Please identify our Plec

[H&H]

Hi everyone

My son and I are fairly new to keeping tropical fish, I bought him a tank second hand and he is very excited and enthusiastic about his new hobby. He started with a couple of angels and a molly but has now added a few neon tetra, a siamese fighter and a pair of clown loaches. His most recent addition was a plec, this was sold to us as a clown plec but it has slowly dawned on me that it isn't in fact a clown plec but a variety of sailfin plec. If this is the case we're in trouble as his tank is not big enough to accommodate a larger plec when he gets older. Please could you confirm what type he is for us, so that we can decide what we should do - I assume the pet shop will take the fish back and let him choose a different one if they admit to mis-selling it to him? He won't be keen on that course of action as he loves his 'pleccy' but it might have to be done.

Many thanks for your help.

Hugh & Hamish

 

[macvsog23]

Yep you’re right it is a Gibby
Will get big
As your becomeing interested in fish a few words of advice.

Read before you buy.
Never buy because the sales man told you it’s what you want
Never buy lots of fish in one go it will load your filter.
3 rules
10% water change every week
Feed every 2 days.
Don’t over stock

Get one of these 3 fish



http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=735

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=75

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=275

They stay small they are easy to keep if you follow the rules

But most importaint get a book

 

[JoePlec]

Yeah Gibby aka Sailfin... my last one was 14" and uprooted the whole tank on a regular basis. get yourself a bristlenose

 

[Tener ds]

:welcome:
bookmark this site mate.loads of good advise from the guys and gals here.
(saved me loads off times :whistle

 

[Irene0100]

yes I agree
there are several smaller types of plec who are easy to keep, including clown plec which this one isnt!

 

[H&H]

Thanks Guys For Helping Us.We Will Hopefully Get A Refund.

Thanks For Reading,

Hamish & Hugh

 

[C8lyn]

Pleccy looks like a beautiful fish. My brother has a sailfin too, but his tank is a pretty good size for it. I hope the petshop takes it back because they misled you. They should be finding appropriate homes for the fish, not just any home for the sake of a sale.

 

[macvsog23]

Sadly the pet trade works on a profit system.

The cheap price these fish can be brought at ie under £1:00 each gives a fast turn over and they are relatively easy to store and transport.

The reason that no one has stopped this trade in fish that will grow to big for the average tank is that very few people who keep fish seem place a value on a £3:00 fish

I in my capacity as sales prevention office at a LFS give every customer advice but 95% seem to think that I am trying to get them to spend more than they want to.
When returning this fish point out that it is going to grow and they have not shown due care in its housing and welfare.

This link below as pointed out to me by some one is better than my last links for helping you chose a fish for your tank
http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/articles.php

 

[titan]

its a gibby and these grow very big very fast

 

[Brengun]

The clown loaches will also get a foot long but they take a few years to do it.