My Snowball Pleco!

[Mr Melt]

Allright lads.

A few months back I got my hands on a Snowball Pleco (L102); cost me an arm and a leg but it was worth it =)

Unfortunately from the moment I put him in the tank he found a rather crafty cave in the bogwood and refused to come out.

Now, several months on he has become a bit more friendly and less timid. For the first time I managed to get a half decent shot of him!

Because of the way he eats algae wafers I decided to call him Nibbler =)

And here is an earlier shot of him when he was just introduced to the tank (which explains the dampened colours)

What do you guys think?

PS - I'm still not sure on Nibbler's sex. Could anyone identify him/her through this photo?

 

[xingumike]

Beautiful fish, however to me this is not L102 or even a Hypan.

How big is it?

Edit - I think this is a Baryancistrus, LDA33

We may have a common name confusion going on

 

[Mr Melt]

Beautiful fish, however to me this is not L102 or even a Hypan.

How big is it?

He's about 4-5 inches long. What makes you think this isn't an L102?

Terrific; the fishstore have sold me another wrongly named fish - I made sure to ask about its max size; I also told the LFS that I had a 200 litre tank; they said it would fit in fine no problems as long as it had no other bottom feeding competition, which it doesnt ¬_¬

 

[xingumike]

Beautiful fish, however to me this is not L102 or even a Hypan.

How big is it?

He's about 4-5 inches long. What makes you think this isn't an L102?

Terrific; the LFS have sold me another wrongly named fish ¬_¬

Whilst I hate attempting to id Hypans (they are all black and white squiggles to me), this doesn't look like one, the relatively elongated nose for a start.

The problem anyone has when buying such fish is common names. I wouldn't be upset with the mis sell unless you were specifically looking for H. inspector to add to a breeding group (if that was the case I'd guess you would know what you were buying). This fish is nicer, at least to my eyes and as long as you were happy to pay the asking price for said fish then don't be too ******* off.

FWIW I'd have that over any Hypan except 46 and 260.

More photos could help but I appreciate that could be difficult.

 

[Mr Melt]

Beautiful fish, however to me this is not L102 or even a Hypan.

How big is it?

He's about 4-5 inches long. What makes you think this isn't an L102?

Terrific; the LFS have sold me another wrongly named fish ¬_¬

Whilst I hate attempting to id Hypans (they are all black and white squiggles to me), this doesn't look like one, the relatively elongated nose for a start.

The problem anyone has when buying such fish is common names. I wouldn't be upset with the mis sell unless you were specifically looking for H. inspector to add to a breeding group (if that was the case I'd guess you would know what you were buying). This fish is nicer, at least to my eyes and as long as you were happy to pay the asking price for said fish then don't be too ******* off.

FWIW I'd have that over any Hypan except 46 and 260.

More photos could help but I appreciate that could be difficult.

He cost £70; I don't think these are common in Northern Ireland (I've yet to see anyone here with one). I'm very happy with him, but if hes a LDA33 then hes going to get too big is he not?

Regarding the nose; thats actually the plants shadow thats making his nose look longer - it confused me at 1st too. Hold on I'll get another pic up!

Heres another picture of him (taken when I 1st got him, which explains his dampened colours):

 

[xingumike]

Hmmm ok, that now looks more like H. contradens, what a difference a photo makes

 

[xingumike]

Hmmm ok, that now looks more like H. contradens, what a difference a photo makes

 

[JenCliBee]

Hmmm ok, that now looks more like H. contradens, what a difference a photo makes

Stick to your first thoughts Mike, the fish reassembles Lda33 far more than 102.... the stress colouration isn't making things better but the fist pic the OP posted clearly shows it's a bary species not not hypan.

Lovely fish BTW, the price you paid is way in excess of what both species are actually worth but the LDA33 is much better suited to the price than the 102 .

 

[Mr Melt]

Hmmm ok, that now looks more like H. contradens, what a difference a photo makes

Stick to your first thoughts Mike, the fish reassembles Lda33 far more than 102.... the stress colouration isn't making things better but the fist pic the OP posted clearly shows it's a bary species not not hypan.

Lovely fish BTW, the price you paid is way in excess of what both species are actually worth but the LDA33 is much better suited to the price than the 102 .

Thanks; the reason I was made to pay more is simply because its more expensive to get fish here (due to rarity probably).

Example; a normal fighting fish will cost you £6-7 here. In England I think you can get them for £3 ¬_¬

 

[Mr Melt]

Ok well I've done a bit of research on the Big Whitespot Pleco, and regardless it should be fine in my tank.

It doesnt matter so much to me, simply cause he's my favourite fish in the tank =)

Now to my other question: can anyone identify the sex of it?

 

[Tizer]

I usually go with the theory that if its out cleaning the tank glass its female, else if it hides and sleeps a lot, its male.

 

[Mr Melt]

I usually go with the theory that if its out cleaning the tank glass its female, else if it hides and sleeps a lot, its male.

I thought these variants of pleco are not the glass cleaning type; I don't know if that rule will apply here =/

Also Nibbler hides a lot, but I have seen him out on the glass (sometimes during the day).

 

[fishyfeet]

I usually go with the theory that if its out cleaning the tank glass its female, else if it hides and sleeps a lot, its male.

same applies to people

 

[Mr Melt]

I usually go with the theory that if its out cleaning the tank glass its female, else if it hides and sleeps a lot, its male.

same applies to people

Lol - well played.......

 

[Blubble37]

whyndidnt you call it frosty?