Planiloricaria cryptodon.

[PeterJ]

I have looked on Shane's World, and I can't find anything relating to this species? So, here goes!
In mid January, I purchased five lovely specimens from my much trusted local dealer.
I have managed to find out a little, but not much about the species. All the usual info, but nothing in-depth?
So, I hope someone has some experience of them.

They have settled in very well indeed into my set-up, which is an Amazon Biotope. Everything is based on that great system, from substrate, bogwood, plants and water parameters as far as I can match them. They are feeding well. One thing I have noticed, before their arrival I had a problem with small conical snails, approx. 2-4mm in length. No sign of any now!! Has anyone else noticed this? Any info greatly appreciated. PeterJ.

[Andrewjw]

YES!!!!
I have that same "problem" too...they seem to eat small snails, including the dreaded trumpet snails!
i might have to start rotating them through my tanks to clean them out.
I havent noticed any obvious sexual differences, although get the sense that i have one or two males, and 2 or three females in my group. Very cool fish...
Andy

[Shane]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... cle_id=225

Hope this helps. Great fish.
I had not heard of them eating snails before. Fascinating observation.
-Shane

[Richard B]

Very interesting indeed

[Narwhal72]

That is an interesting observation. I have 5 of them also and they are in a tank with ramshorn snails and I have not seen them preying on these snails at all. But I also have a number of tanks that are infested with this small conical snail (not MTS) by the millions and I would love to find a way to get rid of them.

I may be transferring some fish around to test it.

Andy

[Andrewjw]

My 4 are in a 110g Oceanic tank, with sand bottom, and very few decorations. A round granite rock, and a large flat ledge. They spend most of the daylight hours either partially buried in sand adjacent to a rock or under the ledge, but at night definitely "hop" around on their paired anal fins (name?) sifting through the sand. I havent directly observed them eating snails, but my tank is filled with only large Malaysian Trumpet snails (about 50 of them) and i havent seen a smaller snail in months. They have extremely long tail fin rays (just the top ray actually) that are easily longer than each fish, and which they gently flick up and down. I get the sense they are gauging either the current or presence of other fish, or food with this activity. They do not seem to like the others being too close, and will attack and chase them away. They also seem to prefer small size food pellets...giving me the impressions that they have small mouths.

[PeterJ]

Thanks to all that have replied. Another interesting fact is they are a 'lower lip or mouth brooder'. Of my five, the 'whiskers' that cover the mouth, not those that extend beyond, three have blackish colouration, the remaining two are pale ivory! There is also a difference in the vent area. An oval shape surrounding the vent on the two with ivory whiskers, but almost rectangular on the three!! If the two are female? their back colouration is plain fawn/sandy. Whilst the other three have darker colouring and flecked with spots.

When my sons show me how to upload images, I will share them with you all. I class my self as a 'Techno-Muffin' in such matters!
Kind Regards PeterJ.

[PeterJ]

Hi Shane. I've just had chance to read your article {1st Jan 2002} citing your experience with Planiloricaria cryptodon; it makes interesting reading.
Hope it is of interest to you, here are the details of my main aquarium?

Length 40.5" x 19" x 18"max {bow-fronted}. After displacement it holds 170 litres. The substrate is imported Amazonian sand, 3" depth, over a JBL planting base. The bogwood is also genuine Amazon. I love the indigenous Echinodorus plant species. Not the 'man-made' species found in many shops!! I can list them, in latin, if required. The water composition is where black water & white water meet. It is conditioned with JBL Tropol to give the correct actinic quality. It is lit with JBL Solar Tropic Ultra & Solar Natur Ultra T5 tubes, this simulates the light at mid-day over the River Amazon. Ph7, KH4,GH8, NO3 5ppm, PO4 0.014ppm. NO2 & NH4 Zero.

I tried a new plant recently. Polygnum Sp 'San Paulo'. From the Amazon, but still to be properly ascribed to a genus! My P. cryptodons disliked these and destroyed them? This concurs with your observations re: dense planting.

They feed avidly on bloodworm, small catfish pellets, JBL Spirulina flakes & JBL Gala flakes. Also those wretched small snails, of which they ridded the tank of!!
The long tail filament certainly seems to be used to sense current flow, and in negotiating obstacles, such as bogwood and plants. It is fascinating to watch the action the 'whiskers' both in searching for food and when they contact each other!
I think that's enough for now.
Kind Regards, Peter.

[naturalart]

Thanks Peterj for posting this info. I had a group of 4 many years ago. This fish is so fabulously strange I couldn't pass them up. I haven't seen them in a shop here since.

While they were still in the shop, a few of them got 'chewed' on by a slightly larger Pterogoplyichthys sp. and the injuries were showing fungus. They apparently have weak defenses against these types of attacks. I took 3 of them home and nursed them back to health(melafix and product called "furan-2"). The tank I finally homed them in had a small Panaqulos maccus and a Ancistrus sp. in residence. The largest P. cryptodon died from its injuries and reinjury (read further) .Over the next 6 months I discovered they preferred frozen and live food over staple foods, but definitely more protein than vegetable. At about the 6 month mark I could see that the remaining 2 fish were being attacked in the same way, scraping on their dorsal sides. I suspected the Panaqulos. And it turned out to be true. less fungus, no treatment. Both fish recovered. Then I lost one to low DO or a nitrate spike, as best I could tell. The remaining fish lived for another 6 months. Then we had a black out and I lost a number of fish including the last one.

The one thing I observed is that they seemed to prefer high DO and were sensitive to 'high' nitrates.