What is this fish the shop has sold me?

[Marne]

Asked in the aquatic shop for a small algae eater and was sold the tiniest of fish, was told it would only grow to a inch and a bit , not sure if the lad in the shop actualy knew what he was talking about and i will end up with a fish to big for the tank. It looks like a mini Pleco, at the moment its tiny (less then a cm long) and is stuck to the side of the tank, not sure how much alae he will consume as his too tiny. What is it?

[EauRouge]

Uh oh, I know it's a bit late but never buy a fish if you don't know what it is- I've seen juveniles that look really cute and are an inch long but they grow to over 2 feet and are bloody hard to rehome.

But with any luck you've been sold one of these. They are shoaling fish and quite delicat. One on its own probably won't do very well.

[Marne]

Nope, its not one of those looks more like baby pleco , dont these grow big? will go and see if i can find my riceipt (it may be wrote on there), i asked the lad in the shop 'if it was a showling fish?' he said 'no, he will be fine on his own' and then i asked 'how big will it grow?' he held his fingers up and indicated a inch and a half (ish).

How long will it take before he's the size of a shark? i have a friend with a huge tank where i could possibly home him but she seems to get through a lot of fish (they die). Maybe i now have an exscuse to buy a bigger tank .

[Marne]

Was going to take a photo of him but he's so tiny that i have lost him, dd1 is now upset because she thinks the guppies have eaten him (they wouldn't would they?). Hopfully he's hiding somewhere.

[EauRouge]

IDing plecs can be pretty tricky, there are millions of the damn things and loads of them look almost identical.

There are quite a few species in this genus that stay small but your best bet is going back to the shop and asking them what the scientific name is. Then if it is going to get too big you can sort it out now rather than being stuck with something that eats all your other fish in one night.

[Marne]

I have found him, will try and upload a picture but its not that clear as he's so tiny.

[Marne]

Pic's on my profile , he is rather cute.

[EauRouge]

Ooh, he is cute! Baby plecs are adorable. Does this look anything like him? Or maybe this?

Juveniles can look quite different to adults.

[Marne]

He's more like the 2nd one but he hasn't got a odd nose, his spots are not as bright as the first one. Dd1 is thinking up silly names for him (sucky, kissy etc..) but he's mine and i think i will name him . Will he grow huge and gobble up all my fish? i may have to buy a huge tank to put him in as i dont think i can part with him.

[Marne]

Though he's so niny i cant really see his nose in detail.

[EauRouge]

If he is a bristlenose then they don't get their bristles until they are bigger- unless she's a she then she'll be bristle-free.

They do stay fairl small- about 5 inches- but too big for a 60 litre tank. You wouldn't need to upgrade by much for a bristlenose, they need around 20 gallons minimum, but I would really check with the shop to see if that's defo what you've got. It's brilliant that you want to keep him whatever, but a common plec is going to need a 6ft tank at least and will gobble up anything small enough to be gobbled.

[Marne]

Thank you, i'm pretty sure he's not a common plec, as they did have some in the shop in another tank (the man in the shop didn't try and off load a common plec onto me), he gave me the choice between this or some loaches but i explained that i didn't have room for loaches as i would have to get more than 1 (they are sholing fish, am i right?). Hopfully by the time he reaches 5 inches i would have presuaded dh into letting me have another tank . How long will he take to reach 5 inches? (how long have got to find a bigger tank?).

[EauRouge]

Yes, loaches are shoaling fish. Plecs are anti-social solitary though so he/she will be fine alone. No idea how long it takes them to grow, probably no more than a year or so though. How long will it take DH to come around. Will he notice if you replace the telly with a fish tank?

[Marne]

Wont take me long to get my own way , we go to a lot of car boot sales so i'm bound to stumble upon a big fish tank during the summer for a bargain price , have already told him 'i am swaping the tv for a tank'.

[Marne]

What should i feed baby plec? or is he happy just sucking up the algae?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Might be a clown pleco.

[Marne]

You could be right, he does look a little bit like a clown pleco. He has gone into hiding again now.

[EauRouge]

I dunno, they are more stripy. They stay small though so if it is a clown pleco then you're not in trouble

You can get algae wafers and when he gets bigger you could weigh down a slice of cucumber or courgette by spearing it on a spoon and he will happily graze on that.

[Marne]

Thank you, have ordered him some wafers. He's still hiding (hope he's ok), i bought a gravel vacuum today but now im worried to use it incase i suck him up .

[thisisyesterday]

he looks exactly like my bristlenose catfish that I got ooooh, less than a year ago for sure. he was so diddy!

he is about 14cm long now

in all seriousness, I would go back and ask what you've been sold and if it's a bristlenose then I would be very cross at them. not ok to tell you it would only grow to about an inch and a half

[EauRouge]

Yes, that's true, it's not on lying to you like that. I'd give them a right bollocking.

[EauRouge]

Tell them you want a discount on a bigger tank or you'll set trading standards on them

[Marne]

He's happily cleaning the algae off of the filter this morning, he's a bit shy though (likes to keep himself to himself), have told Dh that i will need a bigger tank, he didn't look too impressed but he didn't say 'no'. Will he just be ok clearing the algae until the wafers come (might be a few days)? I'm quite looking forward to see him get bigger (and getting a bigger tank if i need one), will go back to the shop and find out what he is.

[thisisyesterday]

am sure he'll be ok on algae for the moment, mine quite often shuns the wafers for proper algae!
if it does turn out to be a bristlenose prepare yourself for LOTS of poo tho! they're quite messy fish.
that said, it's easier to vacuum the poo out than clear the algae off the tank so I am quite happy. He really loves the big piece of wood in the tank and spends most of his time attached to that

[EauRouge]

You can always do the pet rock trick for growing algae. If you get a pebble and stick it in a vase of water on the windowsill with a bit of fish food in there then it will start growing algae. Then you can put it in the tank for your plec and put a new pebble in the vase and just rotate them so he's always got a fresh supply of algae.

[Marne]

Thanks Eau, will do the pebble thing , i havn't seen him sinse this morning, i keep worrying that he will get stuck somewhere and die (its like he's my PFB), i'm sure he's probably fine and will show his face later. Going to attemp to clean the gravel tomorrow without sucking him up .