Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Not your typical catch

Here's one of several fish that I "caught" today from a private pond (that overflows into a moving creek). Obviously, somebody decided to liberate the occupants of an aquarium - and the "suckers" began to spawn in the wild.





I don't know the name for this fish. But, I think it is a jumbo-version of the aquarium algae-eaters that cling to the glass. The specimens from this pond ranged from 8" to 22".

Obviously, I don't think they represent and exotic predator that would upset a natural food-chain. But, other exotic fish could certainly do so (snakeheads, etc).

The fish's skin was a combination of gator-hide and pliable plastic (each cell was similar to a scale, but connected at all sides - with no overlap). Plus, the skin was full of very sharp bristles that pointed toward the tail. Any attempt to drag a finger along the skin toward the fish's head would result in a shredded finger.

BTW: "Catch" was probably an inappropriate term, since the "bait" was rotenone.

That's absolutely amazing...and scary.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/fresh/pleco.shtml

Here is a link to your catch. It is commonly refered to as a pleco in the aquarium world.

h20 is right it is a plecostomus. I have them in my koi ponds and they are algae eating machines.

Several years ago, I saw several fish that I could swear were Plecostomus in a feeder creed off the Osage River in Missouri (below Lake of the Ozarks). Course, no one else would believe me, but we had 'em as kids, so I've seen some big ones...often wondered if someone hadn't turned some loose. Guess now I know they'd live at least for a while...

That looks like something I would not be surprised to catch while fishing on another planet.

Plecostomus = South American spiny-rayed suckermouth catfish!

Just because a fish isn't a predator doesn't mean that it can't cause lots of problems. Think of silver and bighead carp which are filter feeders.

If water temps far below 50 degrees, they will die. Plecos shouldn't cause any problems. They fill a different niche than most fish we have here.

Hmmm.. you know large common plecos are worth $10-$40 and these seem a bit more "ornamental" then normal (of course that could be the retenone talking). This could have been a money maker

We tried a couple of times to keep a Plecostomus and a few gold fish in our horse trough to keep the algea and dead insects cleaned up in the trough. The Plecostomus ended up killing several gold fish as evidenced by the sucker marks on their head. I am glad to hear that they don't survive below 50 degrees, my little brother set a Plecostomus loose in our pond many years ago.

They don't last very long in an aquarium with slightly bigger BG - but that fellow looks like he could have gone 15 rounds with Bruce's best and come out on top.

Heybud and Shorty,

Would you guys recommend them for a small micro-pond for algae control?...the kind of algae that seems to grow on the sides of the pond.

The micro-pond has a few gold fish and several other various species.

Should work good Meadowlark. I used to have 2 in my red bellied broodstock tanks. If they can hold up to phiranas, they can hold up to just about any fish.

Shorty- I doubt the pleco killed the goldfish. They probably died from elevated water temps. The marks you seen were probably done post mortum. I have never had any problems from them with much more delicate fish. They will however eat hoards of fish eggs.

AKA Walking Catfish

I have seen them cross dry land before to get to another body of water.

Plecos are not "walking catfish". Plecos won't make it more than a few minutes out of water. They don't have the capacity to breathe air. Walking catfish totally different species.

Take a look at the picture in the middle of the page at this link. It shows Plecos on the grill.
http://www.mtigrp.com/amazon/storyend.html