New Pleco!! L-052 [i]Zonancistrus sp.[/i]

[madasafish]

Yay! My new Zonancistrus plecos came this week, after a mis-delivery last week in which I received some rather homely Peckoltia specimens...

I think these new guys are absolutely gorgeous. It took them a few days to warm up to the tank I've got them in, and even longer before they were confident enough to let their color out. But now it's arrived, and I think they're really "splendid" (as they were called by the site I got them from).

They're morphologically unique amongst plecos. See how incredibly flat they are?? Compared to Panaque, Peckoltia, Hypostomus, Ancistrus, Hypancistrus and other pleco genera, they're a very flat fish. In fact, they're almost flounder-like!

If you're interested in buying some of these guys, 27tony32 has them on aquabid every so often. Or log onto Tony and Betty's site, www.heavenlyfish.com, and they have them all the time. They list them as L-168 "Splendid Plecos" (which would be Zonancistrus pulcher) but they're slightly off on the nomenclature. I might pick up 2-3 more at some point, myself.

So, here are as many pics as I can fit in one post. Enjoy!

 

[madasafish]

Hmm... not all of the pictures attached! Probably coz they're pretty large images. Here are the last 2...

I'm including L-52(2).jpg, so you can see the pleco (on the right) with its dorsal spines up. Otherwise, the image is pretty crummy. Also, the Peckoltia species I got by accident (their mistake, not mine) is on the left. It looks somewhat similar, but is a totally different fish in body shape.

 

[Endgame319]

Wow, those are awesome! How many do you have? How big do they grow?

 

[paintbug]

do they sell to the public? those are to cool!!

 

[madasafish]

I got 4 of them--hoping to breed them *fingers crossed*!!!

Heavenlyfish.com is principally a wholesaler, but they do sell smaller quantities of these fish. I expect they'd sell you 2 or more. The price was pretty good, but I got the price by winning an auction. I paid $41 for 4 shipped (because I'm quite close)... only $10.25 each. Phenomenal.

And, as it turned out, coz of their mistake (long story), I got 8 plecos for a total of $51. Though they messed up the first time, they did go out of their way to make sure that the second shipment got to me, and they sent them for free.

 

[Allivymar]

Such beautiful fish. I am looking forward to owning one of those puppies when you start breeding em Jon *grin*

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and max size is 4" according to www.planetcatfish.com. These are already that, so... they could conceivably get bigger! But not much... they're a dwarf species. Ulrich and Wolfgang Glaser (Aqualog's L-Numbers Catelogue) say they only reach 8 cm, but this is a vast underestimation...

 

[Menagerie]

Wow! They are lovely! After much searching, I thought I was lucky enough to find a Rubber Lip
If they mate, you *must* post pics

 

[madasafish]

Oh, if they mate, there'll be a whole thread on it with pics for each life stage, every few days etc.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here a bit!

 

[madasafish]

ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the plecs kicked the bucket last night. Actually, I think it was the one I photographed. The others are gaining color, but I'm worried--the other one gained color, then died.

Sigh. This is one of the hazards of ordering online, I suppose. The tank was in good condition, the water well-oxygenated. I'm thinking I'll order 2-3 more, but I'm still worried about shipment.

 

[AussieGal]

Wow, they're gorgeous! Sorry to hear one of em died

 

[Allivymar]

Oh no

It wasn't due to the crayfish was it? Hate to say it, but I hope so; with the cray gone things should be ok.

 

[madasafish]

No, I don't think so. The crayfish did him no harm.

Just for background, Alli and I talked about this last Wednesday at the Greater City Aquarium Society meeting. I had to put the plecs in with the crayfish for a few days while I set up a new tank. I did it because 1) he only has one functional claw after a bad molt and 2) because he was completely afraid of the plecos when I put them in there. It turned out that he gor a little more abusive, though, and he nipped at one of the other plecs. Nothing life-threatening, but enough to convince me that he has to get his own tank...

And now the crayfish is in his own tank.