Ancistrus sp. L059

[Didgeridoo]

Just picked up these cool plec's a couple days ago. They're settling in nicely. I picked up eight WC plec's. They came in pretty skinny with some fin tearing but they're starting to heal up and get some weight on.

Anyways, here's some pics.











Nick

[DutchFry]

nice fish!

but please do look out with the fork! i know a guy who found one of his plecs pierced on the fork after a wild night of feasting on vegetables

[andywoolloo]

nice tank! and fish.

speaking of the fork, I ordered those screwcumbers, they are so great! I got mine on ebay from them but here is their website.

http://www.screwcumber.com/

[Joren56]

You could hold the vegetables down with a spoon too. It's mutch safer for the fishes and everybody has got spoons in his/her kitchen.

[Didgeridoo]

I turned the tines down. Thanks for the info.

Nick

[pLaurent1251]

How big is your tank? It looks great and the plecos are really nice! I'm in Canada too, and never see this species.

I wouldn't use forks either, even if they're turned down.

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks. The tank's only 35-gallons but there's a ton of hiding places, lots of filtration and I do daily water changes.

The forks I've turned them down and buried them in the peel. Shouldn't be a problem.

Cool to see other Canadians on here. =)

[Barbie]

I thought L59 should have an orange leading fin ray. Do yours have that and you just can't see it in the pictures?

Barbie

[Didgeridoo]

They haven't got their colour yet. A lot of times fish will lose their colour during shipping. They are wild fish and it could also be that they were collected outside of breeding season. They're already beginning to show some reddish/orange colour in the fins. Will be a few months before they are in all their glory with healed fins and all.

[andrewcoxon]

lovley looking fish but i dont think they are L59... the shape of the tail is wrong.

they look more like L182 ancistrus punctatus imo....

nice pick up no the less!

[Janne]

Or they are L32 or L180, for several years ago they was often sold as L59 but nowdays they are mostly exported under the right L-number...except yours
Take some new pictures when they have settled in and then it maybe will be easier to id, they are not L59 but there are several others they could be.

Janne

[Didgeridoo]

Not to be rude but I love how when someone owns a Datz book or can google something they assume they're an expert. I got these from Oliver Lucanas and I'm going to trust his identification as he's co-written books on catfish and is a writer in TFH. He's also collected fish in from the wild personally. So would I trust a collector or someone who can google "L059"!? Just my 2 cents. I will post more pictures once they start getting their colour.

[Barbie]

I'm sure you didn't mean to sound so nasty, but please, try to keep in mind that importers rarely take the time to individually ensure each fish they order is exactly what they thought they purchased. If you'd ever seen exporters lists you would understand how easy it is to have some confusion on new imports.

The fact still remains that your fish don't show the red on their fins in the pictures you posted. I've imported dozens of species of Ancistrus and I'm totally familiar with how much they can change in the months after you make them comfortable again. Hopefully yours will gain the red pigment we all noticed was missing.

I have 3 or 4 species of Ancistrus that I purchased from reputable sellers as something they didn't turn out to be. It happens.

Barbie

[Didgeridoo]

Yes I'm familiar with exporter's lists and know how confusing they can be. I'm just frustrated and tired of people thinking because they've bred Bristlenose they're an expert. I've bred lots of species of fish and I'm no expert and I'm the first to admit that! I just think it's too early to assume it's not what I ordered. I said that in an earlier post as well.

Nick

[Barbie]

I strive to someday spawn half as many plecos as Janne has so far. I'm only at 14 species so far. I rarely weigh in on identification issues for this very reason. There is a good number of species that are extremely difficult to tell from each other, but in this instance, the red in the fins is a distinct difference. I doubt it's going to change in the coming months, IME, but hopefully you'll be lucky and I'll be wrong. My L59's arrived showing the orange years ago when I had them.

Barbie

[Didgeridoo]

The unfortunate thing is people don't post enough pics that can identify them. I like taking pics and sharing them. In this case it's stirred up more than I wanted but it'll work out in the end. I will continue to post pics as they settle.

For identification help they're from the Xingu River. I dunno if this helps I've tried looking online and there's like zero true information on L059's that I could fine. Also I found a lot of "white seam" L059 which I'm assuming are not them. If you folks have pics of what "true" L059's should look like...please post to compare.

Nick

[MatsP]

If it truly comes from Rio Xingu, then it's one of these, or a "unnumbers/undescribed":
Search results.

