# Oscar the Pleco



## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

I wanted to do a little thing on my rescued pleco I named Oscar. He was under "3 inch Common pleco" at the shop, but honestly, I'm not sure he's a common. He was supposed to be three inches long...

Anyways, Oscar and his siblings were dumped into an African Cichlid tank at Petco, where the Cichlids proceeded to rip everyone apart. The guy didn't seem to care, and when I told him to get them out of there he said "Their fins will grow back." Jerk! I was so mad, I told him to grab me the last one that wasn't dead yet and asked if their lives will grow back while the fins are at it. =-=; He got fired, so I found out later. 

When I got Oscar, he had no fins, his back was shredded, his tail was gone, he had a few flaps left for his dorsal fin and a pectoral fin, the rest were stumps pretty much. Didn't think he'd make it but that was just terrible, I had to try and save him. 

So I brought Oscar home and put him in my 20 gallon, planted fry tank where I had maybe a dozen baby...uh, platies or swordtails, I can't recall. It was nice and clean, and after the stress he went through I thought I'd give that a shot without more stressful meds. 

Poor Oscar, he could hardly move, so I had to put food near his mouth and gently clean under him for a while. He could flop about, but it was...well, poor guy, I felt bad and though about ending him, but he kept on going on his own.

This is Oscar two months later. Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to take photos of him in that horrible shape, I should have though. I wish I had. =( He looks a little bit weird because his fins and tail were catching up to his body. But they did grow back beautifully! This was when I moved him to the 55 gallon, more space for him. He was VERY shy with the other fish, but they didn't bother him and he got over it....sorta. Can't blame the poo guy for being scared after being ripped apart, eh?


Did you know their eyes glow with the camera flash? I didn't know that. I've only had it happen with my plecos, but not any other fish. Kinda weird, but cool.


One on the glass too, better lighting. You would not believe how hard it is to get shots of him, let alone good ones. x.x This is before we moved him out nearing his five inches.


Biiig in between, I got bad at keeping up with photos and updates. First, without his tail and fins Oscar was barely two inches long...in the 55 gallon he was back to about three and a half inches and I kept him there until he was four and a half-five inches. THEN, we moved him to a 73 gallon pool at the beginning of the year this year. It's inside, I raise my baby fish, loaches and some marbled crayfish(temps only while under three inches) in there, as well as some BN plecos. Well, he was about six and a half inches here. Got him in his cave, I gently turned it over for shots, he loves that cave but I had to get a longer one soon after this, he's still got both):





And finally today. Oscar is a whopping eight+ inches long now. <3 He's growing a lot slower than he was before, but he is nice and chubby and healthy. For the first year he really grew fast, and now he's going real slow....well, considering he grew like 6 inches in a year and regrew fins, that's really something anyways and probably not normal...they're supposed to grow pretty slow. x.x LIke a couple inches a year. lol
He's been in the pool since the beginning of last Summer...I think that's right, I am pretty sure I set that up in late April/early May and popped in fish once cycled, which only took about a week since I used mature media in all my filters. It's got two heaters and three filters and two airstones. Lots of caves...had a ton of plants, but they keep vanishing. >>;
Isn't he awesome? Can't even tell he was ever chewed up. He's kinda a jerk though, he's not too shy anymore, and...honestly he's a bit aggressive. With me, not fish. LOL I put my hands in for maintenance and he goes for them. Once I thought "Hey, he's just curious, maybe thinks I have food" and I left him get me. Wish I had not. >_>; He banged himself into me and it hurt(not bad, but it shocked me), and not only that but he BIT me, though it didn't do any damage, it sure wasn't some sucker flop on my hand. LOL They have teeth, I knew that, but normally they don't bite me. He only does it when I go near his cave though, but he has to deal since I must clean under there. =P Oh well, I love that pleco, he's really cool. 

This is what he looks like under proper light, and the only one I have of him in proper light without using the flash or far off light. :3 I love his color.


Praise to the awesome survivor, Oscar. Who survived something he should not have. <3


So what do you guys think? Is he a common or some other type of pleco? He doesn't look like any of the commons I've seen(the commons I mean, should there be many under that title and I'm sure there are....are the ones that get like two feet+ long).


Oscar the pleco has a good home with me. He's going to live in a pool, odd....he likes it though. He gets fed on all manner of blanched veggies(like broccoli stems, cucumber, zucchini, the occasional green bean and shelled pea, kale, romaine lettuce), and proteins like mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, glassworms. He's not picky, as you can see, he's a nice weight. :3


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## obiordi (Jan 31, 2014)

Awe that is such a heart warming story. Sure glad that employee got fired... In response to your question, I am not sure if he is a common Pleco. For all I know he could be, but I would wait for someone more educated in Plecos to answer that question. Just wanted to congratulate you on raising him back to health and giving him hope for a better life. His colors are gorgeous, and he looks like a nice chubby and healthy Pleco.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Can you get a cleaer side view/profile photo of him with his sail/dorsal fin up? The number of spines in the dorsal fin can determine if its a sailfin pleco or not (i don't think so form the first photo but its blurry hard to count the spines).
Plenty of stores mislabel plecos for sale. There are soooo many pleco breeds discovered most go my L#s to designate them as most don't have official/scientific names yet. Scientist have to sort out if pleco a,b, and c are all different breeds or the same breed with different color variations, and such.
Hopefully yours is not a common as they get to 2 feet long and need 200g+ for swim room and water dilution of the huge bioload.
If you want a good ID try out planetcatfish forum and post the photos there, lot of pleco nerds to get a quick answer.

