Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
I agree, it definitely appears to be a Hypancistrus. Possible L129 and a bunch of others out there..... better pictures would help with a ID and if possible at least where (country at least) they came from.
They still look a lot like L129's to me..... but there are a few that look similar to this also. If, for example they where imported from Brazil that would tell us they aren't L129's...... L129's are from Colombia. So knowing where they came from would help ID them. They appear to have what a friend of mine called "glasses"..... L129's have a line that goes from one eye to the other that kind of looks like he has glasses on.
Store says they took in some L066, and that they are most likely that... If they are not, then they have no idea... Le sigh. Someone on another forum also suggested L173b, but as they are quite rare in europe, im thinking probably not? I would guess they are a common type, as the store took in quite a few, but maybe under a different type number. Someone dont know what they are doing....
I should have asked this before....... how big are they?? Some smaller plecs look alike and are easier to ID when they are a little bigger.
If you like them and you are happy with what you paid for them that is really all that should matter...... not a number that was assigned to them. Some of my favorite plecs I got where miss ID'ed. I bought some that where labeled L129's that turned out to be L340's, L15's that where Peckoltia sp. "Zwerg", and some "unknown" plecs that where Peckoltia sp. Rio Tocantins...... and a few others.
They are quite small still, i´m guessing about two inches, tops. So yeah, they will be mysteryplecos until they get bigger! Yeah, I´m happy with them, I just wanted to read up on them to provide a good habitat and to see how big they will get, etc.
pretty sure its not a H. debilittera or one of the complex around this species. It seems to be from the Xingu-complex - the wormlined ones. L 173b sometimes look like the specimens in question, sometimes they dont, so does L 333.