Pleco ID Help please?

One of my LFS has 2 of these instock labelled as "Queen Arabesque Plecs" I am pretty sure that is not the case, i appologise as my photo is pretty rubbish. They are approx 50-60mm in length and are always hidden. I have spent hours skimming through my aqualog and other resource materials and think they maybe L270 Chocolate Zebras but even they seem to be different in the patterns. They are up for £30 each.



They also have 2 royals at £40 each, tempting but i'll need a bigger tank to keep one of them.

could possably be a juvei L134 looks like some i seen the other day in a lfs that had them marked up as 134?????
and i dont have my books at the mo so cannot help further.

Definately not L260 /Queen Arabesque , the lines are to thick- L260 look almost black with fine white lines.
Could be L270 but they generally have a brownish yellow tinge were the white is, the pic looks like a L046 /Zebra and for
30 pound I'd grab it, you can see the typical "M"shape in the lines on the front of it's head- A Zebra of sorts?
J

Nice plecs, i wouldnt normally have a go at the I.D of a diff species but here goes......

I think the bottom pic is a royal.....

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=891

And the top pic is not a zebra thats for sure the lines on its back run the wrong way for a Zeb...

take a look at this...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=923

The markings are exactly the same but the colour differs alot....maybe a colour morph of the L306 species..???

I cannot find any other species that has the exact markings other than the 306....

it also doesnt look like the L134...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=213

As J said the Lines are very straight and black and could easily be I.D as a zeb but look at the way the zebz lines go...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=168....

Thats my view's on things.... :o

Yup I see that now (duh) the stripes run the wrong way to be a Zeb( I was just looking at the M on the head)
L306 looks more yellow in colour where the white is.
L316 carries the 'M' on the face but the lines are more reticulated(worm looking-inconsistant)

Now the best looking reference I can see is LDA70 aka "Queen Imperial" plec, it has the "M" pattern on the face aswell as nice solid black vertical lines down the length of the body.
It could also be L015 aka "CandyStripe" plec which are 1 of the more common/available variaties to make it on to the market.
It's a big world of plecs out there Darren Balch
J

Kurosaki J wrote:

Yup I see that now (duh) the stripes run the wrong way to be a Zeb( I was just looking at the M on the head)
L306 looks more yellow in colour where the white is.
L316 carries the 'M' on the face but the lines are more reticulated(worm looking-inconsistant)

Now the best looking reference I can see is LDA70 aka "Queen Imperial" plec, it has the "M" pattern on the face aswell as nice solid black vertical lines down the length of the body.
It could also be L015 aka "CandyStripe" plec which are 1 of the more common/available variaties to make it on to the market.
It's a big world of plecs out there Darren Balch
J

I instantly thought candystripe aswell......

ah well.....we'll get there in the end...i think..

At 50mm they could be anything. L333,199,270 or L15 candy stripe.

I will edge me bets with L199

Cheers

thegeeman

thegeeman wrote:

At 50mm they could be anything. L333,199,270 or L15 candy stripe.

I will edge me bets with L199

Cheers

thegeeman

Yup this is true I'd go L15

L199 Check them out on amazon imports

http://www.amazon-exotic-import.de/Imports_AEI.html

Cheers

thegeeman

Nice link and some nice Wild Discus there, shame I do not keep the wilds

So if they are indeed L199's what is a good price for them? and does anyone know much about the sexing or breeding habbits?

Darren Balch wrote:

So if they are indeed L199's what is a good price for them? and does anyone know much about the sexing or breeding habbits?

The Geeman is your man re sexing but I would say average price depending on the size of them

30.00 for 50-60mm hypans is a little steep IMO. You wont be able to sex them at that size either. Nice fish that prefers a higher temp and fast flowing setup.

If your looking to find hypans to breed then save your money until you find a tank full of adults and then pick a pair from them. You should be able to pic up adult hypans for 30-40 pound depending on species. I dont know if you know Jozebs? She is a good lady and takes care of her fish. Not sure if i can post a link to her site so I wont but to give you a clue it has rare-aquatics, www and .co.uk mixed up in it

Cheers

thegeeman

thegeeman wrote:

30.00 for 50-60mm hypans is a little steep IMO. You wont be able to sex them at that size either. Nice fish that prefers a higher temp and fast flowing setup.

If your looking to find hypans to breed then save your money until you find a tank full of adults and then pick a pair from them. You should be able to pic up adult hypans for 30-40 pound depending on species. I dont know if you know Jozebs? She is a good lady and takes care of her fish. Not sure if i can post a link to her site so I wont but to give you a clue it has rare-aquatics, www and .co.uk mixed up in it

Cheers

thegeeman

i no JO post the link if you like mate...you pretty much did anyway lol.......