Any Idea What This Fish Thing Is?!

[Spishkey]

my lovely boyfriend has, in my absence, bought a fish/thing that i have no idea what it could be.

im guessing a kind of pleco as it acts like one (sucker mouth, sucks on the bogwood/plants etc) but looks unlike any ive seen before?


any ideas people? it is a brown/grey/black and white colour, long thin, very long tail which is forked at the end. small (at the moment?) sucker mouth, fast!

i would like to know what it is incase it has any special requirements? it was rather expensive for a fish apparantly!

 

[Nick16]

its a whiptail catfish. there are many species. HERE

 

[minxfishy]

Farlowella (sp). Twig catfish.

 

[Davo86]

Most likely to be Rineloricaria lanceolata aka common Whiptail Catfish

 

[Colin_T]

probably a royal whiptail catfish due to its rather large dorsal fin.
They are tough fish when they have settled in and will eat algae, driftwood and any food that sinks to the bottom. Algae wafers are a good supplemental food for them.

 

[matchstickman47]

agreed. it a whiptail

 

[lordofthesea]

definately a whip tail. they like vegetables like cucumber. also see how big it will get. they can get big!

 

[Spishkey]

thanks for the id! can anyone confirm how big they get?!

i have found two reports of 15cm and 3 of 25cm!!!

 

[Colin_T]

normal whiptails get to about 6inches (15cm) and the royals get to about 8inches (20cm). These sizes do not include the tail.