$25 are almost certainly just 1" individuals. There are some on Aquabid around that size.

I think a 5" one usually fetch $50-60 on Aquabid. LFS's do tend to mark-up though, I saw one about $70 a few years ago. What you saw is way too much...

I think you might actually have ...

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My guide when I was young was an old edition (1992?) of Axelrod's Exotic Tropical Fish. Back then there were profiles for each and every species pictured. The book has the approximate dimensions of a brick. The taxonomy is out of date, leading to interesting things like Ancistrus being at the beginn...

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At least one of my Baryancistrus beggini does this, always freaks me out when I see it...

I think what you've got are...

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If I recall correctly (which I quite possibly am not), Xingu fishes normally pick up in the fall.

They're still way too small to sex.

Looks like , or perhaps .

I think this is a , but I have some difficulty with these guys.

BTW, snowball pleco is used on more than multiple species of plecos that are black with white spots, so is not a particularly useful name. Yours looks like a to me, if I had to guess...

Paper link: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03641p370.pdf Trans-Andean Ancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) DONALD C. TAPHORN, JONATHAN W. ARMBRUSTER, FRANCISCO VILLA-NAVARRO & C. KEITH RAY Abstract We review the trans-Andean species of Ancistrus from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. Ba...

Feed as much as gets eaten in about a day; if you're seeing food left over, then you're feeding too much. My Jose (L001) is now 10 inches TL. As a starting point, would a 1/2-inch cube be about right? I don't want to risk over-feeding, I really love this fish! Thanks! I usually do slices but my gue...

Feed as much as gets eaten in about a day; if you're seeing food left over, then you're feeding too much.

Well that must be annoying...

I haven’t read any studies on the anatomy and physiology of the eye or, to be more specific, the cones and rods. This is because I had no purpose to do so as of yet, I’m a brain guy. Could you post some articles on this, I’m very interested now since we’re discussing it. There's quite a lot out the...

stuby wrote:I have tried black, black/white, and brown/white granite caves and have had them breed in all colors but seems they like lighter colors more than darker (black).

Interesting, that's not what I would've expected...

In a recent study, it's been shown that Hypancistrus zebra prefer rock and clay over plastic PVC. However, it's not noted what color the PVC is, and I suspect that color of the structure has some effect. colour may not be an issue. zebras live in deep waters so unless the caves are red in colour I ...

In a recent study, it's been shown that Hypancistrus zebra prefer rock and clay over plastic PVC. However, it's not noted what color the PVC is, and I suspect that color of the structure has some effect.

Wikipedia has this citation:

Sabaj Pérez, M.H. & Birindelli, J.L.O. (2013): Hassar shewellkeimi, a new species of thorny catfish (Siluriformes: Doradidae) from the upper Tapajós basin, Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 162: 133-156.

I realize zebras are not in the same genus and are known carnivores – but because of their close proximity, I would like to know what same families eat. I could potentially see a pattern, if there’s none, then great! As far as both of us, I believe that’s the main difference, I would like to dabble...

It seems like it'd be possible, but I don't see why you would do it this way. Which way would you consider? Without direct observation or gut content analysis, that leaves us mostly with stable isotope analysis. Stable isotopes are a far more convenient proxy for diet than gene expression levels. I...

Unless you have access via an institutional membership etc., the only way to see it is to pay. There is no abstract for the piece so I have no idea what it might be about beyond the title. Given the conditions where these fish live in the wild and the extreme difficulty of trying to observe them th...

Suckermouth: about genomics, dietary chemicals have been shown to alter gene expression, so they have the potential to be metabolized through primary or secondary pathways and altering concentrations of essential nutritional factors in tissues such as osseous or musculature. Exogenous nutrients can...

I honestly thought this was an April Fool's joke.

if you already know everything you need to know, why are you asking questions I'm versed in biology but I would not go as far as to say I know everything. That is the reason why I would like to get more information based on experimentation and experiences from members with substances that most clos...

You appear to have already posted a link to the paper I was referencing, but you can get it direct from the source here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/124

As mentioned in the paper, gut content analysis can be difficult in loricariid catfishes.

I'll just add that what's been found from stable isotope analysis is that Baryancistrus likely have similar nitrogen- and carbon-isotope ratios as Ancistrus, Chaetostoma, Lasiancistrus, and Dekeyseria, suggesting more or less algivory, perhaps with a little nitrogen-enrichment in detritus or a littl...

Richard B wrote:High oxygenation is very important at increased temperatures as the higher temps generally have less oxygen in the water

Not only is there a generality or correlation, higher temperature causes decreased gas solubility. I have bubblers on all my loricariid tanks, and powerheads on most of them.

Phylogenetic relationships and molecular dating of the major groups of catfishes of the Neotropical superfamily Pimelodoidea (Teleostei, Siluriformes) John P. Sullivan, Janice Muriel-Cunha, and John G. Lundberg Abstract: We present a molecular phylogenetic study of the major lineages of the Pimelodo...