L260 not eating

[apistomaster]

Hey there, Racoll,
Is there a planetcatfish topic on Hypancistrus stomach content in the wild?
I envision them as basically carnivorous detritivores living in the crevices of bedrock, on and under the stones and exploring the underwater wood surfaces. They must also spread out from the main channels into the ajacent flooded jungle in the rainy season. There they would encounter some terrestrial foods such as dead insects and other drowned small animals. These odd sources of food might even be the key to inducing spawning. Subtle things may come into play. Consider that the dart frogs produce their powerful toxins by ingsting their natural foods but when raised in captivity they may be perfectly healthy but are unable to produce their toxins. Based on aquarium observations of their behavior,I imagine they would feed on aquatic insect larvae, mayfly nymphs, damselfly nymphs, various dipteran fly larvae, small snails, worms of various species and incidental to this they must ingest the microfauna/flora of diatoms, rotifers, algae and a portion of indigestible mineral grains. Little different from many other bottom feeders. I don't believe they actively seek the algaes of course but it must be that they eat enough of it to help keep their diets balanced.
Just some of my musing I decided to share. I think a lot of this stuff because I do want to learn how better to provide for my L134, L260 and similar. I already have spent many years considering and studying aquatic entomology in the course of being a life long flyfisherman and fly tier.It is useful to imagine the hidden aquatic world as a deceiver of trout.

[racoll]

H Larry.

I pretty much agree with you on the ecology of Hypancistrus.


Only two species of Hypancistrus have been described, so there is very little literature on them.

Luckily the description of H.inspector by Armbruster included a gut content analysis, which found "many seeds in the intestine suggesting that the species is at least partially granivorous"

I don't have the whole paper, but here is a link to the abstract.

This is the name of the paper:

Armbruster, J. W. 2002. Hypancistrus inspector , a new species of suckermouth armored catfish (Loricariidae: Ancistrinae). Copeia 2002:86-92.

[apistomaster]

Hi racoll,
Thank you for that bit of information. I have six young H. inspector. They are on the shy side of the personality profile but when they come out they are a sight with their distinctive color patterns. I'm probably a year away from them reaching maturity as they are only about 2-3/4 inches and seem to grow slower than L66 King Tigers.
I am gradually getting a fair sized collection of groups of 6 or more per species. Most all are still too small to breed. I just started my collecting the Hypancistrus, smaller Peckoltia and Panaques this May. My 8-L204 Flash are mostly full grown. They are big bold and beautiful entertaining specimens.

[bronzefry]

Thanks for your patience in bearing with all of my questions.

I've found that this is a great place to ask questions! I have a lot of posting because I don't know much and I ask a lot of questions.
Amanda