PlanetCatfish.com

Please advise from these phone pics as to what it is, many thanks!

11-13cm and what sexes do you think?

Hi!!

There is a population of Hypancistrus sp aff inspector coming from the Rio venturi which seems to match the ID of your fish!!!

Cheers
Yann

Any number on them yet?

There seems to be alot more dots than the inspectors?

HI!

No L number form what I know...

BTW L201 isn't H. inspector

Im a newbie compared to you mate, so can you explain whats going on?

Scientific Name Hypancistrus inspector Armbruster, 2002

Common Name(s) L201

Type Locality Venezuela: About 25km upstream of confluence with rio Negro.

Pronunciation hype an SISS truss - inn SPECK torr

Etymology Greek, hypo = under + Greek, agkistron = hook Inspector is Latin for observer. It is in reference to the large eyes.

Species Information
Size
126mm (5") SL
Show near, nearer or same sized spp.


Identification Often confused because of the picture in Aqualog. This fish is a vertically compressed black with white spots Pleco.

Sexing Mature males develop teeth like odontodes on their leading pectoral fin rays. These are more noticable seasonally - presumably they are enlarged during the reproductive season.

Habitat Information
Distribution Border area Brazil/Venezuela (Upper rios Orinoco and Negro)

I with aquatictrader. If L201 is not H. inspector what is L201.
BTW, Aquatictrader, what are you feeding these guys? They look like they really like it from their porked out appearance. I have 6 L201? but they are staying nocturnal unlike most of my other Hypancistrus species that get used to coming out at feeding time. I've had them for a few months but all I ever see are polkadotted black streaks when the lights come on.

Hi!

In the description of H. inspector the picture of the holotype show a black margin to the dorsal and caudal fins, very similar to what Hypancistrus sp L102 has
Such features is totally absent in Hypancistrus sp L201

Beside this, in Jon description,the biggest speciemen was ~14cm long which is by far longer than any of the Hypancistrus sp L201 have seen...and I have seen a few monster but none to such size...
The biggest specimen of L201 I have seen was close to 11cm TL but I never seen any growing bigger than this!!!

Cheers
Yann

Hi,
I took a look at my 5 specimens and they are still young and all are between 2-1/2" to 3" TL. They are inky black with many bright yellow spots, pretty similar to the posted photos on this thread. Because the dorsal fis are the same solid black with yellow spots whether they have a black border is hard to determine. Some yellow spots occur within the edge of fin borders so I'm I correct that they are the same fish shown here or are they representatives of the unnamed species? It will be hard to know what their maximum size will be until they are full grown. My source sold these as L201 but also had "snowball" plecos which did not interest me because I was under the impression they could get larger than 5 inches which is my upper limit of fish I choose to keep. I have collected mainly smaller species that have been documented as having bred in captivity since that is my goal. What ever they are they are very atractive although a reclusive species.
All of them are in a 75 gallon Heckel discus set up and hide so photos are very hard to take with tearing around the tank to capture one

Larry!!!
If it is solid black...you can be sure you have L201...
L102 has a rather translucid fin which suddenly becomes more solid black at the margin of the fin...

Snowball pleco is being used as trade name for basically every species that is black with white/yellow spot... so you can have a wide range of species and genus under that name!!

Yann,
Thank you. I'm glad I'm not stuck with some black spotted whopper of a Pleco.
Larry

So we have gathered they are not inspectors due to size, so please what are they?

This is so exciting, its great to be able to compare, go back n compare etc again!

L rock!

Sorry, they are being fed spiralina, shrimp pellets etc.

There are 2m/1f i think, but maybe off the pictures u have other ideas on sex?

Ive been told Irry93 had em before or still does?

No help with identification but I've recently been feeding my plecos that lean toward meaty foods earthworm pellets and they all really go for them in a big way. The pellets have spirulina and shrimp among other things but if your fish are already eating well as yours are, it reall builds them up and the will eat an amazing quantity of this rich food. It is supposed to be an excellent conditioning food for breeders.

apistomaster wrote:No help with identification but I've recently been feeding my pl*cos that lean toward meaty foods earthworm pellets and they all really go for them in a big way. The pellets have spirulina and shrimp among other things but if your fish are already eating well as yours are, it reall builds them up and the will eat an amazing quantity of this rich food. It is supposed to be an excellent conditioning food for breeders.

Just make sure that they get sufficient fibre in their diet as well! Otherwise you may end up with digestive tract problems. Hypancistrus are probably not very sensitive, but other plecos may be...

--
Mats

They get a balanced diet alright. I just wanted to mention their enthusiasm for these earthworm pellets. They seem to have plenty of fiber but I feed a broad variety of foods including parboiled vegetables.

Something about the mouth in the third picture bothers me.
Too big for Hypancistrus?
The eyes seem a little small too....
Maybe.

Kevin

You guys have ruled out Vampires, right?

HI

They look rather fat, but when you look at the overal body (1st /2nd) picture, it quite fit Hypancistrus body description!!
Like I said I doubt it is L201...
You can rule out Leporacanthicus as the shape of the fish is totally off!!

But it would really help to have clear picture to make an accrutate ID

Cheers
Yann

Will endevour to get more pictures Yann!