Fishes near Iquitos

[bekateen]

This summer I have the great pleasure of working near Iquitos, Peru at the Amazon Research Station for Ornamental Fishes.

I've had one fishing expedition so far, that being along creeks of the Rio Itaya. Here's some of what we found:

[bekateen]

More examples:

[Jools]

Look great, do you have IDs for all of them? I see 4 (assuming 2 spp. of Ancistrus) that I am not sure of.

Jools

[stuby]

Very nice! Not sure on the first Ancistrus but second one looks like a L349 to me??

Take care,
Chuck

[bekateen]

Look great, do you have IDs for all of them? I see 4 (assuming 2 spp. of Ancistrus) that I am not sure of.

Jools

Sorry, was in a rush last night. Went back and edited post to add names. Yes definitely 2 spp. of Ancistrus. The one that looks more like a common had a slightly more defined color pattern than I would see in an adult "common bn" from a pet store, and it has a weak red/ brown overall tint. I have no clue which species it is yet because I haven't investigated what BNs live here yet.

Very nice! Not sure on the first Ancistrus but second one looks like a L349 to me??

Take care,
Chuck

My thought also, yes. But I'm not 100% sure.

[Jools]

Maybe Hypoptopoma sp(2) too?

Jools

[bekateen]

Maybe Hypoptopoma sp(2) too?

Jools

I don't know. @The.Dark.One suggested to me maybe Leptotocinclus.

This fish certainly needs a closer look.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

As for the more "common" looking Ancistrus above, I see on GBIF.org that the only identified species they have on record in the immediate vicinity of Iquitos are Ancistrus malacops and Ancistrus hoplogenys. A. malacops was described from the Rio Ampyacu. I have little idea what it should look like, but if my fish is a described species, then maybe it's A. malacops. It certainly isn't A. hoplogenys.

Also described from the Rio Ampyacu are Ancistrus sericeus and Ancistrus variolus.

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

Met today with a couple of local fishermen who had just come back in from fishing the Nanay along Iquitos. From that catch I got four tiny Microglanis which superficially resemble the Microglanis I purchased two days ago and three more Batrochoglanis, apparently belonging to two species.

Here's one of the four Microglanis:

Microglanis

Microglanis

Here are the four Batrochoglanis (3 speckled on right, the tiny black fish to left):

Batrochoglanis

Speckled Batrochoglanis cf. villosus

Speckled Batrochoglanis cf. villosus

Black Batrochoglanis cf. raininus

The smallest of the Batrochoglanis resembles Batrochoglanis raninus and the larger has been collected in this area by Mark Sabaj, who ID'd it as Batrochoglanis villosus. But Iquitos being so far from type locality of both of these, is it really plausible that these are the same species as true B. raninus and B. villosus? I know both are considered "widespread," but I would suspect they are species groups rather than two species. I'm looking now for any recent genetic workup on these species using geographically distinct populations.

I've also been told by @The.Dark.One that Peruvian "raninus" do not approach the max SL that Coastal Brazilian forms reach...

Are these both undescribed species? Or any info on size differences between Peruvian populations vs. Expected for typical specimens from their respective type localities? Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Eric

[Viktor Jarikov]

@Yellowcat Kirk, you'd be interested in seeing these Pseudopims, maybe help with ID.

[bekateen]

More of the same while fishing another creek along the Itaya.

More Pariolius armillatus, another Heptapterid (Phenacorhamdia?), two more Rineloricaria lanceolata, two Otocinclus (can anyone ID these? My best guess is Otocinclus batmani), plus a couple of Anguilla, knife fish and tetras. Best part of this was the large size (95mm SL) of the female Rineloricaria lanceolata caught by Edgard Leonardo Davila Panduro. He also caught some much larger (up to 36mm SL) Pariolius armillatus here, along with a few small characids that looked a little like color mimics of the Pariolius. Behaviorally, these little fish also tried to dig in the photo tank, much like the Pariolius, which prefer to hide along clay and sand shores among the leaf litter. I wonder if the tetras do the same.

We also caught tiny (I'd guess just past yolk stage) Ancistrus sp. and a very small 1") Farlowella.

... still no Microglanis caught by us though, and no more wood cats.

Cheers, Eric

[lfinley58]

Hi Eric,
Looks like you are having a wonderful fish-time!

I haven't pulled out the paper as of yet but the caudal pattern on the first Otocinclus certainly brings to mind the species O. batmani.

Lee

[bekateen]

Hi Lee,

Thanks, yes. O. batmani is my first guess too.

Cheers, Eric

[yellowcat]

