Pleco Identification Please

bubblychaz · Oct 19, 2015

Hi, Ive been looking at these pleco all day,

They are a friends. They are the only two pleco he has. Has had them 1 year.
One is albino (4-5 inches) one is not (5-6 inches) Neither have really grown in the year, He put a submarine deco in the tank and all a sudden he has babies!!!

We have looked at bristlenose pleco (Neither has bristles)
we looked at common pleco (They seem to small the breed for common)
They bred easily without any set conditions all he did was add an ornament, They have had 2 batches now.

Leopard sailfin pleco.. again seem to small to be breeding and aparently none of the requirements they need have been met (For instance they are in a 180 Litre 3 ft tank, with gravel). They bred at 25 degrees and 28 degrees.

So the parents:

The babies

Ive tried going by the babies fin shapes to find the species and i get stuck, Im confused to how one baby looks like a golden nugget!!!

All I can say is the pleco

breed at 4-6 inches
breed very easily
comes in albino and spotty
Top fin is jagged abit
the albino has a spotty pattern slightly

Oh an ph is about 7-7.2

Any help please guys?

Asteria · Oct 19, 2015

I'm not sure if it's just me or not. But I cannot view those pictures.

betta fish · Oct 20, 2015

The first fish is an albino bristlenose plec, the second fish I am not too sure young common plec perhaps? the two cannot interbreed, the babies are bristlenose plec babies, some female bristlenoses do not have bristles.

NickAu · Oct 20, 2015

He put a submarine deco in the tank and all a sudden he has babies!!!

Yes, all the male needed was a cave.

What are you feeding them?

It is also important to regularly feed them a variety of fruits and vegetables. Their favorite foods are blanched zucchini medallions, shelled peas, cucumber and any soft melons. But you can always experiment and try different fruits and vegetables, and they will also greedily accept broccoli, lima beans and a wide array of other vegetables. With that being said, they should never be fed any acidic fruits or vegetables (oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, etc.)

Cut up garden worm is a favourite with my Plecos

bubblychaz · Oct 20, 2015

betta fish said:
The first fish is an albino bristlenose plec, the second fish I am not too sure young common plec perhaps? the two cannot interbreed, the babies are bristlenose plec babies, some female bristlenoses do not have bristles.

How can we have bristlenose plec babies without a bn male?

These are the only two plecs, and have been for nearly a year.

How did Fry happen??

This is confusing haha

NickAu said:
He put a submarine deco in the tank and all a sudden he has babies!!!

Click to expand...

Yes, all the male needed was a cave.

What are you feeding them?

It is also important to regularly feed them a variety of fruits and vegetables. Their favorite foods are blanched zucchini medallions, shelled peas, cucumber and any soft melons. But you can always experiment and try different fruits and vegetables, and they will also greedily accept broccoli, lima beans and a wide array of other vegetables. With that being said, they should never be fed any acidic fruits or vegetables (oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, etc.)

Cut up garden worm is a favourite with my Plecos

Same as What I feed my Bristlenose and my common.

Blood worm, Brineshrip, Spinach, Cucumber, Peas and of course wafers

NickAu · Oct 20, 2015

How can we have bristlenose plec babies without a bn male?

Guess what?

You have a BN male or they cross bred. There is no 3rd option.

again seem to small to be breeding

I read some place BN's start breeding when they reach about 3 inches.

bubblychaz · Oct 20, 2015

Up date of today,

I now have both parents and 1 albino fry and brown fry. ive also taken measurements. Albino is 2.5 Inch and Brown is 3.5 inch. They are all in my 3ft tank alone (Just incase my friends 2ft was stunting growth) I have no other fish or plec in the 3ft with them.

Brown fry is 2cm and albino is 3cm.. same batch about 3 weeks old.

There are no bristles on either "adult" pleco. Neither adult pleco has been near another pleco for nearly a year. For them to breed at this size their full adult size must be 5-6 inch?

this is the adult abino

the fry

betta fish · Oct 21, 2015

The albino is a female bristlenose plec she is of breedable size so that is the mother, bristlenose do not have to be 5-6 inches to breed they can breed much smaller (she is of breeding age but possibly stunted) some females do not have bristles but she is still a bristlenose

there must be a smaller bristlenose male within your friends tank that they have missed and bred with the female, that is my only explanation as the fry are bristlenose too, the large brown plec is not the father as he is a different species. I suggest keeping the two fish you believe are the parents together only and you will get no more fry as I see you have also got a couple of fry in the tank with them, once these mature they will likely breed again and you will have fry leading you to believe the two adult plecs have bred

NickAu · Oct 21, 2015

The albino is a female bristlenose plec she is of breedable size so that is the mother,

Oh yes she is old enough. I also have an albino BN female.

bubblychaz · Oct 21, 2015

betta fish said:
The albino is a female bristlenose plec she is of breedable size so that is the mother, bristlenose do not have to be 5-6 inches to breed they can breed much smaller (she is of breeding age but possibly stunted) some females do not have bristles but she is still a bristlenose

there must be a smaller bristlenose male within your friends tank that they have missed and bred with the female, that is my only explanation as the fry are bristlenose too, the large brown plec is not the father as he is a different species. I suggest keeping the two fish you believe are the parents together only and you will get no more fry as I see you have also got a couple of fry in the tank with them, once these mature they will likely breed again and you will have fry leading you to believe the two adult plecs have bred

My friend had NO other pleco in his tank, Just these two.

I have the two "adults" and 2 of their fry in my tank. I am cycling another tank now to move the fry to in a month (when cycle is complete) So I know in both tanks are parents in one tank and fry in another. No other fish or pleco.
If the adults breed again, Which I hope I will. Maybe their breeding behaviour will give clues.

Im abit shocked how pleco this size will choose a 2 ft sub marine as a cave. Though I have put pleco caves in the tank too now. so there is the sub and 4 pleco breeding caves around the tank.

In a few weeks I will induce the "rainy season" to try and get a spawn going like I do with my BN breeding tank.

I think Spawning them and documenting it may help?

Without knowing the species I dont know how to induce the spawning season with them.

With my BN's I give them 3 days of good feed, do a huge water change 60%, add 30% RO water and usually breeding commences.

Maybe I should try induce spawning season for these guys? But how without knowing what they are? Any suggestions?
Oh something else I noticed.

The brown one does NOT come out when their is light. If the tank light is on then he is no where to be seen! If I catch him as the light comes on his fin goes down and he shots into the submarine. Is this behaviour trait to any other pleco?

betta fish · Oct 21, 2015

If there was at least two spawns in this tank as you say the fry was the second batch, the first spawning may have yielded a male that was small but still able to breed with the albino female is all I can think of.

bubblychaz · Oct 21, 2015

betta fish said:
If there was at least two spawns in this tank as you say the fry was the second batch, the first spawning may have yielded a male that was small but still able to breed with the albino female is all I can think of.

The first lot got eaten by his oscar so none survived past a few days. Thats when he moved the adults to another tank and they spawned again.
I dont know.

I kinda think the best thing to do here is try and get them to spawn again.

Just unsure how to get them going