L174 or L400

[AndrewC]

My personal opinion is three L400 and a possible L174 (the middle left fish in the group of four).

[pleco22]

Hi,
looks like this one:

is Hypancistrus sp. "L 174". Small eyes and bodyshape is typical. Looks like a male. The rest looks like L 400, but not really nice ones. Be aware of crossbreeding between different Types of Hypancistrus. Sorry to say, but some breeders have crossbreed L 400 with L 174 for better and faster growing of the fry - it is also possible that all the fish are hybrids.

[Unungy]

all L400

Saul

[Jools]

I'd tend to agree with Pleco22 and he posted his reasons - which I also agree with.

Jools

[AndrewC]

Thanks for the replies, the eyes do look smaller in the fish i mentioned compared to the other three.

[AndrewC]

These are the same fish in this post, just a bit older and fed better.
I put the two largest fish in a tub today to see what sex they are, as they look to have come on well, but the pattern of each one looks different.
I know pattern isn't the best way to id a hypancistrus, but they have simular body shape and a forked tail.
One of them has a spotted pattern, while the other has a reticulated pattern, and i think i might have two different hypancistrus, or is one just an L400 varient ?

Some pictures taken today;

[Unungy]

L400 could be very variable.
I have seen a few dotted but could not be L174 because of their body shape and their eye description wasn't present.

L174 characterized for their small eyes and the dotted body.
I've seen some 3" plus back in December but based on their family description was easy to ID them.
I also noticed some small 1.2 - 1.5 inch L174 with lines as suppose to dots in their body but as they grew in size those lines became broken lines and eventually perfect dots at 2.5.

I think the one that looks different fits the description of an L400 variant. I have attached some pictures of some that have identified as such.

I don't know what others think but I personally wouldn't breed them together.

[Unungy]

Hi,
looks like this one:

is Hypancistrus sp. "L 174". Small eyes and bodyshape is typical. Looks like a male. The rest looks like L 400, but not really nice ones. Be aware of crossbreeding between different Types of Hypancistrus. Sorry to say, but some breeders have crossbreed L 400 with L 174 for better and faster growing of the fry - it is also possible that all the fish are hybrids.

You have sharp eyes but this is very correct.
L174 for sure.