I noted with great interest the batrochglanis specimens found in Iquitos from the Rio Nanay. Having kept several species of pseudopimelodus and batrochoglanis that came from Peru, many shown in the Cat-eLog and of the focus of my collection of South American species. The batrochoglanis cf. villosus shown, although juvenile specimens, are very similar to my most recent aquisition of what seems to be an adult specimen @ 9" TL. Notable is the speckled one that by virtue of markings closely resembles the pattern found on some b. transmontanus from Colombia in the past. My fish has dark spotting too but hard to see as it's hard to see the spots as it's on an almost black background to begin with. When I received the fish the colouration was basically black with almost white markings and has since changed to brown with pale yellow marking. It's not news that colouration and markings are a much less important means to I.D. than other morphological differences. Photo's showing color changes:
Due to my keen interest in these species I recently made contact with Dr. Oscar Shibatta via e-mail and sent many of my photos of pseudopimolodidae and batrochoglanis specifically including my newer fish shown above. For perhaps obvious reasons I declined to ask him to identify any fish which would seem presumptive on my part to ask of the most authoritative scientist on these species. He did find of interest my observations on their ethology or behaviors as he doesn't keep fish in aquariums as his focus is on taxonomy. I proposed the theory that there may be undescribed species of batrochoglanis that may exist in the Peru and he replied: "I agree with your assumption that there still are new species in the Peruvian Amazon. Still due to the rarity of the species, it isn't easy to get representative samples to describe them. The development of molecular analyses has aided in this task but morphological analysis will always be necessary for taxonomical work." Certainly finding any imported specimens here in the U.S. is nearly impossible, quite rare, sometimes taking years to find just one. I bought a new 50G aquarium just because I found the one for sale! So Eric, bring some back, if I had room for more (they must be kept alone, hating conspecifics) I'd walk from L.A. to Stockton to get more! Unique too, is that my latest one, compared to past versions of b. cf. villosus that were strictly piscivorous, this one eats most anything offered, aside from it's morphology is slightly different in some subtle ways, possibly due to undetermined sexual dimorphism of past specimens. It seems likely that many species of Peruvian fish imported here may have originated from Iquitos and rivers in the region. The arrangement of my photos not what was intended, oh well..

[bekateen]

So Eric, bring some back, if I had room for more (they must be kept alone, hating conspecifics) I'd walk from L.A. to Stockton to get more!

They have to be kept alone?!? Crap! I wanted to set up a breeding group of these three fish (or more if I got them)!

@yellowcat, I am torn. If they are a new species worthy of description, then having only 3 specimens would likely get them thrown in formalin. That said, they are juveniles and maybe they need to grow out. Seriously, I would like to catch more, and if they are undescribed then work with some expert to help describe them. Joking aside, I was contemplating keeping a few together, but your experience tells me that's a bad idea.

I'll keep this thread informed if I have updates.

Cheers, Eric

[yellowcat]

Hey Eric, It has been my experience with cephalosilirus that they will not coexist peacefully with any congener of pseudopimelodidae and adult batrochoglanis will not tolerate conspecifics. My first question to my supplier as he had 2 specimens was are they in the same tank? His reply was yes but with a divider and even then they were trying to get at each other! Generally batrochoglanis can be kept with other fish species and other catfish species without issues other than their piscivorous appetite, just not their own kind.There are exceptions with juveniles of these species as they will co-exist without problems for a time (the case with 3 juvenile b. transmontanus) but later will likely become territorial and develop a hierarchy leading to potential aggression? I too thought it would be great to have a male and female, more to note their morphological differences (assuming with 2 to choose from that would be so) as I was willing to buy both, ex$pensive as they are but because they are so very rare. To be the first on the planet to breed them in captivity would be an amazing feat of course, well beyond my capabilities and lack of expertise for sure. That said, another problem would be that they are rather slow growing, a few years from juvenile to adult and unknown size for sexual maturity. I would think that one could forestall potential aggression among juveniles if they cohabit in a large enough tank with enough individual hiding spots like driftwood shady spots and the like, as I've found works with some other catfish species. Being so rare and possibly unidentified it would nice to at least bring back and study a few of them in captivity as long as possible. My experiences with these fishes is admittedly rather limited, all considered, more needs to be learned about them from scientific sources as well as those who enjoy keeping the rarest of species. I realize that as a scientist you have priorities and protocols and can't keep or bring back some of the amazing specimens you discover in the field as much as I assume you would like to...

[bekateen]

@yellowcat, thanks for the additional perspective. I plan to ship the Batrochoglanis home, but they won't be shipped till Sept 7. I have until then to figure out what I'll do with them.

Cheers, Eric

[yellowcat]

Great, I applaud your decision! To me it would be such a shame for those little beauties to end up in formalin. I've noticed the you sell your amazing list of captive bred pleco's and Cory's. Should you at some point consider selling the batrochoglanis', there is a market for them with commensurate prices due to their obscurity and rarity I can assure you. I for one have gone to great lengths to acquire rare fish, contacting importers and wholesalers convincing them to sell to my LFS and paying for a batch of fish and shipping at my own risk and in the end, turned out to be well worth the effort. Should any ever become available in the future, kindly keep me in mind...
In the meantime enjoy your time in Iquitos. I was previously acquainted with an ichthyologist whose speciality is stingrays, he had great stories about times spent in Iquitos... Cheers, Kirk

[bekateen]

Thank you, I sure will.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Yesterday afternoon was another fishing opportunity. This time we were in a shallow tributary of the Nanay (vs. our previous trips along the Itaya). We caught a LOT of Loricariinae, one massive Ancistrus (SL about 12.5cm) male and two medium-sized (about 10cm or more SL) Tetranematichthys (sadly, I think they're both female)! Plus four doradids (hopefully Amblydoras, possibly Amblydoras nauticus?), and a tiny banjo catfish, about 1-2cm long.

Among our catch, about a dozen Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus, about an equal number of huge Farlowella platorhynchus, about 6 Rineloricaria, which superficially resemble Rineloricaria eigenmanni but I showed them to Norman Behr and he says no way... he thinks undescribed species..., about a half dozen medium-large hypoptopomatines, and a single fish that looks like a small Limatulichthys griseus (but sadly, that died overnight).

Still no Microglanis.

Cheers, Eric