With Halloween coming up try taking pieces of pumpkin you cut from pumpkin carving (not the threads or seeds, but rind and 'meat' of the pumpkin) blanch it and put it in. If he eats it you get orange poo ^^

I got my Leopard Sailfin Pleco from petco, sold as a 'Colombian pleco' details said he'd only get to 6". Learned what he was and that he'd get to 18" total. I kept him and did very frequent water changes to get all his poo out and keep his water clean. He grew like a weed in 2 years went form 2" to 13.5". I couldn't give him the final tank upgrade he needed ans he got big, and my canister filter kept clogging from his 3-4 foot poo strands. I was fortunate enough to find an educational group with experience with alrge fish and plecos to donate him to that could give him the big tank he needed.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

What a beautiful fish! Good job nursing him back to health. I have a "red spot" pleco and have a huge soft spot for him.

You might need quite a large tank at the end...but in my opinion, WORTH IT.


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

@Aqua Aurora I don't know if I can get a good side view, he's in a pool and I'd have to move him...and like I said, he's quite aggressive with me. He will tolerate my hands if I bring food, but he rarely comes to get it. lol Uh, IF I counted right, and I don't know if I did, I think he had six "Spines" in his dorsal, but I am not positive. His dorsal isn't QUITE that extreme anymore, he just looked off because that and his pectoral fins grew back first, his tail took a while. He fits his dorsal now. At least far as I can tell, I can't get side views of him in the pool. I may be able to pop him into a large glass jar for a shot later...but I don't like doing that, it's stressful and he's a drama queen, move his cave and he slams into things then he attacks you. >_>;

Thanks for the compliments too. I'd love to take credit, but it really was all him, he just needed a safe, large place to live with good food. He pulled through all on his own....well ok, I helped. LOL

As for tank size? Well, we've upgraded him three times already well before he got too big(I didn't want to risk stunting or hurting the bioload in my tanks), if he out-grows that, I have no problem getting him a 300+ gallon pool. I like the pools for them, he seems to do better in those places. All of my plecos do. :3 I'm currently debating on getting a larger pool anyways and moving them all over with the water and filters, I'd need a couple more filters and heaters...but hey. He's worth it, I refuse to give him up. ;D After what he went through I will not risk it even for an expert. I'm doing well with him....and space I can do. 

He's so cool, he's such a brat though. :3 I've actually never seen him eat. >_>; He will not come out for it unless I shut out the lights, so I drop in a bit for him at night, everyone else is perfectly happy to eat in the day. LOL And you know he's getting plenty. I just hope I'm not over-doing it, he's looking perfect about now, maybe a tad chubby, but at one point he was really fat and I cut his food in half little by little until about three months ago, I think I have amounts right now.


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

awe! hes so cute..that makes me want a pleco lolxD hes got huge already! i hope he keeps going strong!. hes so pretty despite his horrible pet store experience!


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Oscar is one lucky pleco! Thank you for giving him the chance to have a good life.


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

I tried to get one of him in a big jar/container thing, but he wouldn't go for it. And the photos I have managed to get of his fin just aren't very good. He has one heck of a split tail(not injury split, it's like a super fork and I don't think I've seen a pleco with that before). I was hoping you could see that in there, but nope, when he doesn't ant to be seen, he clenches all his fins. =-= His tail has like, crab claw look to it. Any that have the extreme forked tail?





I don't think he likes the camera. =-= And no, that fish doesn't have nipped tail, the end is clear/white like the other ones. lol


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

No, my pleco's fin is very whole and clean. When I bought him, his dorsal had a huge chunk out of it (the sales lady offered to catch a different one, but I wanted _that _one, lol) and that's grown out clean, too. Maybe he had damage when he was very small?


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

He lost his tail completely when I rescued him. Should say before I rescued him. It's a perfectly normal tail, it's just forked. I assume it's to do with his species, whatever it is, if not a common.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Hmm. Apparently there are forked-tail and lyre tail plecos. I just found some pics online. Check this out: http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish, Plecostomus Expensive VI.htm


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

I haven't shown Oscar in a while. Managed to get some ok photos of him, as usual in his cave....brat. He runs back to it every time I move, so I have trouble sneaking shots, though I did get one of him out with my BN plecos the other day. He's got a nip in his tail....I know who did it and she was removed. =-= Marbled crayfish fought him for the cave, he won though got a nick for it.
And hey, you can see him better in these shots, perhaps they are better to ID him on? His "Lyretail" isn't extreme enough to be one of those, I don't think. But it's obvious. 









He looked bigger from the top while in the pool. lol He's no small-fry, that's for sure. But he's NOT as big as I thought he was. He's so hard to measure, I think he's only about seven inches long. I tried, but he's a butthead. I initially pegged him for 8-10 inches, however that was from above and poor attempts to measure with a tape thing, it failed obviously. >_>; My bad, sorry. I didn't mean to fib. lol


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## KitDewStein (Jan 20, 2015)

If you ever get him on the side of the tank you can try to measure him there.


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

KitDewStein said:


> If you ever get him on the side of the tank you can try to measure him there.


I've tried that, several times a day. lol He runs to his cave when I come near. I dunno if he's as shy as I think, or if he just doesn't like me putting things in his face. xD All I know is he is longer than my hand, and that's almost seven inches from wrist to middle fingertip. I just don't know how much longer, he never straightens out for me. Could be 1-3 inches for all I know.


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