hypan id and sex please

[hullfishman]

hi guys i just picked up these 2 hypans, can anyone tell me what they are and the sex please, they are both 3 inch SL
fish 1





fish 2







thanks
dave

[hullfishman]

sorry for the big pictures i dont know how to make them smaller

[MatsP]

I'd say the first one is

L333

and the second is either

Hypancistrus debilittera

(L129) or

L340

(less likely L340, but I'm not good at telling them apart).

The first fish looks like a male, the second looks to be female. So I hope you have two different tanks for them, as Hypancistrus tends to be able to hybridize between just about any species we know of.

--
Mats

[hullfishman]

hi i had a large group of 13 L129 about 2 years ago and i dont think the second fish is 129. you are probably right on the first fish being L333, it doesnt have the deeply forked tail of L066
thanks
dave

[hullfishman]

anyone else have any idea

[pleco_breeder]

I agree with L333 on the first fish. The SL likely eliminates either L129 or L340. I have colonies of both and neither pattern nor shape looks right. However, I can't say what they are.

Larry

[hullfishman]

how about L270 for the second fish?
thanks
dave

[pleco22]

Hi,
l 333 both, second one could be a female, but has fin deformations. It is a little bit too young to sex. Please be careful with putting different forms of Hypancistrus together to avoid hybrids.

[hullfishman]

which fins look deformed to you? they look fine to me. so you are saying they are both L333? is it ok for me to breed these two fish together? i am asking as i would hate to create hybrids
thanks
dave

[Suckermouth]

I think the consensus we're coming to is that #2 is too young to tell.

[hullfishman]

fish 2 is the same size as fish 1 at 3 inches not including the tail, they are both captive bred and came from different breeders but at the time of buying they where the same size, this is all the person who sold me them could tell me about them so i presume they are around the same age
thanks
dave

[hullfishman]

forgot to add that they are around 2.5 years old

[pleco_breeder]

L270 is a good possibility. For some reason I didn't of it when posting earlier.

Larry

[Unungy]

The pattern isn't quiet there to be a L270, although each specie have a degree of variance.
In my opinion its not a L270.

Saul

[pleco22]

Hi,
in the first picture it looks like a deformation, but I think I'm wrong. The rest is OK. Like other Hypancistrus, L 333 includes several different variants, including different body colour and patterns. Mixing different sources of fish increases the risk of hybrids. The status of L 333 is just a poor number and one(!) picture in the DATZ to make life easier for importers and sellers. There is no description so nothing is defined. It could be, that both of your fish are L 333, but the pattern is very different, so the risk of an mixture between different sources is very high.