ID - Ancistrus from Colombia

[Torb]

Anybody seen these before? Top tree pictures are of the male. I got a pair over a year a go, they where extras in a shipment from Colombia, and thats all the info I got...

[Torb]

This last photo is the female, the bastard killed... regretably the best photo I had..

[Shane]

This looks to be the "common" (in the sense it is the most frequently caught in the area) Ancistrus from down by Leticia on the Amazon.
I could not find it in the Cat-eLog, maybe it has an L Number.
-Shane

[Torb]

Hi Shane, I've been looking at some pictures of the "common" Leticia Anicistrus. But I can't get myself to agree with you, may be that I just found some bad photos My specimen is more like the

L034

in bodyshape. Its black, and the spots are greenish. I've been looking around but I can't find anything like it..

[Shane]

Torb,
I am only seeing limited angles of your fish from the four photos above, but it does not appear to have the distinctive shape of

Ancistrus ranunculus

(although I certainly differ to you as you can actually see the fish). That said, I agree that my first identification was incorrect. Looking closer, I see that your fish lacks the dark spot behind the first dorsal ray that is very common in the genus. This is a good thing as it whittles down the number of possible identifications significantly.
Take a look at the following and see what you think is closest in terms of body shape.

Ancistrus sp(l071)

Or this small spotted A. ranunculus-type from the Xingu

Ancistrus sp(l255)

There is a slightly flattened dark Ancistrus sp with spots from the Orinoco, but I am not sure that it was ever given an L Number and I do not have any books or my photo collection with me as they are being shipped from Uganda.

-Shane

[Jools]

I do not have any books or my photo collection with me as they are being shipped from Uganda.

Never a replacement, but meantime, here are all Ancistrus l-numbers on a page.


Jools

[Raph]

Hi,

If they really look like A. ranunculus and are from the Rio Orinoco, then A. macrophtalmus should match.

Cheers
Raph.

[Torb]

Thanks guys, feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Take a look at the following and see what you think is closest in terms of body shape.

Ancistrus sp(l071)

Or this small spotted A. ranunculus-type from the Xingu

Ancistrus sp(l255)

There is a slightly flattened dark Ancistrus sp with spots from the Orinoco, but I am not sure that it was ever given an L Number and I do not have any books or my photo collection with me as they are being shipped from Uganda.

Bodyshape is defenetly more like

Ancistrus sp(l255)

in bodyshape, and

Ancistrus macrophthalmus

is the closest I've seen so far.
I've added a few more photos of the fish

[MatsP]

L255 is quite a bit flatter/wider body than your photos, I'd say (I have seen L255 and A. ranunculus in real life, and they are at least 4x wider than they are "tall").

--
Mats

[Raph]

Hi,
Without more data concerning their origin in Colombia, A. macrophtalmus is clearly the best candidate.
Cheers
Raph.

[Torb]

L255 is quite a bit flatter/wider body than your photos, I'd say (I have seen L255 and A. ranunculus in real life, and they are at least 4x wider than they are "tall").

--
Mats

The photos doesn't give it enough justice, but I would say the A. ranunculus is wider as I have keept a few earliere. The comment about the L255 was made on bodyshape only. That said I think Raph nailed it The best photo I found so fra is from Ingo Seidel's book " Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes"