New gold nugget pleco (L018)

Blinky

Blinky

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I traded in a bunch of platys for store credit today (after I lost my angel, the population got absolutely out of control, there are still ~15 babies in the tank). I'd been admiring the gold nuggets in the store for a while, but was wary of buying an expensive fish (I guess it's all relative, they're expensive compared to what I've bought in the past, but not overly pricey when it comes to plecs). With my staff discount and the trade-in, the price of a gold nugget wasn't so steep, so today I brought one home :D
S/he's in quarantine, with an established filter, plenty of plants and some driftwood. The tank is at 82F, similar to the display tank that will be his/her permanent home.
The 65g has lots of bogwood with many places to hide and is heavily planted. The only territorial fish in the tank are a 1/2" angel and a 3" bristlenose (Ancistrus claro). I'm a bit hesitant to put the new catfish with the bristlenose, but everything I've read seems to indicate that as long as there's room for both to establish territories they'll be fine.
Just curious if anyone has any advice on keeping the little guy happy and healthy - from what I've read, they like a warm tank with decent current, and eat just as much 'meaty' food as algae/veggies, but I'm sure there are things I haven't learned yet.
 
You sound very well on track! I love Gold Nuggets, esp L018. When I had mine (years ago-I also had a Zebra) I would feed them both algae wafers, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, cucumber, zuch., and lettuce. Good luck with him, they are amazing!
 
Well he will outgrow your 65 if you are sure he is a L18. If it's an L81 (I think) then it will stay like 6-8". Otherwise There are 3 different L numbers for gold nuggets that get ~14". Not that I should talk, they had a sale on them for half off so they were 25$ instead of 50$ and I bought a very nice looking one. They had a bunch of little ones that looked beat up/not great and 1 2 1/2" one with perfect fins and nice color.

Look at his belly and make sure it is nice and round and not sucked up at all. If so I would take it back for a replacement as those ones usually die (from what I have read on planetcatfish). Mine is in a tank with a 1 1/2" bristle nose and a 1" rubber lip. He will occasionally chase them away if they are grazing near him but that's about it. Good luck with him, he is a very good looking fish (One of my favorite next to my Starlite bristlenose plec). I love watching mine swim around the tank grazing on algae. When I put shrimp pellets in he will drop to the ground and eat some of them. He's not very shy at all considering I have had him for like 5 days.
 
S/he wasn't labeled with an L number in the store, but I looked at planet catfish and I'm pretty sure this is L018 (medium spot). S/he is about 2" long, and looks very close to this picture:
1.jpg

Looking at the catfish of the month article from that site, I'm fairly certain it's not L177, and L085/81 seems to have many more, smaller spots than the fish I bought. My fish also seems to be a brighter yellow, so by process of elimination, along with the fact that it seems to be the one most commonly available, I'm pretty sure it's L018.
If s/he outgrows the 65g, hopefully it won't be for quite some time - based on what I've read they grow quite slowly. InThis thread others said it's rare for them to reach 14" in a tank, but if s/he does, I'm prepared to get another tank (I'm sure my husband will be thrilled! ;))
I'm happy to say it appears s/he's eating. His/her belly isn't exactly round, but it's not hollow, and there's poop on the sand this morning so s/he must be eating something :)
 
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Wow...I just got a golden nugget pleco for about 3 bucks. I trust this LFS to know what they have, and they said it would stay small.
After looking at the linked pics...I don't think that is what I have. It's rather small, about 1 1/2". Maybe I misunderstood what they said. Any other small pleco with golden in it's name?
 
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I'm not sure what I got. This thing is such a baby! It's only about 1 1/2" long. His/her belly is white..and the back was pale when he came out of the bag, and he has been cleaning the front of the tank all evening so that's all I've really seen. I went around to the side to try to take pics through the side to post to get a look at the rest of him, and by golly, he is dark with little spots. Maybe he is one. I have plenty of algae...on the back of the tank of course. I wish he's go there. I got some algae wafers and put in for him and the loaches. Of course the skanky snails are all over them. the loaches munched a bit, and have nipped at a few of the snails..yeah!..but I hope this little guy does ok. I don't have any veggies in the house except carrots, I'll have to get some tomorrow. I had no clue the bigger ones went for so much.
My pics turned out bad...shooting through the glass to something on the front glass apparently isn't a good thing. When I get a good pic, I'll post in a new thread.
 
I'd give the store a call, ask for the plec's L number or latin name. Common names aren't always reliable, sometimes people make names up too, believe it or not. You could try doing a search through planetcatfish.com, see if you can find your little guy. I'm curious :)
 
I actually did go out to planetcatfish to look, but didn't see any pics of young golden nugget plecs.
I'm going back to the store later next week, I'll ask. They were low on stock, I could only get 2 clown loaches and 1 kuhli loach and they had no pearl gouramis. They get excellent stock and care for them well.
 
The smaller ones will look like the bigger ones. The pet store I went to had some that were about 1 1/2 inches and they were the same color, they just had smaller spots. The spots aren't too small either. They also have yellow on the tips of both of their tails. If it doesn't have that yellow it isn't a gold nugget. The small ones were the same price (25$ on sale which is the cheapest I have seen anywhere). If the one you have has really tiny dots and you got it for 3$ I would say you prolly got a rubberlip or bulldog plec. I have one that is about 1 1/4" and he has small spots on his face only.
 
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