What Pleco Is This?

[mossonthemoon]

Depending on the type of pleco, I think you will be okay for the most part, as long as you keep up with water changes and testing for ammonia. My concern is the number of platies. They, in my experience, are poop factories. Plus they can multiply rapidly. In this sense you may be overstocked or getting there, but generally, if your water quality stays fine and there is no aggression then I think you're okay. Just make sure to find out what the pleco is and move him/her if (s)he is a common. Oh and I have no experience with flying foxes so I don't know how that changes things (or not).

If it is a newer Rio then it is named 180 but holds more like 207 (55 US gallons), without substrate, etc.

 

[Baccus]

Yeah a lot of male siamese fighters are real softies , I keep a single male fighter in almost all of my tanks and they are never a hassle. For your tank I would try to get a definant bristle nose they are great and even my largest BN is only around 20cm.
The easiest way to tell a young BN is the white tips or strip down the edge of its tail, I am pretty sure other pleco's don't have this strip. You can see the strip on my fry in the first of my pictures with the black female BN.

 

[5lider]

Yea I think it is 207 cos when I add the dimensions into aquavisor it's says its a 207ltr. Regarding the platys I have 2 adult females in the tank and I released 2 baby female platys into the tank as they have grown bigger now and won't get eaten but I have 8 baby's platys still in the hachary so there quite small but I may sell them of give away so not to add to many because like u said the advisor site seems to go high with filtration when I add the platys

 

[5lider]

Finally got a better pic for u guys to be able to give u a better look

 

[Baccus]

I am leaning more towards its being a sailfin pleco, they can get up to 30cm so still a substansial fish

 

[elmo666]

Thats a much clearer image slider. Not what I thought it was, sorry. I was hoping to see a whitish yellow line down the end of the tail. It looks more like a standard plec or as bacus suggests, maybe a sailfin, either way it will reach 10" or more

 

[5lider]

Ok thanks think I will take him back tomorrow and get something smaller. Is the molly that stays at the top most of the time an issue or is it cos its new to the tank

 

[dbanner]

Ok thanks think I will take him back tomorrow and get something smaller. Is the molly that stays at the top most of the time an issue or is it cos its new to the tank

Very good decision on getting a smaller type plec, this hobby needs more people like you that take advice straight off and do what's right for your fish rather than just say something along the lines of "no my fish doesn't need that much space, he's happy in my tank"... You would be surprised how many people say this lol

You could get something like a bristlenose plec, clown plec, bulldog, snowball plec or even a golden nugget (very nice IMO, gets to 8inches on average)... Options for a smaller plec are endless

 

[5lider]

Thanks for that I try to do what's best for the fish. I go pets at home so I don't think they have a big selection really so I might just return it and keep the Molly's as the white one seems to be ok now and returning to the bottom

 

[dbanner]

Ah I know what you mean, my local pets at home doesn't have a very good selection either so I have to travel around or mail order the fish I want, which to be fair I find mail ordering much better

 

[5lider]

I was going to mail order but how do they not get killed or stressed being in transit as I've never seen the packing they come in

 

[snazy]

It has more than 8 rays on the dorsal fin so definately not a bristlenose.

 

[dbanner]

I was going to mail order but how do they not get killed or stressed being in transit as I've never seen the packing they come in

I can understand your concern here. I'm sure they would be stressed to a certain degree but iv had many fish mail ordered and none have been dead on arrival or even died at all for the time iv owned them.

I have all my fish mail ordered from Trimar aquarium, they have a full stock list and price list on their website (Trimar.co.uk)

If you order before 11am on any week day the fish is at your door before 12pm the following day. As for the packing, you have a bag with the fish in (and obviously water) in the centre of a polystyrene box and then 4-5 bags of heated water surrounding the centre bag with the fish. They are all insulated in the polystyrene box with sheets of newspaper and then a polystyrene lid is placed on top and all that then goes in an equal sized cardboard box

 

[MBOU]

It is a Gibbiceps or Sailfin plec and gets bigger than 30cm! More like 50-60cm. They get big a messy! More active than the commons as well IMO.

The tank is 180L, Juwel name their tanks after the literage. Should be about a 3ft tank, possibly a bow front?

The plec will get much too big for the tank, personally I would return him and not get any more fish until we work out what is wrong with the molly, gasping at the top is bad and usually indicative of water problems.

Do you have a water test kit? Or can you get a sample of water to nearest fish shop and get tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. That is the most urgent thing to do, meanwhile, it might be worth just doing a good water change and cleaning the gravel to make sure its not too mucky.

 

[mossonthemoon]

Juwel now make their tanks bigger than the name. At some point they increased the dimensions slightly (apparently), and I have the same tank. It is definitely 207 litres.