Blue-Eyed Columbian Pleco!!!

Very cool fish and sounds like it's in a much better place!

Kept a blue-eye back in the day when they were the poor man's (or in my case, kid's) royal pleco. Lots of personality and lots of poop sawdust.

I currently keep three large royal plecos in a 150g. They grow slowly but hopefully will spawn someday!


Matt

leighn said:

Oh trust me he didnt want too which is why I figured the price was so high. But I guess he needed the money so right time with the right amount of money. I felt really bad tho for the pleco its been years stuck in that 40 gallon tank. couldnt swim nor turn for the most part in that tank. But as soon as I got him in the tank which was a task of its own with him being 13 inches and thick as a brick lol watching him swim in my 350 gal tank was a awesome feeling!!!

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As an aside, I've actually never been to Beltway Aquarium... although I spoke to the owner a couple of times about participating in past AquaMania's (he couldn't be bothered).

I've really heard nothing but negative things about the place and owner, other than that he occasionally gets in rare / interesting fish.

A couple of pet peeves: 1) unlabeled tanks and un-priced fish and 2) poor / surly customer service and 3) poor maintenance of tanks

So why does anyone deal with these guys?!

Matt

leighn said:

Oh trust me he didnt want too which is why I figured the price was so high. But I guess he needed the money so right time with the right amount of money. I felt really bad tho for the pleco its been years stuck in that 40 gallon tank. couldnt swim nor turn for the most part in that tank. But as soon as I got him in the tank which was a task of its own with him being 13 inches and thick as a brick lol watching him swim in my 350 gal tank was a awesome feeling!!!

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So basically this?

[YT]vIzQyskCEPs[/YT]

dogofwar said:

As an aside, I've actually never been to Beltway Aquarium... although I spoke to the owner a couple of times about participating in past AquaMania's (he couldn't be bothered).

I've really heard nothing but negative things about the place and owner, other than that he occasionally gets in rare / interesting fish.

A couple of pet peeves: 1) unlabeled tanks and un-priced fish and 2) poor / surly customer service and 3) poor maintenance of tanks

So why does anyone deal with these guys?!

Matt

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I don't think I've gone there and not experience 1,2,& 3. But if I'm in the area I'll stop because A. He gets stuff in that you can't even buy online B. Priced at a level my college budget can handle.

He had baby Blackberry Silver dollars for $12... I got 2 large NTT Datnoids for $45 each... and even crazier, I got my Black Arowana there for $50 bucks.

Can't say I'm proud to have supported him, but I'll keep stopping by until I can afford to buy from reputable vendors.

Poop sawdust lol 100% correct Matt. Ye so far so good I was afraid at first alot of people said he was a mean fish but I havent had a problem yet with him messing with my cichlids. Overall I say there all much happier now

Yea definitly not my favorite store but I go there for the african lake cichlids and they have any size for 20 buck no matter what specie. Cant beat that!! When I go I mostly deal with the young kid name Sam or the wife Robin. There pretty nice

leighn said:

Poop sawdust lol 100% correct Matt. Ye so far so good I was afraid at first alot of people said he was a mean fish but I havent had a problem yet with him messing with my cichlids. Overall I say there all much happier now

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Serious aggression from plecos is generally limited fighting with other plecos. They will generally ignore cichlids.

Yup seems to correct so far. I took my royal pleco out before i stuck him in to be on the safe side. Put my Royal in my wifes 125 community tank. Seems to be a prefect fit for everyone

Someone on MFK got their hands on a 6" blue eye. I believe he got just it at a regular LFS but i've never heard of one being imported at under 10" except for that 6"er.

dogofwar said:

As an aside, I've actually never been to Beltway Aquarium... although I spoke to the owner a couple of times about participating in past AquaMania's (he couldn't be bothered).

I've really heard nothing but negative things about the place and owner, other than that he occasionally gets in rare / interesting fish.

A couple of pet peeves: 1) unlabeled tanks and un-priced fish and 2) poor / surly customer service and 3) poor maintenance of tanks

So why does anyone deal with these guys?!

Matt

Click to expand...

I completely agree with you but as someone who loves big expensive fish but cant always afford the big expensive price, sometimes its worth the beltway atmosphere to get a decent fish for a great price. I've had my fare share of ill fish and terrible costumer service from them. The worst being having a $200 stingray die 24 hours after I got it due to parasites and they didnt even think of giving me any store credit. Whenever my mom agrees to drag me there she always tells me how much she hates having to run around the store to find someone just to know the price of a fish you might want. I completely agree but sometimes, at least for me, its worth it.