Please ID what looks like a Snakeskin body

[Raz]

OK I am posting these pictures again for those who have requested it.
These ARE of the same fish whether everyone wants to believe me or not matters not to me & is not the point.

All I am looking for is help ID'ing this fish. These pictures where taken back in June when I originally got the fish.

I originally thought she was an l174 but like I said earlier she grew too big to be what she was thought to be to start with.

If these pictures don't help any that's OK also but there is no reason to reply to tell me my fish aren't the same when they are. After all it's my fish, my camera & my tank along with my computer. I think I would know, wouldn't you?

Thank you,
Robert

[racoll]

These ARE of the same fish whether everyone wants to believe me or not matters not to me & is not the point.

We do believe you - its just it threw us a bit when there was a photo of a Hypancistrus and two very different looking Hypostomus.

I didn't know this would be so hard.

Hypostomus is a hyperdiverse genus, with 128 described species, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were 128 more out there too! On top of this they are morphologically conservative (i.e. they all generally look the same), and there hasn't been any thorough taxonomic work done on them for a while. So.... ID will never be trivial with these fishes.

I would think that even an expert on the group would struggle, as they are just so poorly known.

From the pictures I can see no reason why it isn't H. plecostomus, and I would trust Shane's experience on this one.

I would call it H. plecostomus for the time being, but if the shop tell you it was definitely exported from Brazil or Peru, then on the balance of probability, we should rule that species out.

Whatever it is, its a cracking fish, and care is pretty much the same for the whole Hypostomus genus.

[MatsP]

I too echo the "Cracking fish" - they are great. I wish I could find one here in England, but they are not available (the captive bred, much larger growing Pterygoplichtys pardalis are very easy to get, and I have one of those and don't really want that one).

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Mats

[Raz]

Thank you again racoll, Mats & everyone else.

I get the point & IDea. Pun intended...

She is fun to watch. She's a fast one to when she gets spooked & takes off for inside the castle. Stirs up the whole tank with that long tail of hers. It's funny to see her lay side by side with the smallest fish in my tank, another Hypancistrus that is about 2". They will lay together on top of the orange cave that you see in the pictures.

I may have found another possible match for her.
Hypostomus cf. cochliodon (L050)

I was looking at my list of fish & saw I had this written down as a possible match from awhile ago.
Either way like ya'll said it really doesn't make a difference.
I know she eats everything I feed her. She's like a vacuum, she just inhales her food...lol
She's great at cleaning everything...

I do have one more question since I haven't been on here much & I am from the US.
I have to ask what the "Cracking fish" means? ;)

[racoll]

I have to ask what the "Cracking fish" means?

Sorry, bit of a British expression. Means very nice, or very good.

[MatsP]

The cochliodon group has a higher body than your fish, so I don't think so.

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Mats