Jose or Gibby?

[moola]

Sounds like a baseball question, in a way!

So I've got this pleco that we bought from Petsmart about a year and a half ago as a "Spotted Hi-Fin Plecostomus". I was at the store a week or so ago and they have the species listed as P. gibbiceps, which is what I thought mine was.

However, looking through some photos on Planet Catfish today, I thought he looked a lot more like P. joselimaianus.

Thoughts?

 

[Warborg]

P. joselimaianus

 

[jclyde13]

^^^Yep

jose = dark brown with off-white or light brown spots

gibby = light brown with dark brown spots (which turns into more of a honeycomb pattern as they age)

 

[jbarbaresi]

agreed, very nice one too. i wish my local petsmart sold p. joseli instead of p. gibbiceps as their hi fin spotted.

 

[headbanger_jib]

very niiice lookin josie

 

[NixMix]

Completely agree..jose How big is it now?

 

[moola]

He's about 9 or 9.5 inches. Also somewhat shy, so it's hard to catch him out for measuring or a good photo! We've had him since June of 2009.

Baby pic!

 

[moola]

Well, as I said, the last time I was in the store the sign on the tank said P. gibbiceps, so I guess you never know...

 

[Ianab]

They are closely related, but easy to tell apart as the jose has that reticulated pattern of light blobs where the gibby has a honeycomb of darker spots on a light background.

Care etc is the same, but the jose has a smaller adult size, so usually that's the one you should look for, well apart from Monster fish keepers anyway.

I have one of each

Ian

 

[moola]

Heh, when we got him, I just told the guy I wanted "that darker one" and so that's what we got!