flatfish

Yeah that makes sense. The bigger Panaques certainly create a heap of top soil. You might need a large filter or a sump to handle the waste

That doesn't sound good re the Panaque and foam filter ..... Anyway nice job. The fish room is looking great.

Yeah 6 different fish. They squabble plenty and have a pecking order - the big male at the bottom rules the roost. At least one of the females usually looks gravid. Hopefully they'll breed at some stage. I have recently been given a custom made German cave so fingers crossed.

Thanks Ron. They are a cool pleco and even better when big, although they do have a bit of an atitude.

sounds like a nice option and a cool tank.

That's a nice selection of catfish with several cool species. Shame about getting 5 female rios and not a single male.

Just cleaned the leopard cactus plecos out. Excuse the algae. They are largely carnivorous so I have a wee problem with black beard algae. Males are about 25 cm, females (smaller ones) 18-20 cm.

Welcome aboard

Hi David, the Panaque revision is a really nice paper and once you see pics of a goldline royal (Panaque armbrusteri) its pretty obvious we dont get them here - well at least I haven't seen one here. They are stunning. My big female I used to have wa ssold as a goldline royal but clearly wasn't. yeah my point on the other form was just to highlight there may be a little going on with royals, i.e. possibly other unrecognised species or forms. Some royals we have here get more of a spotted pattern on their back half when they are large but it doesn't cover the whole body. I agree. A true goldline royal would cost a fair bit more than a L191

Three should be fine in your tank, even as adults, but provide plenty of hiding places and line of sight barriers, particularly when they start getting big. The males will grow to over 20cm but the females seem to stay a little smaller (mine are just under 20 cm). If you grow them up together that will help. I introduced a large male a while ago and there were several scraps but they settled down.

They are a few other big pleco options if you are put of by the mess. If you after a cool but stroppy pleco for your tank then leopard cactus plecos (L114) are another cool option (my avatar is one of my adult females). They are largely carnivorous so they do well on a high protein diet but they do eat a fair few algal wafers as well. However they do have a bit of an atitude. Anyway small ones are on the importers lists at the moment. If you want a largely vegetarian option with less mess then you could go for a gold nugget or a green or gold phantom. And there is also nothing wrong with a large redspot or goldspot pleco in a tank that size. However all big plecos eat a lot and produce a fair bit of waste.

Yep thats a good sized tank and would be fine for an adult royal but they are very messy. They create a lot of topsoil.

there is nothing wrong with standard royals if you have the tank space. They are one of my all time favourite plecos and a stunning adition for a very large tank.

I've seen some very impressive standard royals, including some great ones that David has, and some very nice L191's but I dont think we have L27's in New Zealand. I love to see one though.

Sure. I shall have to take a few pics next time I clean out the leopard cactus tank. The males in particular are looking pretty good.

very nice royals and I agree the two types do look quite different. My female that I used to have looked like the second type. I would imagine that different waterways have slightly different forms and the two types may be from different regions. Have you seen the Lujan et al's Panaque revision paper? It talks a little bit about colour variation in Panaque nigrolineatus, including a slightly different colour morph from the upper Guaviare River in Colombia. Individuals from the upper Guaviare River in Colombia with coloration shifting from stripes as juveniles to irregularly shaped light brown to gray spots on dark brown to black base color as adults. This color morph is common in the ornamental fish trade .....

:gpo2: Superb fish and yes I still keep a few and the collection is slowly growing.

Awesome. Such a cool little shark. :gpo2:

Call me old fashioned but I also prefer to thumb through a paper copy. I've been getting a paper copy since the first issue. Its a fantastic magazine and a great read. Its also nice to see what available overseas such as all the colourful freshwater shrimps, different bettas, weird cichlids, cool plecos, .......

Very nice. I await the next installment

Nice fish and a good price. Its a Hypancistrus: either a chocolate zebra (L270) or a Columbian zebra (Hypancistrus debilittera, L129). I would say its a L270 but Geoff is better at telling these two apart.

awesome. congratulations

I'm surprised it could handle 20 degrees and do well but in my opinion its not a particularly kind thing to do over winter. I would suggest moving it back to your warmer water tank, at least over winter.

Cool looking babies. Congratulations.

Nice. Great to hear all his hard work is paying off.