Spotted Aspidoras id

[pleco2381]

These two fish came in with a shipment of fish labeled as Aspidoras rochai. Most of the fish in the shipment looked very similar to pictures of Aspidoras rochai and Aspidoras cf. rochai I have seen but these two fish look different. I am aware that these fish could be hybrids but if they can be identified that would be great. The fish are also around 1.75” total length.

[bekateen]

Hi pleco2381,

Are these wild caught? If so, not likely hybrids. According to GBIF,

Scleromystax prionotos

is the only species that is even close to

Aspidoras rochai

in locality but your fish don't resemble that species. So I'm thinking Aspidoras.

@rmc, any thoughts?

Cheers, Eric

[rmc]

Pleco2381 where did you get these please? Not in Columbus OH by any chance? Thank you - Rob

[pleco2381]

Thanks for the replies, the fish came from my local fish store. Unfortunately I am not sure if they are wild caught or captive bred but I will try to find out.

[rmc]

So, with a little “insider knowledge” I would tentatively ID these as Aspidoras CW126. If you are interested in more, or would like to start fresh with correctly identified Aspidoras, please feel free to reach out. I keep CW126, Aspidoras raimundi, Aspidoras poecilus, Aspidoras fuscoguttatus, and albino Aspidoras raimundi (formerly known as Aspidoras C125 “red” or Aspidoras C125 “gold” in UK. To be completely fair and honest, I would be suspicious of any Aspidoras labeled something other than one of those in the hobby - except maybe Aspidoras pauciradiatus- which is just incorrectly assigned- should be Corydoras pauciradiatus. I’ve been hunting Aspidoras in the hobby for almost a decade, and sadly a few species have disappeared from the hobby (Aspidoras depinnai And Aspidoras albater), others I have only seen enter the hobby in Asia (Aspidoras velites, Aspidoras belenos, Aspidoras CW141). I’ll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have

[pleco2381]

Thanks for the id. Aspidoras are really hard for me to identify because many look similar and they can hybridize. Aspidoras CW126 is also one of my favorite Aspidoras.