# Orinoco Zebra Pleco



## Raschael (May 8, 2009)

We purchased an orinoco zebra pleco about a month ago, we put it in an established tank with some danios, glofish, tiger barbs, cory cats, and rubber lip pleco. Needless to say. . . we haven't seen him since, at least not unless we look under the fake rock he sticks to all the time. Is this normal behavior??? He is only a couple inches long, and I know they are shy, but even the rubber lip comes out at night to "work," we have never seen the zebra out. Just wanna know if its anything to worry about. Thanks!


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey *Raschael*,

There is no such thing as an Orinoco zebra pleco. More likely that is a LFS/trade name. It could be any number of small fancy plecos though.

Very few plecos actually "work". Certainly those from the hypancistrus, peckoltia and panaque genuses don't really "work", though some peckoltia do make good cleanup crew of frozen and dry fish foods in community aquariums. Can you find out what species of pleco it is? If it is a hypancistrus pleco, then it has a largely meaty diet. However, if it's a panaque pleco, then it eats mostly wood and hard vegetables. Most fancy plecos are better off in species, or genus only tanks.

Here's a link to a good website that shows pics of all known plecos. PlanetCatfish Cat-eLog.


----------



## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

The Orinoco Zebra pleco is one of our (US) common name for L129 ... the other is Chocolate Zebra Pleco.


----------



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

That's pretty normal behavior for smaller plecos. They can simply disappear. I actually don't know how many BN pleco's I own.

-Ryan


----------



## Raschael (May 8, 2009)

DeadFishFloating- thanks for the link, but it didn't work. I've just never had any kind of pleco that never comes out (at least that I know of). I will see if I can figure out what kind of pleco it really is and get back with you. Thanks for the info!


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

dwarfpike said:


> The Orinoco Zebra pleco is one of our (US) common name for L129 ... the other is Chocolate Zebra Pleco.


Well here is a link to L129, Hypancistrus debilittera.

I always thought the chocolate zebra pleco was Hypancistrus sp. (L270), Chocolate Zebra Pleco.


----------



## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

You hit on the problem *DFF*. When L129 first came to the hobby, it was labeled as the Orinoco Zebra ... I still have the article introducing it somewhere. That name fell out of use and was replaced by the Chocolate Zebra, as it is a more sellable name. Then when L270 came about, it too was called the Chocolate Zebra and I am guessing becuase of that, Orinoco Zebra is starting to come back into vogue as the L129 name.

It is kinda of like L66 has 3 common names over here ... I hate common names ... *mutters*


----------



## Raschael (May 8, 2009)

Yup, thats him!! or it. . . .

Hypancistrus debilittera

For some reason your links won't work, so I just looked it up in a search engine. Perhaps I need a few of them?? I was reading that they prefer groups. . . they are just kinda pricey!!! Thanks again for you help. . . oh, and how can I soften my water without chemicals?? I read that they do best in soft water, and mine is Hard to Very Hard. Or. . . do you think it will adjust to the water??? Thanks again!


----------



## LadyBarbara001 (Sep 8, 2008)

I have a group of 7 of the L-129's. They don't seem social at all; I hardly ever see them. As a matter of fact, my husband and I just set up a tank specifically for them, and when catching them, I had forgotten just how pretty they were, because we never see them.

My group seems fine in the hard water that I have in San Antonio. They are too young to breed (about an inch), so I can't answer those questions, but they do seem to eat well (I occasionally catch sight of them on a wafer, until they see me and scatter). I feed them a mix of different sinking wafers, carnivore, omnivore and algae wafers.

Hope this helps.


----------



## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Hey again *Raschael*,

I don't know why my links won't work for you. They're working fine for me. Oh well. Two sites for you to google, PlecoFanatics and Planet Catfish. PlecoFanatics is a forum based site with lots of helpfull info and pleco hobbyists. Planet Catfish is a resource based site that has very good profiles on each species.

As you can see in my sig I have a pleco tank as well. I keep 5 L134 butterfly plecos. We also have pretty hard water here with a high PH. I keep the tank bare bottom for ease of cleaning, but have a couple of pots with aquatic plants in them as well as 5 pieces of driftwood, hollow logs, and add Indian Almond leaves as well. I also put a bag of Eheim Torf peat pellets in one of the canister filters.

And I can never resist spamming pics of my tanks. Even though my photographic skills suck.


----------



## Raschael (May 8, 2009)

Glad to know they don't mind the hard water as much as I thought they may. I feel awful, but I also didn't know that they are carnivores! I feed the fish that are in there sinking "bottom feeder" pellets, so hopefully it has had more than enough to eat. I suppose so since its still alive after a month of not being visible without looking HARD. I will probably look into getting a couple more in hopes that maybe they won't all be that shy. :wink: Thanks for the info!!!


----------



## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Oh I forgot, L129 is also sometimes sold as 'Colombian Zebra Pleco' ...


----------



## toddnbecka (Oct 23, 2004)

I have a single L129 in a 55 with Victorian Hap's and Synodontis lucipinnis/petricola. It, along with the Syno's, survived a heaterless basement tank that was probably around 60 for a couple months. All but a few of the Tang's I had in there died off while I was down with a broken hip. I never see it unless I strip down the tank for a major cleaning, but it seems to do well enough on the same diet as the other fish. Mainly NLS pellets and cichlid flake, occaisonally some frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp. The pH is around 8, very hard water, doesn't bother it a bit as far as I can see.


----------



## Raschael (May 8, 2009)

Sounds like they are pretty tough little fish! Thanks for the info, its good to know that's just its nature. . . and I may never see it!


----------

