Are these L136C or L136B ?

[catfishmelao]

Hello, Can someone please help me to identify if these are L-136C or L-136B ?
Thanks in advance.

[bekateen]

I'm inclined to say L136c, but I know there's a lot of variation. Is L136c a tank-bred strain of L136 to make white spots bigger?

Cheers,
Eric

[catfishmelao]

Thanks Eric for your feedback.

Is L136c a tank-bred strain of L136 to make white spots bigger?

About your question above, that is my understanding.

Cheers!
Melao

[Jools]

L136C's origins are not a tank-raised strain.

It was introduced/promoted by Aquarium Glaser / Aqualog for grading wild-caught fishes based on spot size several years after the introduction of A and B 30 years ago in DATZ.

Jools

[catfishmelao]

Thanks Jools - I was not aware of that. It is always good to learn something new. Appreciate it.
Do you have some links to articles you can share about it? I would love to read them and learn more.

Thanks
Melao

[Jools]

You kind of need to go back to the magazine articles of the time. And perhaps the Aqualog book. Articles are here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/shaneswor ... +l-numbers


Jools

[catfishmelao]

Thanks for providing the link. It is in German language so I will see how I can translate that.
Appreciate your help...

Cheers
Melao

[hilmen]

Thanks for providing the link. It is in German language so I will see how I can translate that.
Appreciate your help...

[bekateen]

Thanks for providing the link. It is in German language so I will see how I can translate that.
Appreciate your help...

A relatively quick way to translate the text is to take a screen capture of the text, then use Google lens to convert to text and then copy text into google translate. Work one column at a time, so that the google lens doesn't blend words from one column to the next.

I do that a lot. It's quite effective. It might take a little imagination to fix odd translations but if you're familiar with the animals or the areas (the two parts that get mistranslated most in my experience), you can logically infer what they said pretty accurately.

Cheers,
Eric

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

some years ago your individuals clearly would have been classified as the c-type, now they are nice b-specimens, compared to the "good" c ones.

[catfishmelao]

Hi,

some years ago your individuals clearly would have been classified as the c-type, now they are nice b-specimens, compared to the "good" c ones.

Hi Daniel. Thanks for your feedback.

Please help me to understand a bit here, Are you implying that years ago the parameters/specs to qualify an L136 specimen as a "C" type have changed till today and today there is a different standard for that, is that correct?

Could you please provide some pictures of a "good" L136C, some pictures of a "poor" L136C and some pictures of a "nice" L136B so I and others as well can learn to identify them?

Also if you happen to know what are those parameters (white spot dimension/size, etc) that are used to qualify L136 as B or C the please share them with us. A century ago, Albert Einstein taught us: everything is relative. The way we see the world depends on our point of view and context so I believe that this could also be applied when someone qualify a L136 as a nice L136B or L136C type.

These L136 are currently on sale here in US for $400 each, the seller is claiming that they are L136C so the justification of the price. The seller is a reputable seller in US, known by many plecos breeders and with excellent credentials. I am not saying the seller is right or wrong, I am just trying to learn more about how to identify these species so it helps me and hopefully others as well to know what we will be getting when buying an L136, Type C or Type B high quality.

Cheers
Melao

[Brian2014]

It's very hard to tell from one pic but they look like L136b! I have been keeping and breeding these fish for a few years now this is how I see it!

L136a very few spots small and well spaced out

L136b more spots closer together but still of smaller size

L136C large spots and close together

Obviously there is some variation and differences of opinion on what counts as large spots I have added some photos of my own L136c plus one L136c I found on the Internet. With the cost of L136c I recommend seeing the fish in person! Or just buying Bs as they will produce Cs

[catfishmelao]

This is great info Brian, thanks for sharing the pictures and the knowledge.
Good thing is that I did not pull the trigger after Daniel feedback, now with your feedback I will not buy these.
You both save me a lot of money. Thanks again and really appreciate it.
Cheers
Melao