I Need Help

[The-Lion]

Evening all I need help settleling a debate, I’ve recently brought the first three volumes of the Baensch aquarium atlas. Now the thing is as well as lengthening the fish hit list & creating one hell of a virtual aquarium in my head, it has called into question the identity of our Pleco’s. we got a tropical fish book free with our first tank & latched onto the first fish that looked like ours, so for months now I thought the fish pictured below where a couple Sail fin Plecos ( Glyptoperichthys Gibiceps ) but now looking at a picture in the aquarium atlas I think I have Pteryoplichthys Etentaculatas ( syn; Hypostoma Etentaculatum ) but nobody else here does & are saying pattern is just a variant of the sail fin so could someone please help me out, as the pictures on planet catfish are inconclusive cheers.

 

[morgan]

Hi, Commons/Sailfins are hard to identify IMO. I don't even know what my pleco is! He is either a Common or a Sailfin. I thought I might just wait and see how big he gets. If he is a Sailfin he could get to 2 feet. I think mine is more likely to be a Common. As you say it is hard to identify them from pictures as the patterns and colours seem to vary within the same species. You could try posting a picture in this section and see what people think. Here are some pictures of Buster (as in tankbuster, he was sold to me as a Bristlenose!). He doesn't look exactly like yours. Your Pleco is very nice BTW.

 

[morgan]

Hi, just realised what a stupid thing I said! You have already posted a picture. Sorry, my blood sugar was getting a bit low.

 

[The-Lion]

Here's the picture from the Aquarium Atlas, you’ll see that the pattern & coloring are very similar which ever it is they’re going to grow big 40cm if it’s one pictured here. Your right it is a good looking fish, had I been warned how big they will get I would have never brought them, but now I wouldn’t swap em for any thing even if it does mean re-arranging the furniture possibly loosing the sofa to fit a big tank in.

 

[The-Lion]

I was hoping for a little help from the more experienced plec keepers here. Are the pictures above a variation of the sail fin plec or as I think the Hypostoma Etentaculatum pictured in the book?

 

[The-Wolf]

the resident pleco expert here is smithrc
I'll pm him a link to this thread and perhaps he can help you

 

[The-Lion]

Cheers that would be great

 

[smithrc]

Cheers that would be great

Hi folks, Got your PM Wolf

At first look it looks like an L001 - Glyptoperichthys joselimaianus

They get to about 8"
(a mini version of a sailfin (gibbiceps))

Here is the link to my bible for catfish
Planet Catfish - L001

 

[The-Lion]

Wow another one to consider, but I’m pretty sure you have it. The orange coloration at the extremities of the fins shown in the planet catfish pictures is just the same. Of course all though they where kinda wrong I’m still getting a lot of I told you so from the rest of the household.
The size is a relief as it opens up a few more possibilities for my big tank when I get it, as they’ll be housed with 4 clown loaches & had they grown as big as I first thought that would have been it for the tank in terms of stocking.
Thanks again The-Wolf & Thanks Smithrc

The lack of any common name other than L001 the means Jose part of the name has been jumped on by my chelsea glory hunting mate.