Please help to ID my Pleco

[tanhb]

Hi,

Could anybody please help to ID the below pleco? I just bought it from C328 and hope to know it's ID. It is real small, just about an inch, I got it from the small glass tanks that keep betta and CRS.

[illumnae]

it's a bristlenose pleco, ancistrus spp

awesome algae eater, rather cute and very peaceful fish...i keep 4 veiltail versions of these (bought from polyart) in my 4x2x2 planted and 2 albino versions (bought from c328 florist) in my barebottom discus tank

[valice]

Something out of point.
But those are great pictures you took of the pleco. Especially the 1st picture.

[tanhb]

it's a bristlenose pleco, ancistrus spp

awesome algae eater, rather cute and very peaceful fish...i keep 4 veiltail versions of these (bought from polyart) in my 4x2x2 planted and 2 albino versions (bought from c328 florist) in my barebottom discus tank

Thanks for the ID. I bought it for my 2ft planted tank, don't know how big it will grow to, if it gets too big I might need to shift it to my 4ft discus tank.

Something out of point.
But those are great pictures you took of the pleco. Especially the 1st picture.

Thank you brother. I took this using a macro lens sitting in front of the tank for 40 mins.
I have take a look at your flickr photo gallery, yours are even better.

[illumnae]

don't worry about it growing too large, these bristlenoses grow up to 5 inches for a normal version and 5.5-6 for a veiltail...small enough for a couple in a 2 ft tank imo =) my 2 albinos are about 2 inches now and both in my 2ft barebottom discus tank

[michael lai]

Ancistrus or common name bristle nose most common trait is the bushy barbels or feelers protruding from the head. Your fish belongs to the family baryancistrus, probably a juvenile L184 or L47 affectionately known as the golden nugget.

[Puffer]

Hi,
I also got a couple from c328 & posted in this section not too long ago. According to Vincent & fellow forumers, they said this is L309 (refer to: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=27813 ). Anyway, i dunno if the pair i got is a working pair cos i dunno how to tell gender apart. They are doing very well in my 3ft planted tank with tetras and shrimps. The common bristlenoses i got from Gan Farm 3 mths back all went to heaven & i was wondering if these sp are difficult to keep. Well, i'm thinking of keeping plecos which will not grow to >4".

[valice]

Let's see whether they become the Gold Nugget or the Ancistrus sp when it grows up.

For now, let's put it as an unknown....

[tanhb]

It seem that we have two different view down here, but never mind, I will update this thread again when the fish gets bigger.

[illumnae]

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you bro michael. Only adult male ancistrus carry the trademark bristles that you mentioned. the picture above clearly shows a juv and based on the head shape i'd say it's a female anyway. As mentioned earlier, i own 6 pieces of "teenage" ancistrus and of the lot 2 are males and have just started showing their bristles...from what i've observed the males with the bristles have a wider head than the females. mine also look exactly like what is shown above, so i'm pretty sure it's an ancistrus and not a gold nugget.

i've also spoken to the c328 uncle and auntie on separate occasions about that particular fish as i've intended to buy it myself for my discus tanks (i ended up buying the albinos from them but the non-albinos as shown above i got from polyart nearby instead). He indicated to me that these particular plecos don't grow beyond 5-6 inches, which is exactly right for an ancistrus. a gold nugget grows up to 12 inches in length eventually. so unless the c328 uncle and auntie don't know their stuff, it's an ancistrus by their indication as well.

Compare shape and colouring (and take note of size):

Ancistrus
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...?species_id=49
Gold nugget
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=153

[michael lai]

Hi Illumnae and Tanhb,
I have been wrong before maybe akoh or gecko would be of more help here. Even I could not sex a pleco from a side profile and a juvenile specimen somemore. Auntie also has been proven wrong many times before as she puts whatever QH tells them the SP is. I leave this to the Gurus.. have fun on your search.

[illumnae]

hi michael,

the sexing bit is just my own oberservations, definitely not a conclusive judgment on my part...but the bristles on an ancistrus that you mentioned are definitely male only and grow out only after the fish hits over 2 inches =)

i mentioned the auntie at c328 as this particular fish was bought from there. polyart and ben's wu hu both also carry this fish and label as bristlenose...so i dont think so many aquariums will be wrong

hopefully a guru can come and confirm whether i'm right or wrong =)

[valice]

Like Micheal say, the labeling is based on what the "fish truck" tell them. Not they ID themselves. So it IS possible that so many aquariums can be wrong.

But anyway, best bet is wait till they grow up. IDing juvenile fishes can give all sorts of problems.

Still from the link on the Ancistrus you posted, they do look like our suspect. Is that the L309 which I IDed as in the other thread?

Edit: To add, one best bet is to take a very clear and good picture of the mouth area. From the dentures and the presence of "hooks" (which gives the name Ancistrus), we can know pretty sure if this guy is from the Ancistrus family or the Baryancinstrus family.

[tanhb]

Edit: To add, one best bet is to take a very clear and good picture of the mouth area. From the dentures and the presence of "hooks" (which gives the name Ancistrus), we can know pretty sure if this guy is from the Ancistrus family or the Baryancinstrus family.

Hi valice,

Is this what you mean? I will try to see whether I can get one of this shot this coming weekends. It is not easy to shot it's under side since most of the time he is on DW instead of on the glass wall.

[valice]

Yups. That's what I mean. Most Ancistrus have a certain set of dentures. And also that hook feature (or chiu chiu which we call them for other species) if you can see in the picture.