PlanetCatfish.com

Sorry for the poor quality of photos:


Is this an L-260? The mouth is small with quite a lot of teeth on the lower mandible. The eyes are inky black. The belly is mostly white and rounded(not sunken). TL=2-1/2". I'll try to get better photos. No interest in food, other than driftwood, as yet.
Amanda

Hi!!

it looks like it...but would like the full bodied fish picture...
But from what I see the white and black is well seperated and isn't looking much like Hypancistrus sp Monte Dourado

Cheers
Yann

Its a Monte dourado

Hi bronzefry,
I think you have a standard issue L260. Mayby a little nervouse still causing it's colors to be a little different than when it's settled in. Try frozen bloodworms and I'm sure it will dig right in and eat. I have 12 and the contrast of the black and white markings are very mood dependent in my group. Dominant males are usually the best marked and they have a pecking order as you would expect. The females might have slightly less contrast than males but they can change depending on their mood and current social position.

When I brought her home, she was extremely blotchy, but you could see the beauty underneath. I don't want to disturb her from her cozy position in the driftwood(she's gnawing on it). Going through an auction is a bit stressful. I've been doing small water changes daily and she seems to perk up when I do that. I'll let her adjust for a while and see what kind of pictures I can get. Thank you so much for the input! I look forward to finding her some mates.
Amanda

Hi bronzefry,
I don't think the Hypancistrus are really much of a wood eater per se but that they do have an affinity for hollows in wood as refuge and clean the wood surface looking for "aufwichs". By now you have probably tried frozen bloodworms of similar foods and have seen it eat those offerings. I feed my Hypancistrus the frozen foods, live blackworms, earthworm flakes and Tetra Color Bits. They will try a taste of zuchinni but they don't seem too crazy for vegetables.
These are such a nice species because they are attractive and stay fairly small and unlike the sought after Zebra L046 don't cost and arm and a Leg. Of all they smaller plecos I have been collecting for hopefully breeding, L260 is the one I think will be among the easier ones to breed; at least that is my hope. That is why I have so many of these. Mine are still fairly shy. They are out in the open searching the bottom for food but quickly dash for cover when I approach their tank even though I have had them for four months. I have a selection of Boraboras species of dwarf rasboras and Asian Rummy Nose "rasboras" as their tank mates. These are are all very small and also shy fishes as well but have no potential to present serious competion for food or living space. Enjoy this fish and perhaps get a few more when the opportunity arises.

Thanks, Larry. I've decided to go towards the species that I like, rather than the ones everybody else likes. I turned the piece of driftwood sideways when I was tidying up the tank this morning:

The color is much better than Sunday. The blotches are gone and the pattern is becoming clear. There's also some poo in the tank. I think I'll try a small feeding tonight.

Monte Duorodo or L-260?
Amanda

Don't you think it looks more like an L260 now that it has settled down? Some of mine look like that but the guys who took over the caves have better contrasing stripes and I take them for males. Some of the others look like your's or have fainter marks and they are the one's that are interested in the cave owner's so my guess is that those are my females. Sounds like it's acclimating well.
I have 8 in another tank that are all supposed to be L066 and those with the best marks also own the best caves and those with poorer contrast also stay out of the caves but with this group I have more doubt as to whether they are the females or a near look-a-like species. It's about 50/50.
I sure hope they are all the same or if not, then I hope if there are two kinds I hope that I have at least a pair of each variety because the cost of these guys really starts to add up and it would be a shame if they can't find mates. Whatever species they may be they are all Hypancistrus and it's clear that all the L260 are a small type and all the L066 group are a much larger type about 5 inch total length.
All the Hypancistrus are nice fish. I really like all the plecos that stay 5 inches or less because I have mostly 20L tanks but there are some bigger plecos I'd like to try if I had more space like a group of L018 gold nuggets and the blue and green phantom plecos.

Larry,
Comparing all the photos in the Cat-eLog, yes, he does look like an L-260. He looks like
<a href='http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=3572' target='_blank'>this</a> one, but with slightly shorter interopercular odontodes.

There's a photo in the Mergus Wels Band 2, page 607. It shows 2 examples of the L-318 Hypancistrus sp. Monte Duorado from the Rio Jari. One photo shows the stripes/squiggles much wider apart,like the ones shown in the Cat-eLog for L-318. The second photo in the book looks almost identical to this fish and the other L-260's shown in the Cat-eLog. It's curious.
Amanda

Amanda,
Unfortunately I don't have the Mergus catfish vol so I can't look that one up. I have a question. Is the Monte Dourado supposed to be a form of L260 and one that would not be creating hybrids should the two mate?
I have run into these close but not quite the same examples with the L066 where the main difference is again the lack of crisp black and white markings compared to the nominal L066. So I have a similar dilemma with L066.
I am hoping that as time goes on that we can know which L-No.s are the same but with different morphs like the situation with many wild discus which can freely interbreed.
There is so much yet to be learned about the Hypancistrus. What are the species and what morphs occur within the species? This applies to all the Loricaridae but for now I only have space for the smaller species and they are quite enough to keep me confused for now.
Larry

I'm quite confused, too. Does anybody else know the answer to Larry's question? I don't to purchase the wrong partners for this fish.
Thanks,
Amanda

The PC pic you linked to seems to be of "monte dourado" as well.

What is it that makes the linked photo a Monte Dourado vs L260? It looks like a standard L260 to me. The description makes no distinction.

Larry,
I think it's the fine squiggle lines that are more densely packed together in the photo I linked to and the photos I've posted. The photo in the Mergus Atlas for one of the Monte Duorado's also shows this same pattern. The other Monte Duorado in the Mergus shows a much broader pattern like <a href='http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=7796' target='_blank'>this</a> one. Confused yet? I am!
Amanda

Your's and mine have the distinct fine lines like L260. They don't look at all like the Monte Dorado with its broad and less contrasting lines. That photo more resembles the oddball L066 I have except they have finer line, more of them and are 5 inches long. So hard to tell what they are especially when I don't know their exact point of origin.