H. debilittera?

[Kiera]

Hi,

yesterday I was browsing the catfish section at my local pet shop when I found this guy/girl amongst a group of not so similar looking catfish. In the tank he was almost black & white, in my photos he's quite pale...
I think he might be a Hypancistrus debilittera, but I'm not sure. The guy at the shop couldn't tell me what he was because it wasn't the fish he'd ordered...

Thanks!
Kiera

[MatsP]

Definitely

Hypancistrus

, and based on the high-set eyes, from the Orinoco river. None of this rules out H. debilittera - it is also the most common of the striped Hypancistrus species exported from the region.

So, whilst it's a bit difficult to say for sure, it's LIKELY that you are right.

--
Mats

[Kiera]

Thanks Mats!

I didn't get a good pic of the dorsal fin, but its triangular with horizontal stripes. The Tail doesn't have much of an indent (have no idea if the descriptions I am using are right!) if this helps.

Anybody else got an idea?

Thanks,
Kiera

[MatsP]

Right so lets think this through:

There are the following species that it COULD possibly be, based on body colouration:

Hypancistrus debilittera

Hypancistrus sp(L173)

Hypancistrus sp(L270)

Hypancistrus sp(L316)

Hypancistrus sp(L340)

Of these we can rule out L173, L270 and L316 based on the eye-position (they are also much harder to get hold of since they are not on the "allowed to export" list in Brazil, which ADDS to it being unlikely).

Which leaves us with H. debilittera and L340. Since by almost all accounts, L340 is nearly unobtainable (very rare that fish are exported from that part of the Rio Orinoco), so we can say with reasonable certainty that it's H. debilittera.

--
Mats

[drpleco]

great post, Mats!!