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Hoplo and co?

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 07:51
by francoisMtl
Hi,
I will need some help for identification.
Since a while, I have got 5 Callichthys callichthys, an import from Colombia (species 1). But they do not look like it and I wonder if they could be Hoplosternum of some kind: with its dot pattern most likely than .
More recently, I acquire 9 Hoplosternum littorale (species 2) but those ones look more like some Megalechis possibly because of the white margin followed by darker band on caudal fin, for few of them the darker band maybe not obvious but the clear/white banding is.
The same day I got three Dianema longibarbis (species 3) which look like .!!
From the caudal fin shape, none of the three species would look like Callichthys or Lepthoplosternum.

Here are some picture for some help in identification:
Species 1
Chal0379.JPG
Chal0382.JPG
Chal0449.JPG
Species 2
Megal0510.JPG
Species 3
Diane0486.JPG

Re: Hoplo and co?

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 08:08
by Bas Pels
Hoplosternum has a forked tailfin, and looking at the pictures, I think your fishes have a forked fin. As far as I know, no other Callichtidea has such a fin.

As H littorale has a large distribution, I would not look too closely at any dot pattern. However, if the fishes reach 10 cm or more, they must be H littorale - and lookling at the ichtres, I would assume they are around this size.

The second does look like Mechalichthys to me, and the third Dianema indeed. I myself would not be surprized if Dianema would turn out to contain more than the 2 species we currently know. Just as a split of Hoplosternum littorale would not surprize me

Re: Hoplo and co?

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 11:13
by Jools
Two is Megalechis picta. Can we see a closeup of the dorsal fin on species 3?

Re: Hoplo and co?

Posted: 24 Nov 2016, 08:23
by francoisMtl
Thanks to both of you!
I was thinking first one will not be H.littorale because they send it as Callichthys, priced it as Callichthys and on the same listing they were having H.littorale... Anyway they do the same kind of funny things with their corydoras. [-(
The two largest of the first species are just above 10-11cm (4").
The largest ones of the second species are 8cm (>3").
The third species tops to 11-12cm (4"1/2), they have rather big eyes compare to the over two first species (hoplosternum and Megalechis).
Here are pictures of the dorsale fin of two of them (the last one has some fin issues and is been treated):
DianeS528.JPG
DianeL525.JPG
DianeL525.JPG (122.86 KiB) Viewed 1153 times

Re: Hoplo and co?

Posted: 27 Nov 2016, 02:32
by francoisMtl
Some more picture of what is suppose to be Dianema longibarbis.
Note: all the sizes mention above in previous texts are total length. So it will fit with been 10cm sl.
Dorsal fin of the largest one
DianeL0547.JPG
Pectoral shields of the largest one
DianeL0545.JPG
Pectoral shields of the smallest one
DianeS0549.JPG
View of two of the Hoplosternum littorale
Hoplo0544.JPG
It is not easy as I do not have to compare with my as they are both compare in description pages.
On a side note, link marked "here" in the Dianema description are not working from my computer.
I would still say that p[ectorale shield are juxtaposed, and dorsal fin has more of a triangular shape with soft rays decreasing in size versus Hoplo that would be a little more roundish... with dorsal fin spine maybe smaller and first soft ray smaller than the second one (in dianema first soft ray would be same size to longer than second one, making and overall triangular shape). Caudale fin may be more deeply fork in Dianema, more pointy, and clear of any dark mark.
All together, I would think these Dianema longibarbis are Dianema longibarbis.
What do you think?