First Pleco (Thursday)

I'm picking up my first pleco on Thursday. Ned's got a new shipment in today, and one of the types he got really caught my attention. It's an L026 Baryancistrus niveatus. They are holding it for me until Thursday to make sure they are healthy (being that they just got them in today). I already have one piece of driftwood in the tank (the top is covered in java moss), but I decided to get two more pieces to make sure he had enough/more options and also just for some new decoration in the tank. This should definitely be interesting. If anyone had/has owned one of these types, any first hand account info would be greatly appreciated!

 

In aquariums their max size is 9". If i don't have a larger tank by time it reaches a larger size and it's gotten to large (past the 9" max...stranger things have happened lol), ned's has no problem taking back fish from me. The like to acquire full grown specimens of some fish (such as this pleco) because then 1. It gives other customers a good idea as to what fish will grow into and 2. They have some customers that will buy larger plecos and other fish.
Speaking of a larger tank, I'm thinking this year I'm planning on getting a new tank somewhere in the range of 125-210gal. Haven't quite decided what I'm gonna put in it yet, but I know I want a larger tank. I think I need to start going to A&FA meetings (Aquarium & Fish Anonymous) lol

 

but of course hehe I love taking photos of my fish. Being that it's my first pleco I'm not sure if it's going to be the type of fish that just instantly goes and hides as soon as I put it in or if it will hang around a little bit. As soon as I'm able to I'll get a pic of it when it's out eating or what not if it decides to hide, though from what a guy at the store told me, these type are a little more on the active side, so I shouldn't have a problem seeing them unlike my spotted raphael who I forget 99% of the time that he's still in the tank. It's kind of funny, I've never really been that much into plecos until I started talking to a guy down at ned's about them. He suggested I give them a try, so we'll see where this goes. There is a girl that goes to their store that is absolutely obsessed with them, and has even dropped $800 on a bunch of different types when they got them in so there's gotta be something interesting about them. I figure I wont know until I try, which is what happened with cichlids, and now I'm obsessed with them.

 

nope, but they get a lot of other rare ones ranging from $35-$60. They have a really nice looking young L240 Galaxias and a couple of young LDA33 Snowball's with big white spots that I keep looking at every time I go in as well. Something about the white spots on them, such as the L026 I'm getting. Which brings up my next question. Would I be able to keep more than one type of pleco in my tank? Do they get territorial at all that keeping a couple different types together would be a problem?

 

yeah, I go there and check out what the have to say, but I also like first hand accounts with fish. Go figure, the first one I pick out will be the first and only...lol oh well...

 

here he is. He's slowly becoming more and more comfortable with the tank. When the lights are on, he'll kind of come out of the cave he claimed as his own and check for food, then swim back into the cave. Quite different than the bushy nose I also ended up picking up. Even with the light on that one will swim around the tank eating algae off the rocks and glass or munch on the cucumber slice i put in as well. Interesting little guys to watch. I'm beginning to realize why they are such popular fish.

 

thank you HBIC. I was going to write something very similar to that lol There are many many many different types of plecos...so many that most are given an L number (such as L026). Some are more rare than others, which is the reason for the higher prices. Commons are just that...common so they sell for very little money, and as HBIC said, they get absolutely huge. They have one at ned's in the indoor koi pond that is well over a foot long, I think they told me it was 14". Eventually at a certain age/length they stop eating algae off the side of the tank and will only eat algae tabs/flake food, so they become useless as an algae eater. A Zebra pleco on the other hand, L046, can go for a couple hundred dollars each, being they are the most rare in the hobby, but stay quite small. Some day I want to set up a breeding tank for these guys, but that will be after I research a lot and make sure that I have the right water parameters for them. They are absolutely beautiful and you'd make your $ back with just two fry. Yes, pleco fever has hit me....lol

 

so i went from getting 1 L026 to now owning 3 bristlenose (Ancistrus) as well. 1 is in with the L026, which I didn't get from ned's and has now given my whole tank ich which is now clearing up nicely (oh the joys of this plague...heat treatments are so much fun....Stupid stupid me for buying it from another store...I should have learned my lesson long ago....but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up....). The other two are in my fiance's tank. The one in with the L026 is a young regular bristlenose. As for the two in my fiance's tank, one is a very young albino, and the other is a different type that I've yet to identify, both from ned's. I'll try to get some pics of the different one in her tank.