PlanetCatfish.com

So I thought both were domestics, I got from separate sources at different times. Both from local owners, not from stores. Just generically called bristlenose plecos, so I assumed the usual cf cirrhosis as is usually the case.

Comparing them to one another, the male is massive in size compared to the small female, and his fins are spotted instead of striped like the females are. Both have spots on belly, but the dorsal spots on the male are very small, fine spots.

Thoughts? Do domestic cf. Cirrhosis vary in markings?

Photos of them, including the size of the male, he is easily pushing 5-6"SL

Both are well over 2 years old or more.

Male looks typical. Check your female against A. triradiatus.
-Shane

Shane wrote: ↑12 Dec 2023, 11:51 Male looks typical. Check your female against A. triradiatus.
-Shane

See how well I can identify ancistrus, I thought the female was the normal one haha...

Ya know, size wise that'd make sense. She's a little lady. I just figured she was just small lol


However, her spots are rather bold for triradiatus, no? These are present on dark wood or light sand, shes always got bright white spots

"However, her spots are rather bold for triradiatus, no? These are present on dark wood or light sand, shes always got bright white spots"

You can tell best as you can see the actual live fish. They have bred so many mutant "common bristle noses" now that color\pattern alone my not be enough to go on. Are all the fin ray counts the same on both fish?
-Shane

Shane wrote: ↑12 Dec 2023, 14:17 "However, her spots are rather bold for triradiatus, no? These are present on dark wood or light sand, shes always got bright white spots"

You can tell best as you can see the actual live fish. They have bred so many mutant "common bristle noses" now that color\pattern alone my not be enough to go on. Are all the fin ray counts the same on both fish?
-Shane

Female counts at 16 caudal rays, but I can't count on the male, he hides a lot and I never thought to get a tail open pic when I got him.

Dorsal rays female has 8
Male might have more than 8, but I'm still searching older photos to see if I can get a better count.

Female with fully opened fins, photo was taken last year

Oh, but I do have a for sure domestic I can also reference for dorsal count, which he has more dorsal fin rays than the female here does, if that helps.

That domestic male looks to have 10+ dorsal rays.

Which going back to triradiatus page, counting dorsal and caudal rays on the pictures there, the female lines up with the exact same count as those fish as well.