Gibbiceps pleco questions

[divemaster99]

Last April I went to my LFS and not being in the hobby for very long I wasn't researching fish prior to buying them and wound up with L165. He was in my 30 tall until the beginning of February this year when I transferred him to my 75 gallon. He will eventually go into a 180 in about 2 years. I bought him labeled as common pleco (he is pterygoplichthys gibbiceps for sure). He is so friendly and when he was in my 30 tall he did a thing where he would clamp on to an algae wafer and float upside down about half way up my tank while still eating before letting it go and going back down to the bottom to find it again and repeat. He took the transfer to my 75 well and is in paradise eating my very large piece of driftwood that is about 8 times larger than the piece he ate in the 30. I love this guy and if he wasn't so territorial to other plecos (learned that the hard way) I would have even more in my 75 with him. I'm looking to get another pleco in my 30 tall planted if anybody wants to suggest any (I was at my LFC meeting last night and somebody sold their L333 fry wish I would've got one!) so I have just a few general questions about my sailfin for you guys:

1) I got him at 2.5" or 2.75" almost a year ago and he is only 3.75" to 4" now, is that normal or did I stunt him being in a 30 tall for that long?

2) what are the best foods for him, as of now I switch every other day between omega shrimp pellets and hikari algae wafers, he also eat driftwood. A LOT of driftwood

3) today I put an algae wafer in front if his cave and he batted me with his caudal fin a bunch of times until I moved, how can I make him more friendly.

4) I've heard they are one of the easiest plecos to handfeed, what size can I expect him to get the confidence where he would start doing this?

5) other stuff you guys want to tell me about his species.

thanks guys!

 

[divemaster99]

Also out of curiosity. For all you pleco enthusiasts out there, what is the best way to memorize and identify plecos in common names, scientific names, and L numbers? I have been wanting to seriously get into to plecos for a while but just can't remember l numbers as well as I would like to.

 

[Warborg]

1) That's fine not all plecos/fish will grow at an alarming rate. I would say 6 inches would have been the max. But yea, the general rule is the sooner the better.

2) Your food sounds fine.

3)It's hard to make plecos more friendly, the best advise I could give he is to spend lots of time in front of the tank so he gets used to you.

4)Same as 3, you would most likely have to put your hand with food in the tank lots of times before he will trust you.

5) They are in my top 5 favorite plecos. Going back to 3 and 4, basically you have to make him think you are a piece of decoration or that it is normal to see you.


2nd post- Practice and studying

 

[divemaster99]

1) That's fine not all plecos/fish will grow at an alarming rate. I would say 6 inches would have been the max. But yea, the general rule is the sooner the better.

2) Your food sounds fine.

3)It's hard to make plecos more friendly, the best advise I could give he is to spend lots of time in front of the tank so he gets used to you.

4)Same as 3, you would most likely have to put your hand with food in the tank lots of times before he will trust you.

5) They are in my top 5 favorite plecos. Going back to 3 and 4, basically you have to make him think you are a piece of decoration or that it is normal to see you.


2nd post- Practice and studying

Thanks man! Yeah I know I have to study a lot its just hard to remember the L's since they aren't even grouped by genus.
Are there any other boisterous growout plecos I could put in with him that he wouldn't kill or is he just a territorial fish?

 

[Warborg]

My L001 is by himself because he's territorial. You would have to put a bigger pleco in the tank but that's not a sure way to avoid fighting