AguirreTheWrathofPlecos
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2019
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 10
Just saying hi after being out of the hobby for roughly 25 years. Many years prior to there ever being any "L" designations for what are Loricariidae I was this nutcase known as PlecoJeff. This name was given to me by some of the coolest people I've ever known. These included James K. Langhammer, John Hassenplug, Bill Gillis, Scott Depalma, and many others from around the Detroit area. All the aforementioned people were close personal friends and mentors to whom I will always be grateful.
At one time I had roughly 50 different species of Loricariids, 5-10 of which had never been keyed with respect to taxonomy. This was the entry time into the hobby of what I came to refer to as "designer plecos". The first of these to show up in the hobby were grabbed up by Scott Depalma, Myself, and a woman in New York by the name of Ginny Eckstein. We all ordered off the same importer lists which basically came down to three primary sources for oddball fish. The biggest of these was the New York import line which put Ginny about a week before Scott and I due to quarantine. In those days, the lists would contain some common made up name, and the river in which the species was collected. The Xingu, and Negro rivers, their many subsequent tributaries, and oxbow lakes, are where most of these high colorful designer plecos originated. The first of these plecos to show up in the hobby were the gold spots, also known as Vampire Plecos due to their highly adapted ability to burrow into submersed wood for insect larva, and to build sheltering nests for themselves and their fry. About one year prior to the entry of the smaller designer plecos, first the big solid black Acanthicus Hystrix, and then about 3-6 months later the Adonis species from the same family came through. Prior to this the orange rings (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps), and the Horned Pleco ( Pterygoplichthys lituratus) were happening and had been for some time. I think some of these are now reclassified for whatever reason as glyptoperichthys. My own first orange ring came directly from James Langhammer due to it getting too mean (dominate) among the 4 or 5 he had at the time. Jim is one of the coolest people on the planet! He was the longtime record setting curator of the Belle Isle aquarium.
Anyways, just a crazy old timer saying hi, and having been re-bitten by one of the most wallet deadly hobbies known to mankind, Tropical Fish!
Jeff
At one time I had roughly 50 different species of Loricariids, 5-10 of which had never been keyed with respect to taxonomy. This was the entry time into the hobby of what I came to refer to as "designer plecos". The first of these to show up in the hobby were grabbed up by Scott Depalma, Myself, and a woman in New York by the name of Ginny Eckstein. We all ordered off the same importer lists which basically came down to three primary sources for oddball fish. The biggest of these was the New York import line which put Ginny about a week before Scott and I due to quarantine. In those days, the lists would contain some common made up name, and the river in which the species was collected. The Xingu, and Negro rivers, their many subsequent tributaries, and oxbow lakes, are where most of these high colorful designer plecos originated. The first of these plecos to show up in the hobby were the gold spots, also known as Vampire Plecos due to their highly adapted ability to burrow into submersed wood for insect larva, and to build sheltering nests for themselves and their fry. About one year prior to the entry of the smaller designer plecos, first the big solid black Acanthicus Hystrix, and then about 3-6 months later the Adonis species from the same family came through. Prior to this the orange rings (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps), and the Horned Pleco ( Pterygoplichthys lituratus) were happening and had been for some time. I think some of these are now reclassified for whatever reason as glyptoperichthys. My own first orange ring came directly from James Langhammer due to it getting too mean (dominate) among the 4 or 5 he had at the time. Jim is one of the coolest people on the planet! He was the longtime record setting curator of the Belle Isle aquarium.
Anyways, just a crazy old timer saying hi, and having been re-bitten by one of the most wallet deadly hobbies known to mankind, Tropical Fish!
Jeff