# Pleco questions



## Sublimelime69sd (1 mo ago)

Can anyone identify what kind of pleco this is? I got this guy and I'm trying to figure out what kind he/she is.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Looks like a sailfin pleco 
*Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps*

Can grow to 17 inches
lifespan up to 15 years


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## Sublimelime69sd (1 mo ago)

Thank you. I'm good with that if he/she is. So much personality I could zone out on my tank for hours.


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

Super cool looking


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## Sublimelime69sd (1 mo ago)

UPDATE...I went back to the store where I got him and the store tells me he is an Orange Spotted Pleco. It is written everywhere on the tanks they are in and they don't carry the common pleco because of the fact people don't want extremely big plecos.....Thoughts?


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

The pictures I see on the web look like your Pleco, Orange spotted Pleco.
Time will tell, if he get's bigger than 6 or 7 inches.
He's a beauty. I can't have a pleco in my tank but just as well as my LFS has $150. pleco's.
Umm no.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

There are different gold spot plecos would need L number, some are bristlenose that can get 6 inches and some not bn that can get larger.


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## Gamegurl (4 mo ago)

susankat said:


> There are different gold spot plecos would need L number, some are bristlenose that can get 6 inches and some not bn that can get larger.


Curiosity runs rampant here, what is an L number?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

As per google
Currently,* L-numbers are used not only by fish-keeping enthusiasts, but also by biologists, since they represent a useful stopgap until a new species of fish is given a full taxonomic name*. In some cases, two different L-numbered catfish have turned out to be different populations of the same species, while in other cases, multiple (but superficially similar) species have all been traded under a single L-number.


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## blackghost (23 d ago)

It’s a Gold Spot plec, Pterygoplichthys joselimaianus. They grow to about 12-15” long, which is actually small for a Pterygoplichthys.

Sorry, didn’t realise the post was so old.


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