What kind of Plecos are there? (Wal Mart)

[grimlock3000]

I was at Wal Mart ( (Falmouth, ME) today and stopped by the fish section to see what they had and get some ideas for new fish. About 1 out of every 3 fish at this Wal Mart is dead and still in the tank, no kidding. I saw a fish there that I decided not to buy hoping I can get it somewhere else. The fish had no label.

The Plecos were about 1.5 to 2 inches long, and had very dark diamond shaped bodies. They were almost as wide as there were long, not taking into account the tail fin. Overall, they were the most stubby Plecos I have seen. The bodies were almost black, and they had whitish spike on their fins. They looked like they had some spiky areas on their bodies as well, between the top and side fins. The spikes looked like what I have seen on much larger Plecos, but never on a smaller one. The fish looks covered in plated areas instead of scales. I have looked all over and not found anything that matches.

Are these common at Wal Mart? Could they be just small common Plecos, or are they something fancy? If I know what they are, I am sure I can find another one without excessive searching. Otherwise, I might get a couple and QT them for a long period of time in a seperate tank before introducing and potential Wal Mart tank infection to one of my tanks.

 

[William]

Do not buy from wal-mart.

They do not treat their fish well at all.

I've actually seen fish in wal-mart infected with ich and never be treated, How do I know they wern't treated? Because they would just scoop out the infected ones and dispose of them.


I really feel very bad for any and all fish that end up at wal-marts tanks. The mortality rate is almost 80% for wal-mart fish while at wal-mart.

 

[grimlock3000]

I know, that is why I did not buy the fish today. One side of me wants to buy fish and nurse them back to health before they die in the tank. Then the other side says that buying the fish only encourages them to get more fish and continues the problem, which I would like to avoid at all cost. They had some Dwarf Gouramis were so discolored and disfigured I thought they were another type of fish

 

[Allivymar]

Depends on the Wallymart too.

One of the honchos over at Wetwebmedia works at Wallymart. They actually have a great fish dep't from what I've heard, but then theres someone in the store who cares.

I'd ask over at www.planetcatfish.com grim . They are the catfish gurus and may be able to ID your guy from a description.

 

[grimlock3000]

I think the problem has to do with priorities, and Wal Mart is the poster child for underpaid workers who do not care about their job at all. Worse, none of the stores I have been in actually have dedicated fish employees. I feel I can safely assume that keeping track of 100s of fish is very low on employee's list of things to do. The stores care more about keeping clothes in order on the racks than they do about scooping dead fish out of the tank, or even figuring out why they die in the first place. From the three Wal Mart fish departments I have seen, not a single one of them would have been considered acceptable in any pet store I have seen.

I have no doubt that some Wal Marts have caring employees that know about fish. I would love to see well maintained tank with intelligent employees helping people. Unfortunately my experience has only been that Wal Mart is where fish go to die. Even if they survive the tanks, I would be surprised if they last long once someone bought them. Many times I have seen people do things like buy 4 large Goldfish and a 2 gallon tank with no one to tell them otherwise. There needs to be someone to say, "Make sure you change the water..." or give out even the most basic advice about loading tanks and maintaining water quality. Some people I know with fish actually think that fish have a life expectancy of about 6 months because they have never known how to care for them. I try my best to keep up with everything and feel educated because I feel that is my responsibility when owning live animals. It sickens me that fish are just an ornament to some people and the only thing lost if they die is the $.

Heck, my own father recently bought a 55g tank and loaded it up with 8 Cory Cats and 8 Sharks the second day he had it. Within a week, he had added at least another 32 fish, all different types of Tetra and Mollies, and no more than 4 of each. He refuses to listen to anything about cycling, and claims that he only needs a PH kit to keep the water healthy. The death rate was high for a while, but he just kept buying more fish. He also has over 10 bottles of various water additives in an attempt to balance out everything with chemicals. I have no idea when/if he uses these, since he does not have test kits anyway. The tank setup is absolutely great with real wood on the top and bottom of the tank that is inset into a wall. Everyone that sees is goes, "WOW THAT LOOKS INCREDIBLE" yet they have no clue how unhealthy the fish inside are. I have spent weeks trying to get him to do a water change but it is like talking to a wall and he refuses to listen to me. He is close to being retired, I guess he hit that point in his life where he figures he is just going to do everything his way no matter what. Oddly enough, 20+ years ago when I was a kid, he was a full blown fish breeder who made side income by selling fish to pet stores. I have no idea how he managed back then.

