.5 inches (8-9cm SL) nose to base of caudal. Maybe 4-4.5inch with tail.

Here's a photo of him recently with a mature sterbai in the background for size reference. One thing that stands apart on mine is they have the white tips on the tail and dorsal as a mature adult too.
20230801_235352.jpg
The female is about 1 inch smaller.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by aquaholic »

About thirty years ago there were Bushy Nose Plecos - (Ancistris spp) in Australia that had very long and double branched, possibly triple branched bristles. A huge mass of pronounced impressive headgear. Some of the older text books and fish magazines might have examples. Australia would follow world wide fish trends back then. Unfortunately they were hybridised out of existence here and no longer available. I haven't seen any in my overseas travels either. I'd be very interested to find someone breeding or collecting a similar strain again. Keen enough to fly over to collect them (preferably small). I'd pay top dollar for these.

Please message me privately.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

bekateen wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:36
Casscats wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:23 Here's a more recent baby pic if that helps at all

20230814_223645.jpg
Now that looks very much like my fish, except that it's what my ADULT fish look like, and even after all these months, my adults are still only 5-6cm SL. And my fish, juvies and adults, are distinctly green irridescent.

Casscats, how long are your largest adults?

Cheers, Eric
Some updated photos


Juvenile with light camouflage pattern on leaf litter... the red tones are interesting
20231104_195700.jpg
20231104_195715.jpg
Juvenile with father on a rock, and father individually.
20231103_221041.jpg
20231103_221026.jpg

The gold shine on the adults seem really unique, my domestics do not show the same gold shine.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by DBam »

Great looking fish. If you're west coast Canada I'll definitely buy some off you if you do look to sell off juveniles.
Last edited by DBam on 05 Nov 2023, 07:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

DBam wrote: 05 Nov 2023, 04:06 Great looking fish. If you're west coast Canada I'll definitely buy some off you if you do look to sell my juveniles.
I'm all the way out in Ontario, quite a way aways. And I have a home lined up for the juvies already, still holding on to them until the person is in town.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

Interestingly the male has grown an inch since I got them.

The fry are still showing a red tone, but interestingly so does the female when on substrate!

Male, female, and one of the fry
20231124_181700.jpg
20231124_211527.jpg
20231124_171304.jpg
20231106_173713.jpg
Is there possibility of these fish being ancistrus sp. Columbia listed on your site? The spots look quite similar to these fish when on light substrate.

https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/sp ... es_id=2134


Or even triradiatus?
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/sp ... ies_id=883
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Shane »

No, not either. Both have very distinctive patterns on their caudal fin which are absent in your fish. Also, I have spawned lots of A. triradiatus and the fry never show the distinctive markings yours show.
I am realizing we need to add fry photos to the Catelog where possible as in some Ancistrus their coloration and patterning is quite unique when young. This can be helpful when trying to sort spp that lack distinctive traits in adulthood.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

Fry photos would be really fantastic.

And mouth closeups of all of them too would be another great option since my understanding is the mouth shape varies among species too.


Man, I wish I had more info from the supplier. The lfs just labeled them cucuta pleco and that was that. Owner netting me the fish didn't know/care how to tell male from female, so I doubt I'd have gotten any further info from him. For all I know, they may not even be from that area at all and they're just grasping for names

(They have labeled corydoras elegans as Peruvian blue corydoras, if that matters much for how far they reach for names)
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by Casscats »

bekateen wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:36
Casscats wrote: 17 Aug 2023, 00:23 Here's a more recent baby pic if that helps at all

20230814_223645.jpg
Now that looks very much like my fish, except that it's what my ADULT fish look like, and even after all these months, my adults are still only 5-6cm SL. And my fish, juvies and adults, are distinctly green irridescent.

Casscats, how long are your largest adults?

Cheers, Eric
Hi bekateen I managed to get an on glass measurement of my adult male.

Seems to be about 7.5cm SL
20240121_203729.jpg
Very very faint spots on the sides near the pectoral fins but otherwise plain brown below.
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Re: Pleco Identification

Post by HarryPotter69 »

It sounds like you've got a keen eye for detail when it comes to identifying fish species! Those distinctive patterns on the caudal fin are definitely helpful clues. Adding fry photos to the catalog is a great idea SEO
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