Hypancistrus inspector color variation?

[Suckermouth]

Hey all,

I am the proud new owner of a Hypancistrus inspector. I have also purchased H. inspector from Snook in the past, so now I have two batches. Of course, my intent like with other Hypancistrus is to breed them, so I'd take Snook's last specimen he currently has off his hands and add it to my colony. To my surprise, not only is the new specimen much larger, but it appears different in color pattern. Forgive me for not including pictures, but the smaller H. inspector are dark with small white spots; they appear similar to these Cat-eLog pictures (http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... e_id=15361 , http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... e_id=15362). Of course, the new addition also has stress coloration as well, so that may be confounding my perception, but it appears much more similar to the pictures of larger fish in the Cat-eLog (http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=3105 , http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=1048 ).

This leads me to two questions.

Firstly, some of this variation could be explained by change while the fish grows. What I find strange is that I don't know if we have many "in-between" shots of H. inspector growing up. Has anyone observed this, and have pictures documenting the change?

Secondly, the old batch of Hypancistrus I have lack white spots on the tail, while the new one most definitely has white spots on the tail. Is this also something that varies with age? Does anyone have any information on this potential variation, as well as when the spots hook up into lines (as in http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=3845)? I know H. inspector aren't common or commonly bred, but if anyone has any information on this I'd be curious to know. The last thing I would want to do would be to cross two different types of Hypancistrus.

[dconnors]

From what I have seen they are quite variable. The ones that I had are the largest of any Hypan that I've kept. Some of my males were just beasts. The spots were quite variable in pattern, but were pretty much the same color. Wait until you have fry, they are very different! If you are on facebook there were some photos on Rare Aquatics page of some that had some phenomenal spots.
I have often wondered myself if there was a 'large' form and a 'small' form, hopefully someone here will know the answer to this question?

[jac]

Interesting tread! And I wondered exactly the same question.
The first pictures you show from the cat-e-log are my fish. These were taken last year, the fish were about 2 years old and still growing. On these pictures about 8cm TL. My fish are mostly black with a few spots and the black seems on the fins.

The fish in this tread: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=40364 look quite different but are also L102 These are much bigger tho.

I asked Daniel Konn-Vetterlein if this indicates there are different "types" of Inspektor but he said that Hypancistrus Inspektor is very variable in color and pattern.
I've got some coming from Pier's and am very interested what they will look like

[Yann]

Hi!!

Here is my experience regarding this species!!
Smaller individuals tend to be like the one pictured from Jacqueline.
They have fewer spots and are rather dark.
Mature specimens show different colours.
Female are lighter in colour and show more well defined white spots while males are darker and show smaller white spots.
I believe that water parameters also play a role on how the coloration of the animals.

A female (stress coloration):



a male (stress coloration)



Aclimated in a tank:


Cheers
Yann