Inconsistency in temprature info of Upper Rio Orinoco plecos

[Kostas]

Hi!

I have noticed that the Catelog lists different tempratures as good for keeping different sp. of plecos that however share the same parts of Upper Orinoco...Lets take for example the Upper Orinoco fishes below and the tempratures listed on the Catelog:

L239

23.0-26.0°C

Baryancistrus demantoides

24.0-27.0°C

Hemiancistrus subviridis

22.0-25.0°C

Hypancistrus furunculus

23.0-26.0°C

Leporacanthicus cf_galaxias(l240)

28.0-31.0°C

Leporacanthicus triactis

24.0-27.0°C

It is seen from these fishes that there are big differences in listed temprature requirements between them while they all share the same biotope...For example, L240 and L91(L. triactis) share the exact same biotope and their temprature range doesnt match at all...I know that all this is from submitted info and the reason L240 has such high tempratures listed is most probably because Christoffer spawned them at that temprature...So,i would like to suggest if we could search a bit more on the subject and find whats the true temprature range of that part of the river and put that temprature range as ideal for all these fishes
So,what do you think?

Thank you very much in advance!

[MatsP]

I noticed that too when I was looking at "fishes with no recorded temperature" [and it applies to many other bodies of water too].

I'm not entirely sure what to do about the situation - most temperature data comes from books (such as Baensch/Mergus Aquarium atlas, Mergus Catfish Atlas), or reputable web-sites such as www.fishbase.org.
The overall (not limiting the search to Loricariidae) temperature range of "Upper Orinoco" with no tributaries, is min:18-28 and max:22-31 - that's a wide spread. The 18-22 degress for Leptodoras linelli is consistent with fishbase - and I suspect this fish is far too widespread in South America to have such a low and limited temperature.

Not really sure how to "fix" this problem - if anyone KNOWS of any good source that DIFFERS from the Cat-eLog, I'm happy to update the relevant data.

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Mats

[Birger]

I think some of the temperature difference depends on where it was collected in the particular river, side arm or main channel and the time of year can affect results as well so if a fish was collected and temp. recorded in a side arm in the hottest time of the year of course it will be different than a sample taken during the rainy season in the main channel.
I do not really think there is a fix for this as there are many things that can affect the temperature.
Birger

[MatsP]

Yes, and of course a tributary that is fast flowing down from the top of a mountain will have a lower temperature than the main river, and may well contain a different set of fishes. So we will probably have to accept some variation, but I still think the range is a bit too wide to feel really happy about it.

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Mats

[Birger]

This is just an example but maybe there is something around like this http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/2036 that has a detailed database on the rivers of the world that may not be specifically fish orientated, is there anyone knows of such a thing...

Birger

[MatsP]

Can you post a link to the actual database page?
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Mats

[Jools]

There's a conceptual point here as well. Is the cat-elog data trying to...

a) Define water parameters in the wild
b) Define acceptable aquarium conditions

I think it is the latter (actually, I want it to be the latter) and so I'd suggest the former data should be recorded against the body of water data only and displayed as such. This is mainly because a body of water is a changing thing either daily, seasonally or even tidally. Our core "mission" is to provide aquarium maintenance information.

Jools

[MatsP]

Sure, I agree with you, Jools: The Cat-eLog should show "suitable conditions for long time keeping of the fish".

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Mats

[racoll]

Generally the accepted aquarium temp range for these fish is warm at 26-29C. This seems like a good start, unless someone can demonstrate otherwise?

Perhaps the same consistency could be applied the Xingu, Tapajos and Tocatins loricariids, as these seem to respond better to the higher temps.

For example Hypancistrus sp. L260 is listed as 23-28C, but most advice in the forum recommends about 26-30C.

[Jools]

In the specific examples of species given in the first post and Racoll's suggestion in the one above this post, I would agree with those species being changed as suggested.

Jools

[MatsP]

In the specific examples of species given in the first post and Racoll's suggestion in the one above this post, I would agree with those species being changed as suggested.

Jools

I will do this tonight, then.

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Mats