Gibbiceps

My plec seems to have hair or furry bits in places and very nice almost velvet like skin on the rest. Is this normal? It looks like a checkered pattern almost. It is now more noticeable as he has grown.

Is the pattern there all the time? My gibby is well known for being a wuss, and often goes into stress colouration (he's afraid of the camera or one thing). The colouration goes back to normal once he gets over it, etc.

Is it like this:


De Niro the day after he arrived, with stress colouration


And again once he'd settled in, without stress coouration.

When he gets stressy, he drains of colours in a pattern, and gets patches of greyish colouration, and patches of darker colouration. There is often a grey outline of a square on his back just behind his head when this happens.

For De Niro it generally means something's given him a shock, but he did do it when the water was bad once. Most frequently he does this when we point a camera at him.

Thanks it could be the change in the water but they seem to be good. I have attempted photo's but he is not a socialable fish only entertains me in the night. He/she is beautiful ? I was just afraid that it may be sign of disease. If anything he seems a bit hungry so will try extra food as this maybe the problem. Do Clown Loaches annoy them as they never seem to leave him on his own there is usually one in there at the door like on guard. Cute really

View attachment 38459View attachment 38459I have a male Gibby in with 7 Clown Loaches and 9 Boesmani Rainbows, all adults (the latter part of a home breeding project).
If I were to start again I would not keep the Gibby with the Loaches or any other bottom feeders as they definitely stress him out at feeding time and he often threatens and chases them. I had a worrying time when one of the loaches kept pecking him but this did not last, although he sometimes has unexplained minor fin damage.
However, it is possible to keep them together and I rate both species very highly. Something that helps is I can hand-feed the Gibby which stops the Loaches grabbing all the food. The Gibby is put off by the loaches.
By the way, the Gibby is 12" now (1" at purchase) and I have had him for 11 years along with the Clown Loaches which are 6-7". They are in a 6' aquarium and I do a 25-30% water change each week. I also I am probably a little overstocked but the fish appear healthy. I have not had any disease.
I hope my pics come out. I am trying to attach two.

Nice pleco and Clown Loaches! Wish I had a tank like that....

and maybe I will....

*back a truck up to redshark's house*

Thanks for your comments Gankutsuou, I'm glad I went to the trouble of posting the pics now. I'm new to forums and had to spend a while working out how to resize my pics as they were too big initially.

I've wanted an aquarium like this since I was 8 when I started with a pair of platies in an 45cm tank. After much waiting and experimenting I've arrived at my goal at the age of 43!

When I first set up this 6' aquarium in 1989 I made the mistake of putting in too many different kinds of small fish. This did not have the effect that I wanted. Then, my 10 year old 40cm Distichodus sexfasciatus (housed only with a shoal of 40 cardinal tetras which he never harmed) tried to jump out and only succeeded in ramming the hood with fatal results (the lid on my Jewel aquarium used to occasionally flip down with a bang and shock him - I have now come up with a modification).

Now I'm very very happy with it though I realise it's all a matter of taste and I don't expect everyone to agree.

All power to those who too are working towards their goals!