Difference between a Calico and a Brown Bristlenose Pleco with mottled colors?

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fishcrazy2

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I received some BN plecos that are supposed to be Calico, but they are really dark and look like commons, but they do have the light colored body patterns. Not sure if they are Calico or just common Browns with nice patterns. What is the main difference between the two?
 

fishcrazy2

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Here are mines. I brought 3 of them. Are any of them Calico? I know #2 probably is a common brown,not sure about the other 2. They are always out, so I was able to get several pictures of all three.

BN PLECO #1
PLECO 1.jpg

BN Pleco #2
PLECO 2.jpg

BN Pleco #3
PLECO 3.jpg

PLECO 1.jpg PLECO 2.jpg PLECO 3.jpg
 

OrionGirl

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My calico's have very noticeable orange splotches. They have the speckling that's all over in sort of a yellow-ish tan, and then a brown and orange splotched body.

Fishcrazy: They look like white/silver tips to me.
 

Fish_Bone

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uploadfromtaptalk1373375307926.jpg

Here is a pick of what was sold to me as a marble/ calico bn pleco...I am not sure mine is right either, but maybe this helps...

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

uploadfromtaptalk1373375307926.jpg
 

Fish_Bone

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I did some quick looking and found this-

Bristlenose pleco-(Ancistrussp.) Males will have large bushy tentacles on their faces, and females will not. There are many species of bristlenose pleco, but they all reach maximum sizes between 4" and 5". Also, many of thedifferent species of bristlenose pleco have different color patterns. they can have gold or white spots, or they can be black, brown, or gray.

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OrionGirl

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Pic looks like a longfin, but not what I'd call a calico/marble. Mostly, these are the same species that have been line bred to display specific colors or finnage. Kind of like guppies. One species, lots of variants.

And bully to the max size. My calicos are 6 inches at least. The albinos that are breeding are less than 4 inches. I've seen females that have more bristles than some males of other variants--it just depends what they've been bred to display.
 

fishcrazy2

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The albino ones in the picture are long fin. They are 2 inches at the most without counting the fins and are just now starting to get tiny bristles. The "calico" ones are only 1 to 1.5 inches and I haven't had them that long, but they aren't long fin. It's hard to see in the picture, but they look almost black. Also, the tips of their tail are white.

They could be low"display" calico with more brown, but I am not 100% sure. The person showed me the parents and the male looked 100% like a Calico with the orange color; however, the female looked like the fry. This was after I purchased of course.
 

OrionGirl

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So I'm guessing mom was a white tip, male was calico. Time to play punnet square...but without knowing how many genes are required for expression, it won't be accurate. Assume 2 genes for coloration. If 'normal' (white tip) is dominant, that means all of the fry will show white tip coloration. Cross 2 fry, and you should see 3/4's of the fry as white tips and 1/4 calico. (not exactly how it works, plus close enough). Cross 2 calico, and all the fry should be calico.
 

fishcrazy2

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Mar 24, 2013
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So crossing 2 of the fry should result in 25% Calico and 75% Normals with nice patterns. Depending on past generations. We shall see how it goes once they are big enough to breed. Hopefully I end up with one male and one female.
 
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