flatfish

great shots

Awesome shots Phoenix44 of a great looking pleco.

I like several types, mainly big leafy varieties like swords, Anubias, and tiger lotus.

that is great news. thanks

congrats. great looking discus. looks like they have settled in well.

Congratulations.

Nice fish Phoenix44 and welcome to plecoholics anonymous.

great shots firenznez. I have taken a number of pleco shots this way. It works well and you get some nice shots but I have also had my mustard spot pleco jump out of my hand and smash the tips of the end of the tail (they grew back). the other way of doing it thats less risky is to get a photo tank (mines 30x20x18cm). Then fill it with water from one of your tanks thats as clear as you can get it, place a good light source over the top of it (from one of your tanks) and get a reasonable point and shoot digital camera and take heaps of shots (you can always delete them later).

great photos of some very nice plecos firenzenez.

Have just checked in an Octopus book. There are several 'dwarf' Octopus species in New Zealand, of which a couple should be in range of collectors Octopus gibbsi is found on rocky ground in 0 to 40m depth on the northeastern coast of the North island and grows to about 67cm in length (body+head+arms) so not quite a dwarf but still fairly small; Octopus kaharoa is found as shallow as 7m on the east coast of the north and south island from the Poor Knights Isl to Kaikoura and only grows to 39 cm in length and has long slender arms; and Octopus huttoni is found from 0 to 400m around New Zealand and only grows to 23 cm in length. At that sort of size you could maybe keep a couple in a large tank as adults.

Thats great news and good luck. Keep us up to date with your progress. We do have dwarf Octopus sp. in New Zealand which down south can occur in shallow water. They look just like our large common inshore one but only grow to about 20 cm in length (body, head, and arms). There are also the mickey mouse or bobtail squids (Sepioloidea spp.). These lovely little guys are related to cuttlefish and are quite common over sand in shallowish water (I think about 20 metres+, sometimes shallower). Heres a pic one of my workmates took on a research survey.

I haven't kept saltwater before but i know they grow fast, growing to full size in about a year, and they usually only live for just over a year. So I guess they'd have a pretty healthy appetite. Maybe add a small crab or two for a snack and then release them after show and tell.

bugger!! sorry to hear it. Goodluck with the new fish. They look great.

nice looking fish and a great looking tank. How are your other baby warehou doing?

Hi Matt, red spot plecos (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) grow to about 45 cm and would be very difficult to breed in an aquarium. Sailfin plecos (includes redspots, gold spots, and common plecos) have an unusual breeding habit in that the male burrows into a muddy riverbank to lay and brood their eggs. This would be very difficult to set up in an aquarium. Common plecos, red spots and gold spots are all bred in large numbers in outdoor ponds in commercial fish farms in Asia and North America.

welcome back

It looks like a clown pleco, Panaque maccus to me. If you look up Pretty Peckoltia on the net they refer to Peckoltia pulcher, which is not a valid species name. I'd say by the teeth pattern (and the price Pretty Peckoltias are selling for) they are clown plecos.

Beautiful looking pleco livingart. I'd say its a sailfin pleco (Pterygoplichthys spp). The patterning is unusual in that it lacks the honeycombed patterning (ie. a light coloured pleco with dark spots separated by a thin margin, goldspot plecos are a dark coloured species with light spots) over much of the body, except for the lower part of the tail. This patterning is typical of a redspot pleco or the more slender common plecos (mainly P. pardalis, but also possibly P. disjunctivus or P. multiradiatus). I'd say its probably an unusually coloured red spot pleco, P. gibbiceps. Given the numbers of "common plecos (Pterygoplichthys spp.)" breed in fish ponds overseas its highly likely that 'sports' would turn up and be breed from, or possibly its a hybrid. Regardless its a great looking fish.

Congrats. They are a beautiful pleco. I look forward to seeing the pics.

Nice shots Phoenix44. Just a slight correction. Many plecos have teeth, only Panaques have short spoon-shaped teeth (ie wider at tips than base) so they can rasp wood, bark, and algal biofilm. Goldie plecos (and other Scobinancistrus), which are closely related also spoon-shaped teeth but they are much longer and narrower than in Panaques, and are thought to be for eating molluscs (i.e. snails, etc.)

Peckoltia are very rare in New Zealand. As firenzenz says most are Panaques. For example pretty Peckoltia's are clown plecos, Panaque maccus. A small number of what were probably Peckoltia brevis were imported by Phil Collis from Peru, and Peckoltia (Hemiamcistrus) sabaj has been imported at least once a few years ago. The naming of plecos in NZ is a nightmare with many names being made up to help them sell. What are being incorrectly sold as 'big band tiger plecos' are maybe Peckoltia L288 or something similar, and some of what were being incorrectly sold as 'leopard frog plecos' also looked like a Peckoltia. A close examination of the teeth (spoon-shaped in Panaques) would sort out wether they are Panaques or Peckoltia.

They look like clown plecos to me (Panaque maccus) which are sometimes sold as Pretty Peckoltias. They are great looking plecos, which wont get big, and are apparently quite breedable. Very nice fish.

great plecos kiwi plymouth.

great plecos phoenix and some great shots. Looking forward to seeing the rest. thanks for sharing

nice work