LF Albino BN's have been around for quite a while, at least within the fancy.

I attended a large fish auction in Chicago yesterday and a bag of 3 young ones went for $9.00, but a nice looking mature male like yours would have fetched a lot more.

Great price, I paid about $70. I've seen a lot of rare fish lately Black Lancer cat, true elephant nose, Thermonitor knife. I'll post some pics.

$70.00? Oh wow. I should set up a pair then ship the young to you- to peddle. Between us, we could make some serious $.

Nice looking fish. From what I understand these can and do live out here in ponds,I am in zone 10 calif. There has been some discussion on my pond board on keeping plecos in the pond. I have about a 6000 gal pond and its stocked with koi and some goldies of all diffrent color combos. I guess I will have to look for a couple of these plecos and try them in the pond But not at 70 a pop wil get smaller ones and grow them out in my bubble tank Any suggestions?

Lots of debate on keeping any plecos with Goldies or Koi. Some claim they will attack the carp, seeking to suck on any small nick. Others say no.

I came to a middle ground opinion, in that if kept properly fed, plecos won't bother either goldies or koi, although I can really only speak to the goldies, as I don't keep koi. However, I do have a school of Wakin in a 250 gal. stock tank as they await the completion of a 500 gal. pond and they live in perfect peace with 3 plecos, ranging in size from about 5 to 12 inches.

The plecos are all Trinidads, the common "sailfins" sold in most any LPS, one is normal, dark with light spots, one a light, golden "chocolate" and the other, the largest, an albino and unlike Bristlenose's, they can take fairly cool water although they will have to come in for winter, while the Wakin nap under the ice.

BN's are pretty tropical, so I would be cautious about putting them out in a pond, even in a Calif. Z-10, unless you can sure the water will never drop below 68 - 70 deg. Unless- if you could set a fairly heavy duty submersable tank heater into your pond, contained within perhaps a bucket turned sideways, to create a warm spot, then the BN's would find it and might be okay, even in your winter.

Otherwise, you might need to keep them indoors during your colder months, but they are nice fish and very easy to breed. Look for a fish club in your area and plan to attend their next auction. The chances are good for being able to buy as many as you want for very little, especially albinos, including long fins. They became so popular and are so easy to breed, they have become pretty much the feeder goldfish of the pleco world.

One nice thing about BN's is their size. Unlike the Trindad's, that can and do get to about 18" in a large tank and larger in a pond, the BN's won't exceed about 6" regardless of the size of the tank or in your case; pond. So if you have to bring them in for the winter and have a place to keep them, you could maintain a dozen mature ones in a long 30 with no problem. With lots of good filtration of course. Their passion is for zuccini, BTW.