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Quick trip to the Rio Aripuanã, Rio Madeira drainage, Amazonas, Brazil. Just loricariids this time I'm afraid.



A floating bar: the habitat of the Panaqolus and Ancistrus.

(juv.)
(juv.)

with yellow caudal (rocks).
Habitat of the Ancistrus and Hypancistrus.
Plain (wood).

Hemiancistrus (juv.)

Habitat of Hemiancistrus and Hypostomus.

Habitat of Spatuloricaria, Rineloricaria, Parotocinclus.
Dekeyseria

Couple I forgot.

Habitat of Panaque, Peckoltia, Hypancistrus, Lasiancistrus, Squaliforma.
Peckoltia from small tributary river.
Habitat of Hemiancistrus.

Thanks for posting the great pics!

Is the Rio Aripuana relatively new to fish collecting? I got some Geophagus sp. Aripuana from there a couple of months ago (tank raised from Wetspot) and I had never heard of that location before. The pictures of the adults were breathtaking so I had to have some!

Andy

Is the Rio Aripuana relatively new to fish collecting?

The DATZ L numbers from there were published in 1991, so we have known about these fishes for a while, but as far as I know, there are no significant collections of ornamental species made these days.

Great pics, especially great to see new pictures of L 297, which has only been photographed/published once before.

especially great to see new pictures of L 297, which has only been photographed/published once before.

Yes! It really was that orange in the morning sun. No photoshop tricks ...

Superb photos again, thanks for sharing with us! You didnt't fid any BARyancistrus underneath the floating establishment by any chance?

Fantastic as always! Can you tell what size the specimens of Hypancistrus in the pictures are? How many did you collect?

Haakon

You didnt't fid any BARyancistrus

Haha

Thanks for sharing the pictures and info, Rupert.

Did you find any other Panaque armbrusteri on your visit? I haven't read about them being in the Rio Madeira basin before.

Did you find any other Panaque armbrusteri on your visit?

Just the one I'm afraid. Did see a couple of others but they escaped.

I haven't read about them being in the Rio Madeira basin before.

Me neither. I'm hoping that it's a new distribution record for the species/genus.

Narwhal72 wrote: I got some Geophagus sp. Aripuana from there a couple of months ago ... and I had never heard of that location before.

They could be this newly described species - Geophagus mirabilis.

racoll wrote: I'm hoping that it's a new distribution record for the species/genus.

I think so, although I'm hardly qualified to make that judgement. We know that , or something very similar, has spread to the East of it's Tapajos drainage (Xingu, Araguaia/Tocantins), so maybe it's gone a bit more West as well. It's exciting for me to know there are more populations out there to discover, especially as I used to think more black and white about their distribution.

[Edit] Did you collect this guy above or below the 'Dardanelos' waterfall?

If you weren't already aware of it, the paper linked above talks a bit about the (lack of) species known from the Rio Aripuana.