Pseudancistrus sidereus?

[MarcW]

Hi Everyone,

I'm seriously considering setting up a tank specifically for a pair or two, of the fish in the picture below, but I would like to know what they are first. In the shop they are labeled as Pseuda. sidereus I'm assuming that is

Pseudancistrus sidereus

.

All the pictures I find online are either the same as the single one in the Cat-eLog, or showing fish that look very similar, and much lighter than the fish in my picture below, maybe the pictures online are of the fish in stress colouration? The body shape is very similar, but the fish in my picture appears to lack the extended first dorsal ray, and the extended lower caudal fin ray, the fish I'm considering purchasing look a little bulkier too. I believe the fish in the picture is a male, and I'm hopeful that I spotted a female in the tank too. This fish was approximately 160-180mm TL.

Apologies for the poor picture, one from the side would have probably been very useful, I had the problem where you get back home, then think, I should have brought those fish home with me!

Thanks for the help.

Edit: I did include a clog tag, but it doesn't seem to work so here is a link to the clog page: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/sp ... ies_id=608

[MarcW]

Although it does look a lot like the fish in figure 3, in Armbruster's re-description of P. sidereus in this document https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00628.pdf

Maybe the picture in the Cat-eLog is of a different fish?

[Jools]

So, if it’s just that ones darker and ones lighter I’d say that it’s because one fish was recently plucked from its natural habitat and one is on a black filter in a well lit tank meaning it’s go darker.

Apparently the underside of the caudal peduncle is useful in identifying this fish. From the photos, I’d suggest they both could be this species.

Jools

PS sorry, clog tags broken temporarily due to a forum software bug which will be rectified in the next version.

[MarcW]

Thanks Jools, well I have 5 of them on the way, arriving tomorrow morning , 2 males and 3 females according to the shop.

When they arrive I'll try to get several good quality pictures, including the underside of the caudal peduncle, hopefully that will clear up the ID of the fish.

No problem on the clog tags, good to know it wasn't just me messing something up!

[MarcW]

They arrived this morning , a few pictures below.

[MarcW]

All the fish appear to be fairly well covered in odontodes, I've also attached a couple pictures of the underside of the caudal peduncle to help with ID, I know I need to look for concave dorsal laminae, but I'm not sure I see anything that jumps out at me! Now I have seen the fish closely I'm fairly certain they are P. sidereus.

[MarcW]

They have been eating algae I've grown on some rocks in a clear box in the garden, the algae took weeks to grow and they polished it off in about 10 minutes, I'm going to have to step up my algae growing! In the first picture they have already eaten most of the algae!

From the shape of the fish, and size of the mouth/teeth, I'm going with them being omnivorous but with a strong tenancy towards being vegetarian, there isn't any diet information in the Cat-elog.

Teeth!

Cobbles a few minutes after introduction.

Cobbles 10 minutes later!

[Jools]

Great stuff, can I add some of these pics to the catelog? Looks like at least one pair in there.

Jools

[MarcW]

Hi Jools, sure please add any of the pictures to the catelog, I'll try to take some better pictures once they are settled.

[MarcW]

Managed to get a couple better pictures on my phone, although I had to lower the quality to upload them. The bits in the water are air bubbles, I have two powerheads in the tank, each has an airline wedged into the underside.

I'm planning on borrowing a remote flash to try and get some proper pictures when I have the time.

Two of the fish cave most of the time and three don't, I'm hoping that shows I have two males and three females!

[Jools]

Hi Mark,

This is a species we do not have a lot of pictures of. Can we use some of the pics from the above for the catelog?

Cheers,

Jools

[MarcW]

Hi Jools, sure, no problem. Hopefully within a week I'll have borrowed a remote flash so should have some much higher resolution pictures. In the meantime feel free to use any of the pictures in this thread.

[jac]

Awesome find! Great fish. I have a pair of Pseudancistrus zawadskii

Pseudancistrus sp(l259)

. (Identified by Ingo Seidel at Pier Aquatics march 2019)

Very interesting fish. You are right on their diet. I feed mine Repashy and they prefer the Soilent Green (and other vegetarian formulas) but will also eat Grub Pie (insect based).
Mine are doing great. Hoping to breed them in the future

Good luck with yours!

[Jools]

Hi Jac, Great pics as usual. If you get a shot of the your fishes underside of caudal peduncle it'd be good to compare.

Cheers,

Jools

[MarcW]

Good to hear I'm on the right lines with the diet, other than algae, they are eating the Igapo Explorer Repashy mix, I have a big tub of Soilent Green, so I'll try them on that next.

Your fish look great, I like their 'beards' although it seems mine are the only Psudancistrus which don't grow them.

[MarcW]

Hi Jools,

Managed to get a reasonable picture using a remote flash from above, its hard work taking pictures of fish in a dark tank with lots of hiding places! Once I'm sure they are well settled I might get a couple out to see if I can get some pictures of a pair. Please feel free to use this picture for the Cat-eLog if its useful.

[Jools]

Thanks Marc, that's a great shot and I've used it.


Jools

[MarcW]

No problem Jools, happy that the picture is useful, well chuffed to have it added to the Cat-eLog!

[Jools]

No problem Jools, happy that the picture is useful, well chuffed to have it added to the Cat-eLog!

It's a win-win!



Jools