flatfish

yes sorry we are off topic quite a bit. Maybe another thread needs to be opened up on royal plecos. My only reason for thinking that my fish may not be 190 is the eye which was never reddish in colour but dull. Maybe its a dull-eye?? Yes I agree that is correct but when you are dealing with so many variants of potentially the same species. L-numbers or regional names are useful to seperate them out, and many people identify with the L-numbers better than the species names.

These types of plecos have armoured plates covering their body and while I'm sure they dont like it for a quick photo its seems fine. The small royal on the left hand side was sitting on Chris Downs hand underwater while I took the photo. Hi Firenzenz, these shots are all the same fish. As he? got larger the pale lines started splitting into two and getting squigglier. It certainly looks a lot like your one. By all means contact me if you want to try them together at any stage. 8) As for agression. My big one shares a tank with a 15cm+ goldie pleco who rules the roost but they generally get on fine. There are also a couple of tiger plecos, and a female common bristlenose in the same tank.

I just brought a broad leaved, fairly compact sword plant labelled as Echinodorus parva with numerous pups attached. I tried looking it up on the net and although there is an Echinodorus parviflorus which looks very similar there doesn't appear to be an E. parva. I'm assuming this is simply a mislabelled Echinodorus parviflorus? Any thoughts? I note there is a Cryptocoryne parva.

All Brazilian royals are banned from export by Brazils environmental protection agency IBAMA, due to concerns with over fishing. So most 27 varieties are unlikely to available in New Zealand in the immediate future, and even if the ban was lifted in the future they are likely to be to expensive (given their recent banning) to be imported into New Zealand. There was an importation of what were called gold-line royals a while ago and while they do look a little like them they are not quite right and may well be something else. As Firenzenz says there are the odd dull-eyed royals (L191) around. The current royal plecos in the shops are a great looking fish and likely L190, the 'real' royal pleco Panaque nigrolineatus with a reddish eye. Regardless they are all great looking fish and if you have a large tank they are a stunning feature fish when large. Mine come out often particulalrly when food is put in the tank. They can be stroppy when large if you try and keep more than one in a tank but generally they are peaceful although the big ones do create a lot of waste, move things around a bit, and will likely take a shine to your more edible plants with disastrous results. Heres a couple of photos of my two. The first one is a small juvenile and was brought recently. I believe it is an L190. The second one was brought as a juvenile goldline royal and is now an adult fish about 25 cm long, and I'm not sure what it really is ... although it does have a different coloured eye. The royals are all a bit confusing which is not suprising given that the taxonomists have not sorted them out yet. Also the juvenile patterning is very different to the adults.

Not my cup of tea either but they are sure to be a hit in the Aquarium trade. I agree with Alan a $2 glow in the dark plastic one has just as much appeal.

card 4

nice red spot. They are a great looking pleco but in a large tank with good feeding they can grow to 45 cm so your tank layout may eventually change quite a bit. Big ones will move things around, destroy any edible or fragile plants, and they can be stroppy towards similar looking plecos. It will be fine for a while though as small ones are generally well behaved.

great photos

very nice fancy plecos FuglyDragon.

thanks for the pics Caryl. It looks like a great time was had by all.

Congrats

I've never let the new plants grow large before removing them but I assume it would continue to be fed and also photosynthesize and take in its own nutrients.

this might help. This is pretty awful pic of an Echinodorus cordifolius marble queen flower. You can see that there more flowers on the way and a plantlet. Each node on the flower spike can potentially produce a new plant so you can have a stalk of plants. Just wait until each plantlet has a few leaves and a few roots and gently remove it from the stalk or you can just move the stalk to the substrate and the plant(s) will start growing in the substrate.

leopard cactus (L114) are available (there's two at the Hutt Pet Centre) but they can be stroppy, grow reasonably large, and as with goldie plecos they are carnivorous. There are a number of smaller species of Pleco that would be good options (several have already been mentioned): the smaller Panaques (clown plecos, Flash or Peru striped panaque, tiger pleco), Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers), and the so-called 'big band tiger pleco' (a Peckoltia). While they are not quite as colourful as gold nuggets, they are all small species and easy to look after. If you've got a large tank I like royal plecos. They often come out to feed and look great but they do grow large. As for coming out often, based on my experience, if they are comfortable in their surroundings, which ususally means plenty of cover and lower lighting they will come out more. I agree with Jamosfish, its hard to predict what an individual pleco will be like. Avoid the stroppy or difficult ones, and go with what you like. Hopefully they'll come out. For value for money and good looks, chocolate zebras are pretty hard to beat.

Welcome back.

Looking great Henward. I also have my plants (tiger lotus and swords) in pots (plastic hydroponic pots - they allow the plants roots to grow outside the pot). It saves the plecos from knocking them about and I can pull them out easily if necessary. Looking forward to more pics.

thats great news. congratulations :bounce:

congratulations.

awesome shots. congratulations

great photos of some very nice fish

congratulations. thats great news

Hi Phoenix44. Yes, the next article is on Hypans, and includes some great photos, including one of yours. Thanks for taking the photos

Almost finished.

Just got my copy. It's a great read. Thanks Carol for another great issue.

very nice. Great looking setup, killies, and photos.