# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  L183: Starlight pleco, where to get?

## seymores

Hi,

My juvenile starlight pleco died few days back and I feel so sad. I think it starved to death for some weird reason.

I'm determined to try again but Green Chapter is out of stock and I don't where to get it in Singapore now.

Do you know where I can get some today in Singapore?

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## Berny

don't bother trying nks. I spoke the them regarding this few weeks back and they're reluctant to bring in 183. reason being 1. 183 is rare and 2. 183 at juvenile stage is hard to identify, usually grow up as 180.

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## seymores

I see. Thanks for the heads up.

I still cannot believe I killed a pleco! :-D

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## Berny

Its best to find out the cause of the starving, bad water parameter? Stress from other fauna? food too boring? Usually i tend to feed at least 2-3 different variety per month, cucumbers, carrots, hikari algae wafers. Imagine eating chicken rice for the rest of your life after being shifted to another new environment (eg. childcare centre, etc)

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## nickky23

strange... mine too.. i bought the L183 from GC.. it didnt last for a week. When i come back from home one fine day, I saw the skeleton only. Guess my cardinal tetra and Lamp-eye are too hungry?

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## seymores

Hmm, I overhead a customer in GC talking about his dead starlight pleco too.
Maybe a bad batch from GC?

@Berny -- yup, I'm gonna intro more variety for my future starlight pleco. :-D

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## Mookie

Just bought 1 from Y618, they have 3 of their shrimp tanks with quite a number of L183. All around 1.5" going for $12 each

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## seymores

Thanks bro.
I was there 2 days ago and saw the babies.
:-D

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## stormhawk

Late reply but those who say they got bad L183s from GC, please re-do or rethink your fish introduction method. If you correctly adapt the fish to your tank water via the drip method, the L183, be it adult or juvenile, will not die unless it was already badly sick and/or malnourished in your tanks. I am not saying this because I am a fan of GC, but if your method in introducing the pleco to the tank is wrong, you will lose them unless they are the battle tank cheap pleco like Pterygoplichthys juveniles.

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## tcg170980

Depends on the batch itself.if they just arrived and are not stable. 
It will affect or stressed it further.

They Are Hardy actually. Some guys who came my house Saw my L183 in a same tank .
Minimum water change and only top up water. Hang on filter..they grow much faster than my other 183 in a proper tank setup.

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## sixhunter

i jus bought 5 from y618, house in my shrimp 1ft tank, several wood and moss etc, one suddenly died jus now  :Sad:  what to feed them ? i tried feeding those shrimp straw plts, boiled spinach etc, but doesnt seem to b feeding anything since afternoon

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## Mookie

> i jus bought 5 from y618, house in my shrimp 1ft tank, several wood and moss etc, one suddenly died jus now  what to feed them ? i tried feeding those shrimp straw plts, boiled spinach etc, but doesnt seem to b feeding anything since afternoon


I got mine for about a week now and it hasn't eaten any commercial food I gave it. Been just feeding on algae off my tank wall after the lights are out, very shy.

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## sixhunter

> I got mine for about a week now and it hasn't eaten any commercial food I gave it. Been just feeding on algae off my tank wall after the lights are out, very shy.


same here, i tried all my food stuffs no use man, i think they are not adapting well to new environment. i did a little test when i throw one of them into my 2ft, d tank walls all lotsa growth n diatoms etc on it, that fellow seemed quite happy sucking away. seems hard to kip leh if they dont eat d food we giv haha, jus now 1 died my heart ache liao plus $$ fly so fast...

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## tcg170980

These batch in shop are all new arrival..so take time to stable in shop..
GC ones are old batches. Price not much different buy from stable source.

Mine are all small but can be seen in open..

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## titusxc

Hi hi just got mine from aquarist chamber few days back. Very Shy and cute pleco to be added in tank. if anyone still looking for it, maybe can call and ask ^^

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## seudzar

There are plenty at GC

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## fishman1381

l183are very shy I have 4 Iv'ehadthem 6 month now I feed them black worms green squach and waffers they seem be doing good.

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## sixhunter

mine acclimatizing well now coming out often  :Very Happy:

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## ahpui6

Hi everyone, hitching on the thread

Any idea which LFS sell L183 now and what is the price like? GC website suggest it is 25.

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## Maloocom

Saw JZX selling a few on Monday. Think $16 or $18.

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## tcg170980

Sims Ave. Aquatic connection. Less than 20

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## atolylica

C328 cheapest among all.

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## ahpui6

thanks bro for all the info. hows the price and quality at c328?

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## seymores

I saw C328 selling many babies at around $8/each I think.

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## ahpui6

wow. how big are those. a inch?

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## vinz

Any idea whether they are true L183 Starlight Bristlenose?

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## ahpui6

yea. thats my concern too. im afraid it will grow up to be a non 183

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## vinz

Apparently, the "fail-safe" tell-tale sign is to count their dorsal fin rays/spines. There should be 10 (1 hard + 9 soft) in total. See this page for the closeup photo of the L183 dorsal fin.

We're going to become crossed-eyed soon...  :Grin:

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## Kiang

I think we can only know whether they are true 183 when they are adult size.

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## ahpui6

nice information vinz. thanks a lot! imagine im getting 5 or 6 of them.... the counting will be quite "fun"! haha!!

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## vinz

I'm going to assume if 2 have the correct number of rays, the whole tank is the same.

Anyway, checked with a Pleco enthusiast and pleco home breeder (not L183, sadly). L183 is usually much more expensive then L180, L181 and L182. So, theoretically, if its too cheap, then it very unlikely to be L183. If its expensive, triple check that its true L183.

He doesn't think the ones C328 has are true ones.

[Sent from Nexus 5 via Tapatalk]

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## ahpui6

oh. I am aware of that too. c328 seem to price them very cheaply compared to the other lfs. heard from other hobbyist that L183 price range from 20 to about 30 bucks.

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## vinz

Saw many at Green Chapter at 1 inch size last week. Didn't get as my new tank was still cycling.

Just bought a few from JZX last night. About 1.5 inches long. There are a few more left.

Both shops selling at about $20. I personally trust both of these shops to be stocking the real L183.

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## ahpui6

guess thats the tradeoff. gonna get mine in 2 months time. thanks vinz.

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## seymores

I bought 6 from GC over the months last year -- in few batches.
Today I have 2 1.6+ inch adult and one lost the white marking while the other still have the white markings.
I don't think the one without white marking is L183 -- but I love them anyway. :-D

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## limz_777

> I bought 6 from GC over the months last year -- in few batches.
> Today I have 2 1.6+ inch adult and one lost the white marking while the other still have the white markings.
> I don't think the one without white marking is L183 -- but I love them anyway. :-D



it did start to breed ?

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## Kohei

> Apparently, the "fail-safe" tell-tale sign is to count their dorsal fin rays/spines. There should be 10 (1 hard + 9 soft) in total. See this page for the closeup photo of the L183 dorsal fin.
> 
> We're going to become crossed-eyed soon...


Especially if the shop is crowded. Got to bring a magnifying glass there. haha

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## vinz

Or bring a good camera.

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