Can anyone help ID Plec, please?

[Ferris]

Great pics and a lovely fish. I wouldn't worry too much about the size, they very rarely get bigger than 10 inches in captivity. Mine lives in my Mbuna tank, keeps it spotless and the Cichlids stay out of his way, even my huge orange blotch zebra who he chases sometimes...lol. He's 2 and a half years old and he's about 7 inches, grew to that size pretty quickly and hasn't got noticeably bigger for ages.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Plecs will always reach there max size when given the corrent space.

Alot of large fish don't reach there ful size as there not given the right space....for instance a 55gallon. I say nothing less than 80 for a common or sailfin/gibbicep.

 

[Ferris]

I agree that there's a lot of conflicting info out there on sailfin plec's, I can only say that I've never seen one bigger than 10 inches and that includes a 7 year old in a 200 gallon tank!

If i'm proved wrong, its a damn fine excuse to get a bigger tank though......lol

 

[Paul_MTS]

I'ved seen plenty well above 10".

there's full gronw ones in a display tank at my local shop.

 

[CathyG]

Thanks again, all!

And the Sailfin says thanks for the compliments!

My sister had him for over a year, I have had him about a month or so now. As I said earlier, he is starting to come out of his shell over this last few days and spending loads of time out in the open. He was on the side of the tank last night and I managed to measure him. From nose to just behind his dorsal fin he is 5cm, smaller than I thought!

I have recently bought four Otos to help with an algae breakout. The algae only covers areas of the glass, and is soft and easy to clean with a magnet, but I fancied letting the fish do the work (since the magnet freaks my male Ram out to the point he attacks it! ) The plec had previously shown no interest, since the addition of the Otos, however, he is now muscling in

He is in a 220 litre at the moment, but since my house is on the market I won't be getting the 540 litre until we have settled in the new home. This will be hopefully within the year, so he should be ok for now

My sister is looking for homes for three more plecs if anyone is interested. She has a baby and a toddler, and is also moving home, so is breaking down her tank for a while until she is more settled and has more time on her hands. She is not asking anything for them, but that they go to a good home and are collected - she lives in Cambridge. She has an albino, a male Bristlenose, and another I am not sure of (about 3" in length) I can get pics if anyone is interested

 

[Ferris]

Common Plecs over 10 inches yes, sailfin's no

 

[Paul_MTS]

Both....

at work since i worked here we'ved had 2 14-16" sailfins and 2 13-15" commons.

both types grow to 18"

 

[Crookster]

Looked after properley and given the right amount of room these fish should reach 18 inches or so. If they don't then your doing something wrong.
http/www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.php


I've seen some really large ones, don't know exactly the size but I'd say over 10 inches.