Floy his Ancistrus sp. `RIO UCAYALI`

[Floy]

3St 1m/2v

[bekateen]

Hi Floy,

Those are beautiful fish, but they don't look like any

Ancistrus sp`rio_ucayali`

that I've ever seen. The spots are too numerous, and they extend onto the fins. On A. sp. `Rio Ucayali`, the color marks on the fins are different from the body marks.

I think they are something else.

Cheers, Eric

[Fundulopanchax76]

Then what are mine ? I think Jools or Shane said that they are not and L 059 ?

[jac]

About the topic fish, I had a nice little educating discusion about these fish with Daniel. He told me Rio Maranon and Rio Ucayali are the two main rivers in Peru. It is more likely this fish is from Rio Ucayali and a close match to Ancistrus "Rio Ucayali". But it seems to be very difficult to ID them, as the fish are showing lots of variation in pattern, just like we see in the Xingu Hypancistrus for instance.

[bekateen]

About the topic fish, I had a nice little educating discusion about these fish with Daniel. He told me Rio Maranon and Rio Ucayali are the two main rivers in Peru. It is more likely this fish is from Rio Ucayali and a close match to Ancistrus "Rio Ucayali". But it seems to be very difficult to ID them, as the fish are showing lots of variation in pattern, just like we see in the Xingu Hypancistrus for instance.

Hi Jac,
Thanks for this input. I would like to see the range of variation possible for the Ancistrus from Rio Ucayali. It becomes problematic to say yes or no about whether a store-bought Ancistrus with no known capture information is one species or another, if we can't see examples of variation from each source.

The concerns I have about the fish in the OP of this thread are that the light spots are so densely packed across the body - unlike any

Ancistrus sp`rio_ucayali`

I've seen. Also, my understanding of the Ancistrus sp. `rio Ucayali` is that the pectoral fins have red bands along the pectoral spine. And the spots on the pectoral fins become more diffuse, forming broken red bands across the fins. It's my understanding that these red pectoral fins are part of the defining nature of A. sp. `rio Ucayali`. I see none of these traits in the fish shown in the OP.

The body spotting pattern of the fish in the OP looks more like what I see photos of

Ancistrus hoplogenys

, but I don't expect to the fins to look like this if they are A. hoplogenys.

Then what are mine ? I think Jools or Shane said that they are not and L 059 ?

I think Jools / Shane is probably right.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

There are fishes similar to these in other rivers in Peru too, it is rather like there are a lot of "black with white spots" Ancistrus too. This group (white spots, orange fin saum) seem to be found in clearwater that is sometimes blackwater and not whitewater.

Jools

[Fundulopanchax76]

So nobody can tell what are my fish ?!