Calling All Chaetostoma And Hypoptopoma Plec Owners

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm wondering if there is anyone on the forum with either of these guys, for some personal experiences of keeping them...

Are Chaetostoma best kept in pairs or trios, or do they get on fine as single specimens?
Just how sensitive did you find their needs, especially the Chaetostoma?
Do/did your Hypoptopoma keep busy searching for algae to graze?

 

[JenCliBee]

I'm wondering if there is anyone on the forum with either of these guys, for some personal experiences of keeping them...

Are Chaetostoma best kept in pairs or trios, or do they get on fine as single specimens?
Just how sensitive did you find their needs, especially the Chaetostoma?
Do/did your Hypoptopoma keep busy searching for algae to graze?

No idea on Hypoptopoma species, don't and never have kept them and im not aware of anybody that has?.

Chaetostoma on the other hand are very easy to keep, not really that sensitive (compared to some species) and tbh in the way of feeding they are pretty much like any other on omnivorous species, will happy take veg, live/frozen foods and often algae.

No need to keep in groups but will happily live with others in the right setup.

They tend to be bad shippers due to liking quite oxygenated water (like most if not all plecs) which obviously is quite hard through shipping, so make sure they arnt freshly in before you buy, give or make sure the shop has them for a couple weeks first, this way they will be much healthier to introduce to your tank.

They


Other than that they are a nice addition to any tank which meets there basic requirements.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Cheers for that feedback.

I went to Aquajardin just before closing tonight and held back on both the Chaetostoma and "Giant Otos" which I think look like Hypoptopoma gulare, partly through overstocking concerns, but also due to the tank maturity (8 or 9 weeks) and the shop manager said there might be some rivalry with the Panda Garras. However, the Garras are not showing much interest in the light film of grey/green surface algae on the glass that gets exposed to the sun mid-late afternoon, which is a little dispppointing after seeing their impressive cleaning in the QT tank.

Still, its not all bad, they had some new Gymnochanda filamentosa (Threadfin Glassfish) and I came away witht the six Humpheads I've planned around all along!