L306 or L169?

[nabulus]

Hi all, I need some help with species identification. In the photo there are two male fish. Do you think that if they are both L306s? One fish looks more red than the other. The one with more golden tone makes me wonder if he is actually an L169. Besides color, I was wondering what other characteristics can be possibly used to tell the two species apart? Thank you!

[bekateen]

Hi nabulus,

Were these collected together? Do you know?

Cheers, Eric

[nabulus]

Hi Eric, Unfortunately i don't know. These are tanks raised and are purchased from two difference sources.

Hi nabulus,

Were these collected together? Do you know?

Cheers, Eric

[panaque]

These both look good for L306 to me. L169 tends to have a more stripy face as the vertical dark bands split horizontally (have a look at images on L169 page to see what I mean), something I have never seen on L306, which I have kept and bred for a number of years, so I have seen many. The facial pattern you see on your paler specimen is typical for older males, where the facial bands break up.
Body colouration in L306 is highly dependent on the lighting conditions in which they live. Males that spend most of their time in caves go very dark, with red colouration only really visible in the fins, especially the caudal. Females and non-caving males are much brighter with clearly contrasting stripes. If you keep them in an unlit tank however, they too go dark. Interestingly, these colour changes are reversible and even males that are almost uniformly dark brown after years of living in a cave will develop contrasting colours again when they stop living in caves. I suspect that is what is going on with your paler male. The red can vary quite a lot from close to yellowish to sunset red, possibly depending on diet and lighting conditions.

[nabulus]

Great information! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me!

These both look good for L306 to me. L169 tends to have a more stripy face as the vertical dark bands split horizontally (have a look at images on L169 page to see what I mean), something I have never seen on L306, which I have kept and bred for a number of years, so I have seen many. The facial pattern you see on your paler specimen is typical for older males, where the facial bands break up.
Body colouration in L306 is highly dependent on the lighting conditions in which they live. Males that spend most of their time in caves go very dark, with red colouration only really visible in the fins, especially the caudal. Females and non-caving males are much brighter with clearly contrasting stripes. If you keep them in an unlit tank however, they too go dark. Interestingly, these colour changes are reversible and even males that are almost uniformly dark brown after years of living in a cave will develop contrasting colours again when they stop living in caves. I suspect that is what is going on with your paler male. The red can vary quite a lot from close to yellowish to sunset red, possibly depending on diet and lighting conditions.