Gary from Central Florida is having problems with a muddy pond and recently during the cold snap had several of these prehistoric looking fish float up dead. He says the scales have sharp spines on them and is very curious as to what these fish are? I will direct Gary to this thread if someone out there knows what kind of fish this is?

Is it a plecosthamus (sp????). You know, the kind you buy in a fish store?

Thats what I am going with.

Pleco, can't tell what kind on that rotting specimen. I have 4 in my home aquarium. Thet get a couple of feet in warmer water.

http://www.bowfinanglers.com/images/nickv_pleco_072806.jpg

Cold snap killed them. That fish was old.

Definitely a pleco, aka Sailfin Catfish. They quickly outgrow a lot of smaller aquariums, so people release them into ponds and lakes quite often.

Where'd you find him? In Illinois? The only wild reproducing populations I am aware of are in FL...

Would that thing hit a bait? Not ever seeing one, that would defo creep me out if I reeled it in. Like hooking into a coelacanth.

They are omnivores, eating just about anything on the bottom. They have have a strong preference for algae and carry the common trade name of algae eating catfish. They will however eat bloodworms and other bottom invertebrates. They actually are good eating from what I have heard. In Central and South America where they are native, they are cooked whole and "cracked" open where the meat is taken out. They have a very hard outside "shell".

central florida and this guys pond may be full of them?

I've seen them in a retention pond near my folks' condo in Florida.

Part of me wants to go make peace with my bullhead population.

Maybe you can talk him into trying one as food... Not sure what could eat them other than alligators with as hard a shell as they have.

I think their scales are tougher than a Gars'.

Could very well be. They are THICK in some BOW's in Florida.

I had those in an old cichlid aquarium.

I've got an 8 inch pleco in one of my tanks right now. I got him about 6 months ago. He came with a 55 gallon tank I bought on craigslist. Had no choice... If I wanted the cheap tank I had to take the pleco too. He was about 4 inches when I got him. May have to move him to the tank at the office soon. It's a 120 gallon.

More like an ostracoderm.

or a plesiosaur

I'm thinking Theo should modify his avatar so that it morphs from a LMB, to a BG, to a RES, to a plesiosaur and then back to a LMB.

I told Theo I wanted to see a GSF morph to a SMB.

Strange Ewest, I was thinking of having an morphing avatar designed in which all species of fresh water fish morphed into a GSF and then stayed that way. Evolution at it's finest!

Genetic misfits usually end up in the ash heap of genetic history , as in extinct.

Ewest, I'm not sure whether you are directing that comment towards me or towards GSF. Either way.....


OH SNAP!!!

For sure a pleco. Considered an invasive species b/c down here they get huge in peoples aquariums and they "release" them into the wild. my inlaws in south FL have several that have spawning beds in a canal behind their house. One of them is a monster at least 2 feet long. Supposedly were around when the dinosaurs were roaming around. Gotta admire that kind of longevity and adaptability.

They are also a problem in the bayous around Houston. There was an article in the newspaper after the recent record cold about them. Texas Parks & Wildlife biologists were happy that many of them were found dead after the record cold. They also referred to them as "armored catfish".

Very, very, very, very, ugly fish, yuck!

Hi All, new to the forum here.

Just yesterday I purchased two Plecos from a local pet store,

one 18' and another 12" for my acre + pond. Hopefully they will

clean up the algea that has been building. I released them and

not long after I spotted both of them swimming along; a good

sign for sure. The larger one looked majestic moving about.