Help me idetify my wiptail

[Myric]

Hello again,

I have a wipetail catfish. After looking at the Cat-eLog I'm pretty much certain I have a Hemiloricaria, maybe

Hemiloricaria eigenmanni

? I believe it's a male because of odontodes/ruffness on his back.




etdit:
ho, and it's about 10 cm long

[apistomaster]

Perhaps additional photos showing the ventral scutes would make identification easier for your Whiptail Catfish?

[Myric]

I'll try to get some, but I lmost never see him on the glass.

[apistomaster]

They rarely attach to the glass or if they do not long enough to get out your camera.
It is easier to net them and shoot them out of the water. They are easier to hold still long enough to get a sharp focus.
They would not be harmed in the short time it would take to get a couple photos.
They may well be H.eigenmanni. There are so many whiptails which are so similar that it takes more identifying characteristics to key them out correctly and that assumes they have been described. Many have yet to be scientifically described.
Unless in the unlikely case they are a southern species from N. Argentina, their care is going to be the same as most other tropical members of the genus.
If they are a fish you want to breed it is best to buy 6 from the same shipment. That will help the odds of having all the same species but even that approach is not guaranteed.

[Myric]

[apistomaster]

I have to bow out of trying to identify your Hemiloracaria or Rhinoloricaria, whatever the case may be. I lack the necessary expertise.
But those with the expertise need to see the entire bottom of your fish

[MatsP]

Considering that there are 29 species listed in the Cat-eLog, and at least 1 in 3 are missing pictures, I think using pictures to identify the species is at least a little bit difficult. Add to this that the colour patterns aren't particularly useful for identificaiton, because they can change theri colour "on demand".

I'm not saying H. eigenmanni is wrong - just that it's quite difficult to identify them without good information as to where the fish came from (and if it's captive bred, it is possible that the parent's weren't the same species...)

--
Mats