Gold Nugget Plecos

[gulexx]

I'm just wonderig who else is keeping these plecos.
I bought a pair (2) of these over 3 years ago. They might have been 2" then, and now they'er only around 3", max 4" including their tails. They are bright , vibrant and very healthy. I'm just wondering how long do they take to grow? I've other fish in the tanks from discus to other plecos and they've all done amazingly well and grew to adult size. From what I see with the goldnuggets, they'll aquire a size of at least 8" up to potentially 14".
I understand they pull out new species every season, but I assume there's only the 3-4 species listed so far I have to have one of these. I'm just beginning to be concerned about the very slow growth rate. I've since added another nugget from another "source" and it's size matches my other two for the past year. The bottom pic is the most recent. With growth rate this slow, they'll be 10 years old before they get to be 8" adults!!!
Any thoughts ?

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/gulexx/goldnuggetbadis.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/gulexx/2nuggets.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/gulexx/fishmay3043.jpg

[Zoban]

Depends on the L# as to the size your's sound like the smaller sized L..

Unless everything I've read is misinformation as I have also seen posts saying that the Diff L#'s are based more on spot size asnd they are all small thus making the 12-14" wrong..

I would hazzard a guess though that yours are adult based on the time you have had them..

[CanadaPleco]

Those guys grow real slow! I've got a couple of them myself and well. It's going to be a long wait till their breeding age. Great lookin plecos though!

[moon]

Wish I had read this before. I picked up four today at BA in Hamilton. They are nice looking fish. I'd be retired before these guys think about spawning. It was an impulse buy. Pays to do some research before buying new fish.

[Zoban]

But they are beautiful species so look on the bright side :)

[seanmc]

How much were they at BA Hamilton? (BA Newmarket only has three sick "Galaxy" plecos, and a single "Starlight" that is missing the white trim on the fins).

Thanks - Sean

[CanadaPleco]

moon, enjoy your new plecos :) Just be sure to give them LOTS of places to hide, GN's can be very territorial towards each other. That being said I myself have 3 of them in a standard 20 gallon tank at the moment.

seanmc, mississauga seems to have the same starlight plecos, I believe that they are 182's they have in. And they dont look so great either :( Such a shame, it would be really nice if these stores knew what to feed them so they wouldnt loose half of them!

[moon]

The GN's were listed at $26.99 with a 20% discount this week. I get an extra 10% for HDAC membership. So I paid about $18.00 each. They only had four and I took all of them. They are about 1.5". Probably tank bred.
They are very nice looking fish and in good shape.
They do have some Queen Arabesque not sure of the L number for the same price.

[steve-o]

seanmc, mississauga seems to have the same starlight plecos, I believe that they are 182's they have in. And they dont look so great either :( Such a shame, it would be really nice if these stores knew what to feed them so they wouldnt loose half of them!

Big Al's here in Whitby has quite a few starlights, they're going for 40$. Picked 3 up on boxing day for the 20% discount, they're all doing pretty good. They're surprising me with how active they're being during the day AND night, thought they'd stay hidden like my other 2 bristle nose.

Haven't found a place around here yet with a good gold nugget supply, would love to have one, but everytime I see some in stock they're all on the brink of death.

[Bwhiskered]

According to Larry Vires who has spawned gold nuggets they are about the slowest growing pleco that he knows of. The book of L numbers states that they will all grow to 12" long but that some will be mature enough to spawn at 6". Lots of current and a flat rock, slate or ceramic tile on a sandy gravel bottom so they can dig their own cave is the main trigger along with soft warm water in the mid 80's.

[Bwhiskered]

Big Al's in Hamilton has Peppermint Plecos for $14.99 each. 182 get mixed with 183's lots of times. These are probably the L-059's from Peru according to an importer from the US that I talked to a short time ago. These do not appear to be a mixed batch like the other stores have. These have the white seam and blue spots.