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These are being sold on Aquabid as L260. They as supposed to be about a year old. Is this actually a correct ID?
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 90972#HIST

Thanks

No, it's not.

what they are, i'm not so terribly sure. but i think these might be

Imo they look very much like juvenile L260, and certainly not L401. The only other thing they could be confused with at a young age is L411, but the differences start to appear and are unmistakable when fully grown.

I'm pretty sure it's (aka L129).

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Mats

I believe they are juvenile L260s as the seller claims, but I am not an expert on Hypancistrus id. Maybe Larry can have a look at them.

Haavard,

I think, after reviewing further, that you may be right. They are 1.5" long, and look very similar to the 6 months fish that Barbie's picture in the Cat-eLog.

I think this shows how hard it is to ID fish before they are mature.

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Mats

My F1 L260 look like their parents. These fish are more likely L401 and are definitely not Hypancistrus debilittera.
One year old L260 have finer lines in about equal amounts of black and white than young L401. L401 have broader lines in their pattern. The breeder size L260 adults tend to be darker overall than when they are subadults but their lines remain the same.

L401 are still a desirable species in my opinion and are on my short list of species I want to add to my collection.

Here is a picture of one of the adults.



I have never had L401 but the parents I have look nothing like those pictures in the Cat-e-log.

The importer I got them from is very reliable and they were sold as L260.

They will be one year in December

It certainly looks like an L260 to me but I can't account for the different appearance of their fry from my L260 which look just like their parents at 10 months old and 1-1/2 inches. Even when my fry were only a few months old, they were perfect duplicates of their fine lined parents.

I have seen that many other young Hypancistrus have different looking patterns when they are young but they eventually end up looking like their parents but L260, like H. zebra fry, seem to develop the pattern typical for their species very early on.
My L333 young do not have as intricate patterns of their parents when they are young but as they grow older they begin to look like their parents.
Peckoltia sp L134 juveniles are all evenly banded but as they get older each fish develops a unique pattern of stripes and spots; no two ever look exactly the same as they mature.

I had 12 wild l401 which I never thought looked very much like those in the Cat-elog but I have been told they were indeed, L401's.

MatsP wrote:Haavard,

I think, after reviewing further, that you may be right. They are 1.5" long, and look very similar to the 6 months fish that Barbie's picture in the Cat-eLog.

I think this shows how hard it is to ID fish before they are mature.

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Mats

I don't know. As said above, they have a very similar pattern to Barbies fry pics. I have kept L260 for many years before acquiring this group and they sure all look like L260. I have only had one pair spawn so far and I have no other spawns from other pairs to compare to.

Trent,

One of my L260 males is also one I got from Barbie. I thought I was long on females and short on males at the time but I actually ended up with 3 pairs. I have only had 3 spawns beginning last November of '08. Many of one new spawn were lost due to making too large and too cool of a RO water change but I do have 20, 1-1/2 inch F1 L260. The older fry were not bothered by that water change.
So far, mine have only bred during the winter so I am hoping mine resume spawning again soon. Only the fry a month old appeared much different from their parents but within another month or so they all looked like the adults.
I recently moved my breeding group of L260 to a 20 long to make their former 29H available for one of my wild Alenquer Discus pairs but then I bought the Zebras and put them in the 29H for now. Eventually, I will also remove the Zebras to a different tank so I can get back to my wild Discus breeding projects. The Zebras don't need that much room so they will also be moved to a 20 long. I will have 2 pairs of these Discus set up then. I have a 3rd pair which will be left in their 125 gal "home' tank for the foreseeable future.

Thanks, everyone!

My initial reaction was that these guys are not L260, but, I don't feel qualified to make that call. I have an L260 that I bought a while back at 1.75" that pretty much had its adult coloration, similar to apistomaster's experience. However, I hesitated with even this slight size difference and the fact the fish I bought was wild possibly affecting it's growth pattern. Other than pattern, what other aspects can help ID these little guys?

Thank you,
Jen

these are definitely 260.

I would say those are L260s. They look just like mine and mine are about 1.25". Here is a picture of one of the wild caught parents:

photo taken by silversurfer.

One of the reasons I think they are L260s is that the breeder says so. Usually breeders are honest about species if they have the knowledge to id the parents. Juveniles of different striped Hypancistrus are quite similar. As stated previously I have no reason to be sure. From the pictures it could also be juveniles of L401 or 411. They are very much like my young L260s in pattern. That is assuming my juvenile L260s are real L260s. Until my fish are bigger and I can decide for myself my assumption is that the breeder gave me the right name.

Haavard Stoere wrote:One of the reasons I think they are L260s is that the breeder says so. Usually breeders are honest about species if they have the knowledge to id the parents. Juveniles of different striped Hypancistrus are quite similar. As stated previously I have no reason to be sure. From the pictures it could also be juveniles of L401 or 411. They are very much like my young L260s in pattern. That is assuming my juvenile L260s are real L260s. Until my fish are bigger and I can decide for myself my assumption is that the breeder gave me the right name.

Thank you! Somehow I went from selling fish to defending my name and credibility.

Here is the best pic I could get of dad. Mom is hiding amongst many rocks and could not get a pic.

They are L260 and just are showing some off the range of appearance young specimens can show.
I don't have so many different breeders nor spawns to say much other than how my experience with the color patterns of my few fry manifested. L260 have not been my most productive species so far.
Presently, I have my F1 L260 split between 2 tanks of young L134. Bringing all my F1 L260 together is one of this week's projects.
Maybe I will take some photos for the sake of comparison and post them later this week.

I never doubted your credibility. The range of all possible variations which are "normal" among many of the Brazilian Hypancistrus species is still far from being common knowledge among the community of breeders but merely a work in progress. Think more like that you have added more food for thought for us all.

I sure hope they are 260's, as I have some from Trent. I can't be one to say from experience whether they are or not, but they do look very much like 260's.

Very nice specimens. I also agree that they are L260.

And judging by the price they fetched I am so glad that I don't live in the US.

Here is a pic of one of my juveniles (not a juvie anymore) that I also got from Barbie (years ago)... Some of the fry that were bred from my L260 looked like the picture in the auction. Their patterns are very variable, but undeniable.