--
Mats

[Jackster]

If they come from the Rio Xingu, then I would say that

Ancistrus sp(l100)

is the only possible identification.
If you look closely at the white markings on the caudal fin, they match perfectly with the photos above
as well as the head shape and bristles. Compare the head photo in the Cat-eLog with your head photo
and they are also very similar in not exact. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=6977

[Janne]

Nick,
Not to be rude but I have also collected fishes in the wild mostly in Brazil and I have been written for the better magazines like Aquaristik Fachmagazine and Practical Fishkeeping
Anyway, L59 comes from Rio guamá with tributaries so if yours is caught in Rio xingu it cant be the right species, if they for sure are caught in Rio xingu I will agre they are L100.

Janne

I forgot, this is a real L59.

[Jackster]

I found this photo about a year ago when one of my good buddies aquired some Ancistrus L059
that I had located but couldn't afford. To give an idea of how hard they are to get here in the USA,
he had to trade zebra pleco juveniles for his wild adult breeders. To the best of my knowledge,
he is the only person in the USA that is currently spawning them. Maybe there are others but I'm
not aware of anyone else.

I thought this was the best reference to what the "real" L059 should look like.

[andrewcoxon]

Not to be rude but I love how when someone owns a Datz book or can google something they assume they're an expert. I got these from Oliver Lucanas and I'm going to trust his identification as he's co-written books on catfish and is a writer in TFH. He's also collected fish in from the wild personally. So would I trust a collector or someone who can google "L059"!? Just my 2 cents. I will post more pictures once they start getting their colour.

so its better people just let you believe you have the wrong species?

L59's or not its just a number, they are still nice fish....

[Didgeridoo]

I'll agree with the facts. If in fact L059 are found in a different water system then I'd agree that they have been mis-identified. I did come off a little harsh I do apologize...been a grueling week outside of fishkeeping.

I do agree that the picture of the L100 that Jackster provided looks pretty well identical to my dominant male. Still really nice fish. I do apologize if I upset or angered anyone...just a pet peeve of mine. I've had that lots on other forums where people will re-identify fish of mine that I know are the species I said. In this case I was wrong. I just started into keeping catfish.

I'll definitely keep y'all updated with pics. They're nice of fat and putting some weight back on. The fins are healing nicely and there's no sign of stress related fungi or parasites. So good news.

Thanks all for your input and pictures. Friends still?

Nick

[Brengun]

Great photos. How are they settling in? The 6th photo from above is an absolute beauty. Well done!

[Jackster]

Anyone who keeps bristlenose is worth being friends with. I must admit that I forgot to mention
that they ARE very cool fish indeed! I certainly would love to add that species to my collection
anyday. Ancistrus species can drive you nuts trying to identify them. I currently have at least 3
species of Ancistrus which I can not identify and because I have no idea of their collection point,
I may never find a positive ID so when I sell the F1 juveniles, I will just call them Ancistrus sp. "unknown".

It's also easy to get offended or to offend someone else using public forums. A couple times I wrote
something that was intended to be funny (a joke) and another person took it the wrong way and got
mad. The fact that, here especially, there is a mixture of people from all over the world may sometimes
contribute to misunderstandings and we should all be a little careful about what we type.

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks Jackster and I totally agree. I belong to a number of forums and same thing.

They're definitely nice fish! The white tips are really apparent now. The females are starting to get the "shoulders" on em and getting fat. The male is growing like a weed and is almost pure black with faint white spots. I've been feeding zucchini, yam, spirulina discs, bloodworms, etc. They seem to enjoy it all.

I do daily 25% water changes as well which they seem to appreciate.

I'm going to Uruguay in February and am going to collect out of the southern range of the Rio Negro so I'll be bringing back some species. I'd like a Peck and an Ancistrus atleast. Also going to be fishing for dorado. I want to catch one on my fly rod. =D

I'll make sure to keep everyone posted and thanks for your ID input. =)

[Didgeridoo]

[MatsP]

Those are nice pictures. L100 only has a couple of pictures, so could you perhaps send Jools (webmaster@planetcatfish.com) the pictures you have, along with your real name to give Copyright, stating that these are L100 pictures.

--
Mats

[andywoolloo]

beautiful pictures! Awesome!

[cichlidguy]

Looking good Nick.

-John

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks. I don't know if they're L100 for sure. It's an educated guess but I can't use them to show people what they should look like. Also, getting a positive ID is pretty tough!