Rubber Pleco

[Rex740]

I just got a rubber pleco and im wondering if there fins ever go up. My rubber pleco has his dorsal fin down but also his tail fin is condenced together making it look like he doesnt even have a tail. Since all of his fins are tucked in (except the pectoral fins) he just looks like a weirdish big blob that ends in a tiny tip (like a rain drop). So is my new pleco going to ever put his fins up?

 

[020292]

The only time that I have seen mine with the fins up and when he is surfing the bottom and when he is swimming up to the top and and then back down again. This is the only time I have seen them with their fin up. I am not sure on this but I am sure someone will come up and read your post and then answer you better becuase I am not 100% sure if my answer is right or if I am even answering your questions.

Thanks!

 

[Glod]

The only times I see mine with his fins up is when he chases the bristlenose 3 times his size off the cucumber.

 

[LisaLQ]

Do you mean rubber plec or rubbernose plec (aka bulldog plec)?

Rubber plec:
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...p?species_id=82

Rubbernose/bulldog plec:
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=407

Saying that, I dont have either so cant really help you lol Although sometimes fish clamp their fins when they're poorly or stressed, so it might be worth checking water parameters and keeping an eye on him.

Rubbernose/bulldog plecs are quite fussy with regards water quality, and also prefer cooler highly oxygenated water to most tropical set ups, so it might be worth checking the temps if that's what species he is - and sticking in an airstone?

 

[Rex740]

It's a rubber pleco.

 

[LisaLQ]

Wow - you're lucky, any pics?

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[Rex740]

Wow so i got a rubber and that not common? ok now im not really sure its rubber... The pet store said they were rubber. They were $3.99. And his scales go by lines, but they are not that visible. The pet store also got a shipment of a couple clown plecos and golden killifish (they never had killifish before they said). I will post pictures between today and a couple days from now.

If they are rubbers then there not that good looking. You can barely see its ligned scales, basically it just looks like a tan pleco with no spots or anything.

 

[LisaLQ]

Unless it was marked up at the wrong price, for $3.99 it cant have been a rubber plec, you'd be talking more like $100+ I'd think (although I'm sure someone who's actually bought one will be able to give a rough price idea). Also - colour sounds wrong, they're usually either yellow or black (or both). More likely to be a rubbernose, there's lots of different species of rubbernose/bulldog/chaetastoma (never spell that right lol) so it could have been one of the others if the piccies I posted links to didn't match.

Here's the other ones listed on PC:
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/genus...genus_id=26#318

 

[Rex740]

Maybe it is rubbernose. Ill post pics somtime when he gets comfortable to come out so i can take a good pic of him.

 

[Teelie]

I'd say a rubberlip for that price. Most often the common names used at petshops are misleading or just made up to sound more exotic.

 

[Rex740]

I got the pic. He never eats or does any cleaning, he just sits and hides. Should I swap him for a new one?