Green Phantom Pleco

[§tudz]

Yeah he's great. He was actually reduced at the LFS - the Blue Phantom and I think there was a royal as well are selling for £60!!! Poor little guy had been packaged in with some nasty fin nippers so his tail and dorsal are a little on the scraggy side (definitely not fin rot as he's been at the LFS for a few months and I did ask about it. I've seen fin rot as well looks totally different) Poor Louie is a little battle scarred!

I know, £42 is still expensive for a less than perfect fish but I had Veronica from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory syndrome, you know "I want it NOW!" Couldn't resist him.

LFS has assured me they aren't buying from the place anymore. Can't remember what fish he was packaged with but they weren't community fish. Poor Louie was the last one they had and he looked lonely!

£60 for a Blue Phantom?? Thats insane, My Not-SO-LFS sells them for around £30, and they are about 3" If I remember correctly, their length.

Lovely fish, and just for the record I'd go with a blue over a green

 

[Bex]

Yeah he's great. He was actually reduced at the LFS - the Blue Phantom and I think there was a royal as well are selling for £60!!! Poor little guy had been packaged in with some nasty fin nippers so his tail and dorsal are a little on the scraggy side (definitely not fin rot as he's been at the LFS for a few months and I did ask about it. I've seen fin rot as well looks totally different) Poor Louie is a little battle scarred!

I know, £42 is still expensive for a less than perfect fish but I had Veronica from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory syndrome, you know "I want it NOW!" Couldn't resist him.

LFS has assured me they aren't buying from the place anymore. Can't remember what fish he was packaged with but they weren't community fish. Poor Louie was the last one they had and he looked lonely!

£60 for a Blue Phantom?? Thats insane, My Not-SO-LFS sells them for around £30, and they are about 3" If I remember correctly, their length.

Lovely fish, and just for the record I'd go with a blue over a green



Yeah these guys are twice the size though - about 6 1/2" and really prominant markings. Louie is about 5". We had real trouble deciding between the blue and green phantoms - was in there doing eeny meeny for about 1 hr!!!

 

[KathyM]

TBH I'm going to go against you Studz on this - I prefer the Greens - mainly because the Blue Phantom has been photoshopped to within an inch of it's life on most pics I've seen, and I've heard they lose what little "blue" colour they have over time anyway. I'm willing to have my mind changed, but having sought advice on another board, and having discussed things with the OH, I think we're going to go for an L81 Gold Nugget after all *lmao*.

 

[Bex]

I have to say - the blues in the LFS are not youngsters and I was struggling to see whyt they were called blue - when you see the green it is very obvious. I then saw one on PFS and he was almost bright blue!

Each to their own I s'pose!

 

[Bloo]

Yeah he's great. He was actually reduced at the LFS - the Blue Phantom and I think there was a royal as well are selling for £60!!! Poor little guy had been packaged in with some nasty fin nippers so his tail and dorsal are a little on the scraggy side (definitely not fin rot as he's been at the LFS for a few months and I did ask about it. I've seen fin rot as well looks totally different) Poor Louie is a little battle scarred!

I know, £42 is still expensive for a less than perfect fish but I had Veronica from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory syndrome, you know "I want it NOW!" Couldn't resist him.

LFS has assured me they aren't buying from the place anymore. Can't remember what fish he was packaged with but they weren't community fish. Poor Louie was the last one they had and he looked lonely!

£60 for a Blue Phantom?? Thats insane, My Not-SO-LFS sells them for around £30, and they are about 3" If I remember correctly, their length.

Lovely fish, and just for the record I'd go with a blue over a green

I think it was meant the Royal was £60 - not the Blue Phantom - but even if it was the Blue Phantom too, for a large 6" one or so it's not unreasonable. They are fairly slow growers - so not so insane if it was for a nice size specimen. My lfs also sells them at £32.50 for a 4" specimen.

Personally I prefer the Green Phantoms - not the blue The blues are a lot duller

 

[Bex]

The Blue Phantom was £58 and the Royal was £62. I think it was cos of their size but as I said before they really are very fine specimens. Really nice colours - the spots look amazing! Louie has just found his coconut cave and is currently sitting there happily with his head poking out so I can see him. Just wish I had a camera.

 

[RadaR]

Green Phantoms are really cool. I bought one 2 years ago however it died due to me not knowing that a medicine i had previously put in contained methylene blue. The store I got it from only charged me £20 for him, they obviously didnt know what a cool plec they had. Don't acspect him to be an amazing algae eater, mine wasn't but you never know

 

[§tudz]

Fooled again then, I had been told they get blue-er with age, /me cries.... I still like them though /me is just being stubborn

 

[Bex]

Hey KathyM

You said you were going to get an L81 Golden Nugget. Been back to LFS and they have one of these guys too and he is gorgeous!!!!

Might have to invest in one of those when we get our bigger tank - hmmm, my fish are taking over from trying to save for a mortgage!

Why is it I like all the really expensive ones?!?

 

[KathyM]

You think that's expensive? Zebra plecs sell for up to £150 each, and some other pretty plecs regularly reach £70-90 dependant on size and how common they are.

Yes I'm getting a GN soon hopefully - we'll be going to Trimar because they're not a ripoff! LOL

 

[Bloo]

You think that's expensive? Zebra plecs sell for up to £150 each,

Haha - if you're lucky !
You still sometimes see ads for up to £250 a piece. Insanity if you ask me!

Unfortunately these plecs are so expensive for mostly a very good reason - the majority are wild caught and so many die on their way to their final destination. And many of these are very hard to breed in captivity. So we pay the price

 

[KathyM]

Am I right in thinking Zebras are now banned from import lists? I heard they were endagered but didn't know if they were still imported.

I think the downside is people like me who want one fish and not to breed - the Zebras have been very common and really they should only be in homes now where they're in breeding groups. Sad that it comes to this though.

 

[lisa_perry75]

Wildwoods had wild caught zebs babies at £149 for 1" specimens...

 

[Bex]

I don't feel so bad about the price I paid for Louie now!

Borrowing a camera from a friend tomorrow so will see if i can get a good pic of him.

Also, been looking into getting some blue LED lights. Apparently make it more like natural night time so plecs and catfish will come out and they are easier to see?

Anyone know if this is true?

Have read they can't see this light which is why they are not bothered by it but what about the others that are trying to sleep - will they be disturbed? Sleep depravation being a torture method and would feel bad if it affected other fishies!

 

[KathyM]

They can see blue light, it's red they can't see (apparently and I'm yet to test it). Basically with normal blue moonlighting you'd need to have it on very low to even begin to encourage a shy plec out (so low it's hardly worth it). With red *apparently* you can have it on higher and therefore actually see them.

Edited to add: As for sleep deprivation, the idea of moonlighting, or the red lighting is to only have it on for s short period in the morning and evening before and after the main lights are on (with moonlighting the theory being that is creates a dawn/dusk effect both to people and the fish).