Stingray Pleco??

[sora1600]

It will not get bigger than 2 inches. Probably around 1.5 inches.

 

[Vincenia]

Alright. But can I keep him in my 10g? I'm to afraid if I put him in my 37 that my angelfish would try to eat him.

 

[authmal]

Make sure to have plenty of algae because if you do not, it will most likely not survive. Might want to lower the temperature too as they tend to prefer the low 70s. They're not as active in high temperatures and do not last long. Plus they are more picky to feed than other hillstream fish, will hide a lot of the time, and prefer to be in groups.

Sho here is, to all appearances, our resident hillstream loach expert, much like DiscusPaul seems to be the resident discus expert. Tons of posts I've read, and yeah.

Oh, and higher water flow (not so much filtration rate, but more actual water flow) is usually a plus, but means there is a need for a circulation pump of some sort. The more pictures I see of these via google, the more I vote for it being a stream type of loach, not a pleco. That definitely means different care requirements, and I strongly recommend tapping Sho's knowledge.

 

[authmal]

Found this interesting read, too.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/hillstream.shtml

 

[f1sleepy]

I wouldn't expect the fish to grow any larger than it is now. Wild caught Gastromyzon (and most hillstream loaches) are notorious for not growing in aquariums. None of mine have ever grown a noticeable amount in captivity. Even my captive bread Sewellia grew painfully slow.

 

[sora1600]

It is best to return the fish if you cannot provide a good setup as a group of gastromyzon will need a bigger tank than a 10g. You need enough room for each individual fish as they will be somewhat territorial to each other, even though they should be in groups. I find that different species prefer different parts of the tank. The g. ocellatus, I had, preferred the plants and rocks. The g. stellatus preferred the back of the tank and stayed only on the rocks, hiding most of the time. The g. ctenocephalus stayed on the plants and substrate. Also, you may want to be cautious about keeping the gastromyzon with mid or top level fish as I have seen these loaches be put into tanks and getting attacked or their skin eaten off. That's why I only kept mine with other gastromyzon and sewellia species. Have plenty of hiding places, especially smooth rocks, as they will chase each other.

 

[Vincenia]

I have two small fake peices of driftwood in the middle of the tank and a bunch of plants. He's not so easy to spot. If I return him.. I won't get any money back. The only other fish in the tank are my Betta, 3 endlers, 2 ghost shrimp and 2 young kuhlis.

 

[Vincenia]

The hillstream loach ate all the algae in the tank, which is spotless now. It also grew in size and he/she is about 2 inches now.