L134 Leopard Frog or L104 Clown?

[krazyGeoff]

Hi,
I have had on order 6 x L134 Leopard Frog and today they turned up. To me they look like L104 Clown's.
The LFS rang the importer to confirm that the correct fish were sent, and they are quite sure that they sent what they imported as L134.
I have not paid for them yet and they are in my care until I determine what they actually are.
To me the stripes are too narrow and the mouth shape resembles this image http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=4615
Also the belly has a pattern on it, and the other photos of L134 show that the belly does not have a pattern on it.
These fish are only 4 -5 cm long so are quite small, and may just be too small to show their true colours.
Here is a photo I took but I do not think it is a good one.

Any help or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

Geoff

[Griparn]

These fishes are L-104, Panaque Maccus.

I was in LFS yesterday and they had also labeled L-104 to L-134....

[racoll]

These fish are

Panaque maccus

no doubt. A nice fish, but a quarter of the value of the

Peckoltia sp(l134)

.

The L134 are banned from import into New Zealand. The exporter should have put the L134 into a box labelled P. maccus, not the other way round

[krazyGeoff]

Thank you.

[L number Banana]

If you can still buy them as P.maccus for el-cheapo price, they're wonderful little fish Stays small, watches everything you do, well behaved towards tankmates.

[MatsP]

And given that you have both males and females in the batch (at least the one laying "tail lower left, face in the middle" is almost certainly male, based on the "hairy rear"). Obviously, only worth about half or less compared to L134.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

A much overlooked species, readily available but extremely rewarding - make sure there is some wood in the tank!

[krazyGeoff]

New Zealand is very much a sellers market, down here at the end of the world, and interestingly enough none of the importers have

Panaque Maccus

on their "lists", however I have managed to obtain 5 of these little beauties (small ones like these ones and both males and females) already but not from my regular LFS. I find them quite shy but they do live with 3 mostly full grown

Baryancistrus beggini

, one

Hypancistrus sp(L260)

and 2

Ancistrus sp(L144)

plus non bottom dwellers, in a 200 litre tank.
The

Baryancistrus beggini

will be on the move soon as I will attempt to breed these, especially with winter on its way here, I should be able to time my efforts with some nice low pressure systems which is what seems to be the common theme from the breeding reports in Germany.
As to the price of these fish, lets just say that the Panaque Macus were OVER PRICED, and the current economic climate has made the

Peckoltia comta

(that are not.....) under priced.

Either way I have enough Panaque Macus for my needs at the moment, and enough to attempt breeding when they have grown up, if I want to, so these guys will be on their way back to the LFS..

Wood...... Yes I love wood and my

Panaque sp(L204)

do too. I have more wood in my tanks than anything else, mostly, as I seem to collect little wood eaters. These temporary fish seem quite happy hanging out with a few juvenile Ancistrus sp(L144) in this tank:
Filtration: Fluval 305, 1 x AquaClear 110, Heating: 1 x 300w, Circulation: ViaAqua 480. This tank is for adjusting the fry to the conditions in the LFS. This includes lighting. 30% water change every 2nd day, Water is conditioned as per the other tanks

Dimensions: 76 x 46 x 50 cm (30 x 18 x 20")
Volume: 174.8 litres, 38.5 UK gallons or 46.2 US gallons
pH: 6.6 to 6.8
Temperature: 25.5 to 26.5°C
Running for 1 year, 5 months, 21 days

[Mod edit: Fix spelling of P. maccus --Mats]