PlanetCatfish.com

Sold as Golden Marble Bristlenose, Ancistrus claro LDA08
Is it??
25mm Juvi

These are Ancistrus claro juveniles, they start out with more of a reticulated pattern than the photo above.

Birger

Looks like a common & not a claro

Hi,

the pattern is quite variable, this is Ancistrus claro with approximately the same size:


The most decisive difference in my eyes is the mouth which is Chaetostoma like in A. claro, i.e. much wider than in most other Ancistrus.

But I agree that it looks more like the common bristlenose but I think with the fotos it's difficult to rule out A. claro for sure.

Cheers,

Hi

I have a similar young plec, its about 2 inches long and i bought from pets at home they sold this as a gibby

i was wondering if it is the same kind as the one you mentioned but if it aint can you tell me the name and L number

Thanks

@med90

The same guy in Sydney sold me a Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps. he's only an inch long.
What I immediately noticed was the long, almost outsized fins, like little veils. Much longer fins than the alleged LDA08. He's a bit darker and more reclusive as well.
The fins look much longer than the cat in your pics.
But, I'm an ex characin guy, these cats are all very new to me.
Juvi Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps pictured.

AFAIK the distinguishing character for is the vermiculations (squiggly lines) on the face, and on old pictures I've seen it's as obvious they're not commons as in the Cat-elog photo. The claro I've seen sold in the last year or so are nearly indistinguishable from commons, with just a hint of squiggles and looking much like the OP's fish, but on the other hand maybe the old photos were of particularly striking individuals.
Has someone here seen wild claro and can say what they normally look like?

Roll on the day we have a 10 second DNA test kit from Sera / Tetra et al

Mate, can you post some more pics of the "Gibby" that looks like a longfin bn to me, and if it is a long fin go back and get your money back!

My f1 Claro look typical of the squiggly-line on head photos in cat-e-log (when 1" plus)

Crap! Now I have two unidentified misidentified fish.
Either these dealers have no clue or don't care.
I can find no ref here for longfin or "long fin"
Personally I quite like both fish, but I prefer correct ID so as to know how big they get and any gotchas.
I may as well close this account because I have no certainty of any cats now, even the Sterbais may be suspect.
Should keep guppies!

Maybe I should explain my doubts...

A couple of years ago I bought this nicely colored common ancistrus male:
At the time there was some speculation here on PC that my original male was a claro x common hybrid.

He never grew very big, maybe 7 cm, but was a devoted & successful father and I got a lot of offspring from him & my older common females. All of the offspring looked like regular commons. I got curious and bred a couple of his offspring to each other. Fry survival was poor, most offspring looked normal, but I did get this (fish is probably about 3 cm TL):
To be honest a lot of the claro sold now to me look a lot like the offspring in the two last pictures, which is definitely either a hybrid or a sport of common ancistrus.

Standard disclaimer: I'm not in any way, shape or form an expert on Ancistrus, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a confirmed Ancistrus claro.

I've was told my cat is a gold marble. A claro one would think.
I've now been told it's cross between a gold BN and a Marble BN thus gold marble...
(cough)

That leaves the all new Long finned Gibby explaination.
Can't wait.

Your long fin is ancistrus cirrosus (that is slept wrong) also known as common long fin bristle nose

Mike_Noren wrote:AFAIK the distinguishing character for

Ancistrus claro

is the vermiculations (squiggly lines) on the face, and on old pictures I've seen it's as obvious they're not commons as in the Cat-elog photo. The claro I've seen sold in the last year or so are nearly indistinguishable from commons, with just a hint of squiggles and looking much like the OP's fish, but on the other hand maybe the old photos were of particularly striking individuals.
Has someone here seen wild claro and can say what they normally look like?

There has always been some variation in the spots and reticulated pattern, even in wild fish. However, I do have to agree it's becoming less common to find fish with a good pattern. Having said that, mouth shape will always be the easiest defining character of this species.

This thread is a perfect example of what can go wrong and cause hybridization. A hobbyist with quite a bit of experience outside the catfish world buys a fish labeled as "gold marble" because the seller wants to make more money by giving his commons a fancier name. The assumption becomes it's LDA08/Ancistrus claro because of the common name. If the hobbyist later decides to add more to the tank and actually gets A. claro, the odds of hybridizing goes up exponentially.

I currently have fry from an accidental cross in one of my grow-out tanks of a blue eye gold and a super red. For the most part, they look like commons. However, a couple of them did inherit the red color in what would normally be the white edging of the fins. Off the top of my head, red seam bristlenose and red fin leopard pleco would both be descriptive names for the strain. It still doesn't make it L59 or L114 and ethics alone says I wouldn't use either if I were to decide to continue the strain.

I don't mean to take this thread off topic, but I sincerely believe the "gold rush" mentality of a lot of breeders has created a nightmare for anyone actually trying to keep catfish as a hobby. I'm not a fan of common names, but do use L numbers quite frequently. However, this thread clearly illustrates the "ethical flexibility" some sellers are willing to go to just to sell a fish.

I'm sorry to say that your "gibby" is a Long fin common Ancistrus. Given the price potential of plecos in Australia, I would say return the fish and buy from a reputable seller. You should be able to get a very nice one at a much more reasonable price than what a gibbiceps would cost. As an added bonus, this obviously "less than reputable" seller doesn't get to profit by attempting to pass off cheap fish as uncommon/rare.

Once again, I apologize for the rant, but this is one of the things I see happening all to often in the hobby that has became a major annoyance.

Larry

nvcichlids wrote:Your long fin is ancistrus cirrosus (that is slept wrong) also known as common long fin bristle nose

veitail pic