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Just brought home our latest pleco -Mango the mango plec. Wow he is great, swims a lot, blinks at you and watches everything that goes on. Suprised really as I thought that he would have hidden straight under the bog wood. Had to post this as I think he is brilliant.

Not the easiest fish to keep, but good luck with him; they are one of the most (IMO) beautiful loricariids around, especially at 15".

Totally agree. But what is life without a challenge!!

They're nice fish.

Well, I wish you and Mango all the best.

Well as an update... he survived the night and is eating well.

Congrats with an beautiful pleco
Wish i could get one of those guys

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

they're one of my fav Lnumbers how big is he now?

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Billy was a scientist, Billy is no more. For what he thought was H20, was H2SO4

Fish can`t blink

I think they can`t anyway, I believe it is usually a really quick move of the eye that looks like a blink and a lot of people mis judge it

Anyway...lovely Plec and good luck with it

To clear debris from that general region, they will quickly jerk their eyes down into the sockets.

I agree I did not actually mean blink but could not think of a word to describe it at the time. I read that mango plecos have the same type of eye as a cat and that they can dilate the pupil to different sizes depending on how bright it is. Think I read it on planetcatfish or it could have been when I did a google search as there does not really seem to be that much info out there.

He is only small at the mo a TL of 4in

Heh, fish eyes are quite different from cat eyes. However, plecs are one of the few fish that are indeed able to regulate the amount of light that enters their eyes. If you look at a plec eye that's in the light, there is usually a lobe that covers a portion of the pupil. When in the dark, the lobe can pull back to the side of the pupil and be virtually nonexistant. It's pretty cool and it's second nature to me to recognize that feature on a plec now. Too bad I don't remember the name of the part, but that's okay. :%)

Mango Plecs are really attractive; good luck with it. Unfortunately, very few reach large sizes in captivity, so this is indeed a challenging species. Best of luck, that's a great (and expensive!) plec.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.