Royal Panaque

[adrianhaslett]

Hi my Panaque eyes seem to be more orange than red recently and the tale has a 3/4 inch clear patch on it the overall size of the fish is about 6 inches.

Is there anything wrong with it ?

He has lots of bogwood to chew on and gets cucumber, lettuce, catfish pellets, brine shrimp and bloodworm on different days to feed on along with the other plecs. THe only thing I can think of is the temperature which stays about 30 because of the discus.

Zebra Pleco doing well, loves the Brine Shrimp the mosy. Conviced she's a girl as seems slim.

Hope I can afford to buy a few more in the future as would like to breed them.

[rich1988oxford]

I have a royal panaque at home in a big 360 litre corner tank with oscars and birchirs. I have seen mine change colour almost daily! When he is getting a bit of stick from ozzy (the boss oscar) he goes really dark and his stripes are such a dark red it looks almost purple. I have seen him sniffing about displayinf really lights orange aswell. So all in all i would say you have nothing to worry about if he is still eating and not looking to thin.

[rich1988oxford]

My panaques eyes do the same sometimes aswell and i wouldnt say there is anything wrong with him. As for the clear patch, have you got any other plecs in there with him as it may be a mark from fighting, which can look as if the colour has been leeched out of damaged areas. If so it normally heals and regains colour with a week or two.

[adrianhaslett]

I've been keeping an eye on him and he goes funny during night times only i.e back area turns clear and loses pattern and eyes go orange. In the Morning and during daylight hrs all is fine his eyes and colour return fine.

Weird !

[rich1988oxford]

probably just because at night time he is trying to camoflage himself from any predators . I used to have a big gibbiceps pleco and when i turned the light on every morning you could litterally watch him change colour from a kind of browny grey to his usual dark brown and blackish pattern. as far as the see through tail goes all i can maybe think is that his fin tissue is a little thin so that when it losses colour you can litterally see through it due to the lack of pigment but again i would'nt say it is anything to worry about as i have seen loads of plecos at work and at home take up this almost chameleon nature.