I feel like I need to do this every week;
dispel the myth
about "Common Plecos".
To put it bluntly,
THERE IS NO SUCH FISH!
"Common Pleco" is an inaccurate and generic term given
to poorly identified fishes of the genus Loricariidae and actually covers at least four different species; Pterygoplichthys
pardalis, Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus, Hypostomus plecostomus and Hypotomus punctatus.
I've even seen Ptergoplichthys gibbiceps marked up as a 'Common Pleco' by some less knowledgeable aquarium shops.
Well, why is regarding every Pleco as a "Common Pleco" a problem?
Firstly, it’s lazy fish keeping.
Let’s be honest here, you can’t even be
bothered to find out what your fish is? You must have noticed it looked different
from other types of fish, even other types of Pleco.
Secondly, though they are similar in many ways, in other
ways they are quite different. Take size for instance, an important consideration when choosing fish...
P. Gibbiceps and P. Multiradiatus can reach 45(18") and 50 cm(20") respectively. While P. Pardalis, H. Plecostomus and H. Punctatus will
only reach 35(14"), 30(12") and 26cm(10") respectively. So immediately there is a size
difference of at least 25cm(10") between the bigger specimens and the smallest ones;
that’s a lot.
Go and measure that, I’ll wait...
Yeah, see that?
25cm is a quarter of a meter(best part of a foot). That’s the
difference between requiring only a 100L(26gal) tank and needing a tank four times that volume with filtration to match for a fully grown fish and don't believe any of the rubbish like "it'll only get as big as the tank".
Fish are living creatures and when you take one home you
have a moral responsibly to its long term care.
If you don’t think you do, then you shouldn’t be keeping fish.
You need to consider the requirements of
any fish you keep but more so with big fishes or fish that can get big. How are you going to plan for
the long term care of a fish when you don’t know what it is?
Many simply say that when if it gets too big for them or they can't look after it properly they'll just ship it out to their local aquarium shop or someone with a bigger tank.Well, I've got news for you buddy; not every shop wants your unwanted Pleco. In fact many aquarium shops are inundated with unwanted fish, what makes you think they'll take yours? So you'll go to some dealer online that'll take it off your hands. That's one route, but do you know anything about this dealer? How do you know it won't go from your tank into another unsuitable tank or if it will be properly looked after by this person? So now you're stuck with this fish that could grow to half a meter and you haven't the space nor the money for a big aquarium.
So you see, knowing what catfish you have just brought home is important. These aren't 2 week wonders either, they're not like Guppies and Neons, these fish can live for 20 years.
~
Now I appreciate that the fact you refer to your Loricarid (a fish of the the Genus Loricariidae) as a "sucker mouth catfish", a "common pleco" or some other imprecise general name, is because that's what was written on the tank at the store - and they must know what they're talking about, right?
The genus Loricariidae contains the most species of any family of Catfish; nearly 700 different species have been scientifically recognised - even more if we including those that still reside solely under L-number classifications, which currently stretch from L001 (Ptergoplichthys Joselimaianus) to L600 (Pseudacanthicus Leopardus). No doubt new species will be added as time progresses.
That's a hell of a lot of different species.In fact, many fish are frequently misidentified at aquarium shops, particularly catfish. The reason is because they deal with a lot of different fish and sometimes they come into the shop misidentified as well. With stock turning over and a busy shop to run, not to mention maintaining 40+ holding tanks both tropical fresh, cold and marine, sometimes those in the know get it wrong too.
So it's on you then, isn't it.
I don't really know another way to say this;
It's absolutely your job to know what's in your tank, what it needs, how big it will get and if you can offer it the long term care that it requires, no, that it DESERVES.
Which means it's on you to know what type of Pleco you've got stuck to your aquarium glass.
Thankfully, I've done at last some of the leg work for you; useful Links to accurately identify your misidentified "Common" Pleco:
Wikipedia - List of Common Aquarium Fishes, it's as good a place to start as any:
Seriously Fish - Knowledge Base (Siluriformes), more extensive than Wikipedia, not as indepth as Planet Catfish.
Planet Catfish - Cat-eLog, requires more patience but it's probably the most comprehensive list on the net.
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