Whiptails

[ryanoh]

I bought a whiptail pleco about a month and half ago after rehoming my 10 inch common pleco. I did my research, and the people at my LFS agreed, the fish should only get about 6 inches.
I went to the aquarium at the zoo today and they had the same species of fish, but they were HUGE. I mean like foot long and then some huge. Are there more than one species of whiptail, like a dwarf and a giant or something, or am I going to have another huge fish on my hands in the coming months?

 

[aakaakaak]

Your whiptail should not be getting huge. Public aquariums get the special brand miracle grow for fish.

It's probably just a different subspecies or something. Or it possibly has something to do with the tank its in.

 

[ryanoh]

They also had tinfoil barbs, common plecos, iridescent sharks, clown loaches and some other fish you can buy at Walmart that everyone says to stay away from because they get huge, except theres were, well, huge. Not to say I didn't believe everyone here saying that, but it was pretty cool to see a foot long tinfoil barb in person. I'd been to the local zoo maybe two years ago but didn't really pay close attention to the fish since I wasn't so immersed in the hobby yet.

 

[Newman]

I want to go to the Bronx zoo sometime to take a look at their aquariums

Anywa, yes, check out planet catfish .com for different catfish species. I fairly sure there are many whiptail catfish species out there.