Meet John - a collector of plecos

Hi Guys,

Its been some time since I last blogged something, But I have found someone that has a spectacular collection of plecos. I have been following this particular Instagram account for some time and recently I asked if he would like to feature on our blog and share some of his collections with us.

Johanathan Salman is 35 and lives in Haifa, Israel. He has been a fishkeeper for about 18 years but it was 12 years ago John first discovered plecos. It was a L330 Panaque, watermelon pleco that kickstarted what would turn out to be an obsession.

With the exception of a small breeding group of Corydoras Trilineatus and a group of 23 Bleeding Heart Tetra Johns collection consists of around 60 plecos. To get an idea of what John has just now, check out the list below.

L114 - Leopard Cactus Pleco
L137 - Blue Eyed Redfin Pleco
L330 - Watermelon Pleco
L190 - Royal Panaque Pleco
L155 - Polka Dot Lyre Tail Pleco
L200 - High Fin Green Phantom
L047 - Magnum Mango Pleco
L075 - Para Pleco
L024 - Red Fin Cactus Pleco
Pseudohemiodon Apithanos - Chameleon Whiptail

This is just a sample of whats living in Johns 900 litre aquarium. Johns instagram account is called Pleco_john and its a name well deserved with a collection like this. The home to these wonderful plecos, is set up with the amazon in mind. Opting for a 3d background and lots of rocks and wood, John feels that this offers his plecos lots of places to rest and hide which makes them feel safe and protected which prevents a lot off the aggression.

When I asked John what it was he loved about these fish the answer was simple "their behaviour, their variety and their beauty" and who could disagree with that? I know I love watching these beasts feed. I particularly like it when you can get close and you see the texture of their skin, amazing.

Obviously Keeping these fish for so long, you understand the key to keeping plecos healthy and happy. Johns advice to anyone starting out with plecos is to quarantine new fish EVERY TIME! this is vital and without this patience your inviting disease into your aquarium everytime you don't do this with a new fish. A big risk when your keeping specialist fish like this.

John Plans to continue to build his collection of plecos and has wish list he is definitely hoping to find sometime soon.


L025 - Scarlet Cactus Pleco
L273 - Titanicus Pleco
LDA105 - Fire Spot Cactus Pleco

I think we can all agree that Johns got a world class collection of fish. I recommend that anyone who is on instagram starts to follow his account "pleco_john" to see more of these plecos feeding and living together. its truly amazing to watch them all feeding together. 

From everybody at Lothian Fishkeepers, I just want to say thank you for sharing your spectacular collection of fish with us. I hope you find those ones your looking for soon. Im looking forward to more updates on instagram too.

Remember guys, if you would like your aquarium to be featured on our blog, please get in touch at john@thelothianfishkeeperchannel.com.

thanks for reading

Bye for now