Uhh, that was getting off topic. I will post at Planet Catfish tomorrow unless someone here answers first

 

[RogerMcAllen]

First off, do post at planetcatfish. It may be intimidating at first, but they are by far the most knowledgeable on species of catfish. I would assume that it would just be a common pleco, but I really have no idea.

 

[grimlock3000]

Ok, I posted the question over at Planet Catfish

 

[Terry]

Not all hard skinned sucker mouth catfish are plecostomus, If you go by L-numbers alone there are over 200 differant types from some that only grow 5-8in to those that can reach 18-24inch, are you ready for this:-

Glyptoperichthy
Peckoltia
Panaque
Leporancanthicus
Rineloricari
Hypostomus
Scobiancistrus
Hopliancistus
Baryancitrus
Parancistrus
Pseudoancistrus
Ancistrus
Lasiancistrus
Aphanotorulus
Cteniloricaria
Rhineloricaria
Lithoxus
Dekeyseria
Magalancistrus
Oligancistrus
There are still probably more that i haven't named.

 

[tkos]

At the WalMart near me it is common plecos. While this WalMart doesn't have an 80% mortality rate I figure it is only cause they are the only fish store in town and therefore stock sells fast. The problem I have with them is there stupis lack of knowledge. If it ain't in the manual then it can't happen. "Sure this algae eating pleco will fit fine in your 5 gallon tank. It will only grow as big as your tank allows."

 

[William]

Thats why the mortality at all my local wal-marts is so high, I guess.


Cause their located no a 30 seconds walk from a LFS, Like Petland or Petsmart.

 

[madasafish]

Try looking up the Medusa, rubber and bushy nose plecos. These might fit your description...

All three are listed on liveaquaria.com: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=837

 

[madasafish]

As to Walmart... shame on your local branch. I wish the ASPCA could do something about fish, but I really don't think they have any heft. Don't patronize them if they're that irresponsible, and do tell sombody in management. Perhaps the management is not aware of the terrible state of the tanks.

Obviously, different strokes for different... branches. Refer to the "Hate Petco/Petsmart? Vent and tell us why?" thread for some examples of this if you're interested. It should be a couple of pages back in this forum. I guess some employees are just more careful and better educated than others. It sounds like Walmart should be offering an "incentives" program like Petsmart.

 

[mollyluvr]

This is more on the WalMart topic and not the pleco question. Walmart.com has an online feedback form and I know it probably won't make a big difference, but if we took the time to fill this out each and every time we see a sick or dead fish at WalMart, maybe they will pay attention and either do something about it or stop selling fish.

Here is the site address for their contact info:

http://www.walmart.com/cservice/cu_stores.gsp?NavMode=8

Again, probably not going to do much, but if they get a lot of complaints they may wake up. We did this to Cabela's with a Sharpei rescue group I work with. They stopped inviting puppy mills to sell their wares in the parking lot, maybe we could save the lives of some poor innocent fishys.

 

[Allivymar]

Just another thought, but this has been done successfully elsewhere

Contact your local ASPCA or animal shelter and explain the situation. Sometimes they are willing to get involved.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

back to the pleco q...

when you buy a "common pleco", does it fall under more than one species, potentially? I've been trying to ID the "common pleco" I got from a friend mostly in hopes of figuring out what to do with it.

do they have pics at planet catfish?

thanks

 

[Allivymar]

They sure do sweets; thing is a couple of different catfish fall under the "common plec" umbrella.

For example, the plec I have isn't actually a plecostomus; its a liposarcus pardalis. Not a huge difference between them; some minor taxinomical differences (ie: number of dorsal spines) but looks similar and grows just as big LOL

Post a pic of yours over at Planetcatfish; they should have no prob identifying it. Or you can cruise the cat-e-log. Just know its HUGE and plan your time accordingly LOL

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Yes, planetcatfish has anything catfish you could every dream about. If you give them any good pic of a catfish and they will ID it with ease. You can even compare yours against theirs in the cat e-log.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

thanks guys...i was kind of nonplussed when i looked thru liveaquaria's pictures, and found nothing that looked like my guy LOL