Callenge: Pleco ID with Crappy Pics

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JK47

JK47

Retired MFK Admin
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Aug 4, 2008
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So I bought a tank Saturday that came with a large 9" pleco. The pictures I took that day suck and the ones my wife has taken are not much better but since I left Sunday afternoon to travel for my work and cannot get more pics until this Saturday, I am dieing to know if someone can pin down the specific ID.

The colors in the "ice chest" pic are very stressed out. It's true colors now are solid black with small white spots. I think it's an L240 or an L007. What do you think? I have an L240 much smaller and mine has larger spots.

P5300135.jpg
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L128 bluespot

im pretty sure its a L atleast:naughty:lol
 
L-097?
The shot from above looks like the body shape of my psuedacanthicus leopardus.
Is it really spiney? I believe the whiskers you are talking about are a characteristic of the leporacanthicus sp. which the L-240 and L-007 are both leporacanthicus. I could be wrong, I am far from an ID expert.
 
wingate2581;3168696; said:
May I ask what makes you sure it is a leporacanthicus? Not doubting you, just trying to learn.
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I can see where you were coming from with regards to thinking its a pseudacanthicus, the first picture does look spikey, thats the acanthicus part of the genus name, and pseudacanthicus does have a couple of L numbers that exhibit a similar colouration (L97 and L282). Im certainly no expert on Leporacanthicus, so here is my reasoning. From the side shots imo it has the body shape and general look of leporacanthicus and I can see that on the top of its head there is a depression between the tip of the head and the start of the dorsal fin, which is common in Leporacanthicus. To be sure, a picture of the mouth and nose would help.
 
matubula;3168939; said:
I can see where you were coming from with regards to thinking its a pseudacanthicus, the first picture does look spikey, thats the acanthicus part of the genus name, and pseudacanthicus does have a couple of L numbers that exhibit a similar colouration (L97 and L282). Im certainly no expert on Leporacanthicus, so here is my reasoning. From the side shots imo it has the body shape and general look of leporacanthicus and I can see that on the top of its head there is a depression between the tip of the head and the start of the dorsal fin, which is common in Leporacanthicus. To be sure, a picture of the mouth and nose would help.
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Very cool. Thank you for your explanation. Another thing that made me believe it may be a psuedacanthicus was from my understanding the OP said it was lacking the "whiskers" on the front of the mouth. Am I incorrect on using that as an indicator between psuedacanthicus and leporacanthicus?
 
wingate2581;3168964; said:
Very cool. Thank you for your explanation. Another thing that made me believe it may be a psuedacanthicus was from my understanding the OP said it was lacking the "whiskers" on the front of the mouth. Am I incorrect on using that as an indicator between psuedacanthicus and leporacanthicus?
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What is OP short for? The thread poster does say this, but on the poly box picture there are definite barbels (I assume this is what is meant by whiskers) with a double branching one on the right. Pseudacanthicus and leporacanthicus both exhibit a pair of small barbels/whiskers, as do many other pleco's, so would not be a distinguishing feature.
 
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