otocinclus help

patrickstockton · Post by **patrickstockton** » 23 Jun 2004, 22:56

i bought a couple of each of what my LFS calls otocinlus niger, and otocinclus arnoldi (regular oto, it said). are these correct names. She thought that maybe the niger had a new classification taking it out of the otocinclus family but the name "oto" just stuck. any clues on my fish?

Post by **Silurus** » 24 Jun 2004, 03:02

Otocinclus niger is the trade name for Hisonotus leucofrenatus.

patrickstockton · Post by **patrickstockton** » 24 Jun 2004, 04:03

thanks. what about the arnoldi?

Post by **Silurus** » 24 Jun 2004, 04:27

Otocinclus arnoldi is actually a junior synonym of O. flexilis (which is not your regular oto), but the name is often misapplied to any one of the striped Otocinclus species (usually O. vittatus).

patrickstockton · Post by **patrickstockton** » 06 Jul 2004, 22:20

thanks alot silurus! are these two not in the cat-e-log? by the two i mean, hisontus leucofrenatus and otocinclus flexilis... and to expose my ignorance.... what is a "junior synonym" of a species? I'll try to snap some pics today. thanks.

Post by **Silurus** » 06 Jul 2004, 23:15

The two are not in the Cat-eLog because Jools either has no picture of them (maybe you'd like to contribute?), or has the pics but has not had the time to put them up.

For a definition of a junior synonym, read this.

Post by **Barbie** » 07 Jul 2004, 06:17

Oops, I have O. flexillis, so I'll try to get some pics for him. I shot a few terrible ones when I first brought them home, but they seem to be a bit reflective and in the bright light of my planted tank they had quite a bit of glare. I'll put it on my list of things to remember

Barbie

patrickstockton · Post by **patrickstockton** » 08 Jul 2004, 01:33

i'd be more than happy to contribute. what's the best method of getting them to the correct person. i took some ok pics of both yesterday and will get good ones tonight with better camera.

Post by **Silurus** » 08 Jul 2004, 01:57

Just email them to Jools. But remember, he has plenty of pics of the striped otos (which are not easy to identify accurately from photographs anyway). The Hisonotus will be a more valuable contribution, I feel.