Id This Pleco?

[Channti]

Saw them at the LFS... They normally only stock Commons, but the colouring on these was definitely different than the Commons. They were charging the same price as the commons for them.... The girl working had no idea what they were. She's working again tomorrow, so if they'll stay fairly small, I'll buy the couple they had. They were more gold-coloured than the brown-gray of their usual commons.

Any idea what they are? Sorry for the crummy pix... Cell camera was all I had. And Sorry about the reflection of my fingernails in one of the pix

 

[Assaye]

Could be baby sailfins. Also known as highfin, gibbiceps or leopard plecos.

If I'm right, it'll get between 12" and 24" as adult and will require a 6' long tank.

 

[the biffster]

looks like a Gibbie to me as well but cant really
tell off the photos

 

[Channti]

Alright, thanks.

I will -not- be buying one. I'll just have to spend 10x as much and get myself a starlight pleco. Figured if they were sent in and ID'd wrong by their distributor (it's happened before...) I might get a pleco to suit my tank size for cheap.

They weren't entirely healthy either... so it's probably a blessing. One had what looked like columnaris, another wasn't showing physical signs of disease, but it was allowing itself to be picked on by some RTBS.... so idk... If they were a smaller species that I could house at adult size, I would have bought them and nursed them to health... but I just don't have the space.

 

[Assaye]

Alright, thanks.

I will -not- be buying one. I'll just have to spend 10x as much and get myself a starlight pleco. Figured if they were sent in and ID'd wrong by their distributor (it's happened before...) I might get a pleco to suit my tank size for cheap.

They weren't entirely healthy either... so it's probably a blessing. One had what looked like columnaris, another wasn't showing physical signs of disease, but it was allowing itself to be picked on by some RTBS.... so idk... If they were a smaller species that I could house at adult size, I would have bought them and nursed them to health... but I just don't have the space.

You did the right thing. Buying sick/distressed fish just shows the shop that they can sell stock of that quality and doesn't give them any incentive to get a better supplier or treat their fish better.