Variations in L134

[TOO]

Hi all,

I am quite new to keeping catfish; I have recently acquired a group og six wild caught L134.

I am a bit puzzled by the variance in their patterning. Most of my fish have broad and straight black lines with good space between them, but in a couple of individuals the lines are narrower and closer together.

Moreover, when you look at species page on this site, some individuals are displayed where the black lines are very uneven.

I am just wondering if these differences reflect geographical variations or if these variations also occur in the same populations.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Thomas

[Richard B]

There may well be some geographic variance, although most specimens i've encountered are fairly typical.

Have you got any photos to illustrate the fish?

[MatsP]

By all accounts, it is a very variable species.

--
Mats

[pturley]

My impression has alway been that this is likely geographic variations.

When I used to work for a wholesaler, different shipments of L-134s ordered at different times of the year will display different patterns where multiple boxes ordered the same time were usually very similar. These were transhipped boxes of fish, straight out of Belem (with a brief stop in Miami).

I had always thought these are variations from the collection locales (different rivers at low water levels at different times). That has been my impressions anyway.

Until someone goes and documents the various collection locales (likely trade secrets from the collectors BTW), you can't be too sure.

[MatsP]

Paul, I agree that it's highly likely a variation depending on where they are caught - but whatever the reason for the variation is (capture location or something else), the variation is part of this species [unless we start splitting L134 into different species simply on minor pattern differences].

--
Mats

[apistomaster]

So far, my experience is that they all start out looking almost identical but change as they mature until no two are exactly alike.
I have only raised about 180 and kept 30 for myself and those I kept all look different from each other as do the all my spawning adults.
These are about 3 months old in the photo below and from different parents.

[DutchFry]

glenny, a member of this site, has two L134 and they really are quite different

here are some pics:

'normal' one:



'abnormal' one:



some people on this site referred to the last one as being Peckoltia sp. 'rio Tapajos'

[MatsP]

Peckoltia sp. Rio Tapajos isn't a very good differentiator, as the L134 species is also from Rio Tapajos. .

--
Mats

[TOO]

Thanks, guys, for the interesting answers!

I guess what puzzled me was that my group was supposed to come from the same shipement of wild caughts. Of course, that does not necessarily mean that they were all caught at the same location, but most likely they were.

If that is indeed the case it shows that the same population can actually display considerable variation among individuals. Four of the individuals are quite similar with the "classical" pattern, but two - as I mentioned - have a more "unequal" pattern.

This is a gorgeous fish, no matter the patterning, though!

Thomas

[apistomaster]

All my breeders look like the lower photo in dutchfry's post. The other fish looks like my 6 month old fish. They take about 3 years to reach breeding age and you know, not even leopards or zebra have identical spot or stripes.
I would be very surprised to learn that you could determine from where in the Rio Tapajos a particular L134 originated from unless you caught it yourself. I am confident that the only thing that you can be sure of is that no two L134 will look alike.
I know that mine came from 2 different dealers but they all breed together. In fact on one occasion, 2 females spawned with one male about 3 days apart.

[Yann]

Hi!!

L134 can vary quite a lot as matter of pattern. But regarding the band much or less close to each other...really most of the time is a matter of age of the fish...when young the band tend to be widely separated...as the fish get older the band (black) get closer while the yellow get thinner.
The the pattern can consist of full band, broken, spotted
The speciemens coming from the Rio Jamanxim tend to have much of a spotted pattern than a banded one
Cheers
Yann

[TOO]

Thanks, again.

Apistomaster: I am bit surprised to hear that they take three years to mature. I guess I am in for a long wait, then, since mine are between 6 and 8 centimeters at present.

Yann: Age could be an explanation. The two fish with the more unequal pattern are actually the bigger in the group.

Thomas

[TOO]

Hi again,

What would you estimate is the age of a L134 at 6-8 centimeters?

Thomas

[DutchFry]

i think between 1 and 2 years of age.

[Jon]

The animals I have seen from Jamanxim look radically different--just something about them (even their base eye coloration appears to be different, although this is a variable trait by all accounts). DThey definitely display geographical variance.