flatfish

Looking good Joe and keep us posted.

They are a great fish and one of my favourites. I'd say go for it. Two in a tank that size should be fine and at 6-7" they should be sexable. The males are stroppy and will often scrap and the females also scrap a little and jossle for dominance. In saying that they dont seem to do any serious damage to each other and once any dominance issues are sorted out they are better behaved. Just make sure there are plenty of places to hide/sulk if they need to. Although they are mainly carnivorous, mine are partial to a few algae wafers as well.

Welcome aboard

awesome set up !drool:

welcome

Yep thats a big sailfin then. Nice fish

Nice red spot. They look great when they get big.

you may well be right but there are a great fish for those with very large tanks and even if they only got to a foot they would still be impressive. They must also come close to being the biggest pleco available in New Zealand

very nice :sml1:

Nice bling. Looks great but I dont think they need spotlights. We have a john dory but not over a tank.

I've got a couple of plecos at the 20 cm mark. My goldies aren't as big as KP's but the two biggest have just hit the 20 cm mark. I've also got a couple of leopard cactus plecos that large. What ever happened to the titanic plecos (Panaque schaeferi, L203) that came in a while ago as Papa Panaques? They reportedly get to 60 cm and they should be getting to a good size now.

I agree plecos need somewhere to hide. He may have even damaged himself trying to force himself into the flower pot. A 20 cm royal is a big pleco but I'm sure a piece of PVC pipe (not the classiest looking ornament) or a large cave would help. You royal should also have at least one bit of bogwood in the tank to munch on as its part of their diet. If you put in more objects for the other fish to defend then there are less likely to be issues.

Hopefully someone here might have the right contacts. The real deal would be fantastic but I'd happily settle for some decent quality 'black-bars' or 'tigers'.

If they were able to bring in pairs of reasonable quality black-bars and tiger 'endlers' I'd certainly be keen. I know we are unlikely to get the real deal but I'd like some better quality fish.

Thanks. I assume these fish and the others ones posted are all from the same stock so what am I looking for in a 'good' Black-Bar hybrid? There are a number of pics on the internet and I wouldn't mind selecting for something better.

I took a couple of poor pics. I haven't got a small enough phototank so they were taken a glass. They look very similar to yours Ange_AJMS.

He took plenty of pics Caryl so I think thats a yes.

I'll take a few pics this weekend.

Nice fish. They look to the ones I got from Redwoods and presumably from the same import. I have the tiger pattern and fish that look a little more Endler like.

Yes a big thankyou to all involved. It was a great weekend and a lot of fun.

I have some 'Endlers' from Redwoods. They are a great looking fish, some with 'typical' Endler looking patterns, others with the tiger patterning which is impressive. I'm in the process of breeding them up so it will be a while before I have any available. The ones on the TradeMe lisiting are at best very poor 'Endler' crosses and are not worth buying.

welcome

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully they'll soon be eggs again.

If you want to reduce issues including agression I'd stick with smaller species which are not known to be overly agressive. The small Panaques (clown plecos, Iquito tigers, tiger plecos, flash plecos) are mainly plant/algae eaters and need wood in their diet. The various varieties of common bristlenose (i.e. regular, albino, calico, and I suspect GBA's) would look great together. They all come as long finned forms and would do well with the small Panaques. You can also keep Peckoltias (big band tigers, Peckoltia brevis) together with some Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers). Males of all species can get a little stroppy with other males, particularly ones of the same species, or similar patterned ones. Make sure you have plenty of cover (wood, rocks, ornaments, etc.) and I like to separate piles of wood or rocks apart to give fish that are picked on a break. You shouldn't have many issues at all until your plecos are mature. Hypancistrus (chocolate zebras, king tigers, queen arabs, zebra plecos) will readily interbreed and produce fertile hybrids.

Congratulations Geoff thats awesome news. They are a fantastic looking pleco. Goodluck with the fry.