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hello!

i just bought one of these cute little suckers for $32 (CAN)... and was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with them?

i was told that he eats algae, will get to be about 4-5" long, and would benefit from having driftwood in his tank.

any other suggestions?

You're very lucky to have obtained one of these fish, as they're usually pretty tough to find. They are also quite beautiful.
The information you've heard is correct, they are pretty fair algae eaters, reach about five inches or so, and would benefit from driftwood. I'm pretty sure that they don't actually eat it, like Panaque plecos, but they will hang out on and around it, and may nibble on it from time to time. These fish are pretty peaceful, though they may squabble with other plecos, if not enough space is given them.

All in all, these fish are very good for community tanks. Out of curiosity, what size tank is this fellow in, and with what fish?

Last edited by sirbooks at 24-Nov-2004 21:14

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Ancistomuses aren't known for their algae eating capabilities, but do "feed" on wood, along with the aforementioned panaques--though I'd have to argue that many panaque species--the larger ones especially aka blue/royals/etc, are excellent algae eaters.

Though it may be true that those fish are good algae eaters, I never said anything about panaques and algae. They are not the focus of the thread.

Also, according to Planet Catfish, the L163 big spot pleco is a peckoltia, which are pretty fair algae eaters. You have said this yourself, in [link=this]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Bottom%20Feeder%20Frenzy/50468.html?200411241324" style="COLOR: #808080[/link] thread.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Though it may be true that those fish are good algae eaters, I never said anything about panaques and algae.

Sure you did. "I'm pretty sure that they don't actually eat it, like Panaque plecos". Sound familiar?

Also, according to Planet Catfish, the L163 big spot pleco is a peckoltia, which are pretty fair algae eaters. You have said this yourself, in this thread.

I dunno about planet catfish, but I'm pretty confident that L-163 is placed under the genus Ancistomus.

When I said "it", I was referring to driftwood, not algae. "Driftwood" was the last noun I used before "it", making the sentence grammatically correct. I was talking about panaques and driftwood, not algae.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Ah, so you did (I never stated your grammar was incorrect, though). Speaking of which, panaques DO eat wood, as documented from even the most common of panaque sp. such as clowns.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 25-Nov-2004 13:00

Yup, they sure do eat wood. If they were algae eaters, I'd probably have a clown plec instead of a BN.
All righty, I'm glad that's been cleared up.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

he died! i'm so sad! i had him for three days, and he looked happy and healthy, but then he was just laying out in the open on day, so i went to add in a little cave just for him, and then he was dead!!

i checked my water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc...) and everything was fine.

i feel very bad, but i don't think it was anything that i did (?!) and the fish store had had him for two weeks before i bought him... so its a mystery.

he WAS in a 29G with a bolivian ram, 2 gold rams, 4 checkered barbs, a queen botia, 2 white clouds and 4 aphyosemian australes. the tank has a variety of rocks, an acrylic stump ornament (hollow) and a variety of live plants (java moss, java fern, cryptocornes and quite a bit of algae).

i'm sorry to have killed such a nice, unusual (and expensive!) fish.