Fishes near Iquitos

[Kryptic]

I think you are right with that Ambylodoras being A. nauticus. Other known specie from Iquitos is A. monitor but I think they have less markings than nauticus.

[Jools]

Rineloricaria sp`loreto` ? Collected these myself near where you are. Scary to think that was 22 years ago...

Jools

[bekateen]

Rineloricaria sp`loreto` ? Collected these myself near where you are. Scary to think that was 22 years ago...

Jools

I suggested that to Norman. Was waiting for his reply.

When you collected them, did you keep them? How big did they reach?

Cheers. Eric

[bekateen]

No new fishing today, but I will add that a man named Carlos Chuquipiondo Guardia, who manages the ARCOF grounds and lives nearby, has a few aquaculture ponds. Among his stock is an interesting and nicely patterned species of Loricariichthys, possibly Loricariichthys acutus.

Too bad they grow so big. It would be nice to raise another different Loricariinae and try to breed it in an aquarium.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

When you collected them, did you keep them? How big did they reach?

Quite large, 18cm Sl or thereabouts - distinctive when viewed from above.

Jools

[bekateen]

Quite large, 18cm Sl or thereabouts - distinctive when viewed from above.

Jools

Thanks for the info. Well, dang, why can't they be happy little 10cm SL whiptails? Crappo-profundo. Now I have to figure out where to house them if they get that large.

I do wish they looked more distinctive compared to Rineloricaria eigenmanni. There's not a lot of difference, although these sp. Loreto do have a nice 5-spot rosette (with a 6th spot in the center) beneath each eye, which I believe is absent from all my eigenmanni. I'll try to share a photo of the rosette.

Thanks for the info. Well, dang, why can't they be happy little 10cm SL whiptails? Crappo-profundo. Now I have to figure out where to house them if they get that large.

That said, 18cm SL is about the same SL as the lone presumptive Limatulichthys griseus I caught (which died) and also the same as the Loricariichthys (possibly Loricariichthys acutus) being bred in the ponds across the street from me here. I'm going back to the same catch location tonight so I might get more Limatulichthys, so if I'm going to set up a tank for 18cm whips, should I go all in for 2 or 3 of these species?... err, probably not, as finding adequate housing for more than one of these will prove to be a challenge. And my guess is if I had 6 adults of each in one tank, they would need a big tank footprint.

At least the Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus we caught stop around 13-14cm SL.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

We returned to the same spot off the Nanay this afternoon. Hugely successful... but you'll have to wait till at least tomorrow for pictures. Among today's catch:

• Our first Microglanis: 6 Microglanis aff_poecilus.
• one big Batrochoglanis, about 8-10cm SL and one or two smaller individuals.
• one big Limatulichthys griseus (also about 8-10 cm SL) and 2 or 3 smaller individuals.
• two small Tetranematichthys wallacei.
• one really big (3"-4") leaf fish, and it was actually green (all the ones I've seen before were brown).
• Two Corydoras species, Corydoras(Ln8sc4) agassizii and Corydoras(ln9) atropersonatus. (they were swimming close to each other and we caught them in the same seine sweep. We released all those).
• several more Ancistrus and Farlowella (we released all those).
• several pike cichlids of decent size (10+cm) along with some Cichlasoma and Apistogramma (we released most of those).
• A few small wolf fish (we released all those).
• lots of different knife fish and tetras, and some 3" headstander type fish (we released all those).

I couldn't be happier with the Microglanis, although for science all six of these need to go into formalin. So actually I could be happier if we get a chance to collect some to bring home alive to raise and breed!

Cheers, Eric

P.S. we were only about 100 meters upstream from where we caught all the Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus a few days ago, and we saw none tonight. I think if the seine hadn't torn, we would have caught more.

[bekateen]

@yellowcat, I'm sending you a PM.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

This is gonna hurt to read...

I said we found one big speckled Batrochoglanis. I measured it today at 108.6 mm SL. Because it's the only large specimen we caught, it had to go into formalin as a museum specimen, with a fin clip for DNA.

Is it really just Batrochoglanis villosus, all the way out here in Iquitos? Or should it be called B. aff. villosus? Maybe we'll help figure that out.

I feel really bad pickling this fish. It's beautiful!

[bekateen]

We returned to the same spot off the Nanay this afternoon. Hugely successful... but you'll have to wait till at least tomorrow for pictures. Among today's catch:

• one big Limatulichthys griseus (also about 8-10 cm SL) and 2 or 3 smaller individuals.

Wow, did I underestimate this! 15.06 cm SL!

[bekateen]

Last update then I'll stop for the day.

Yesterday eve we hit paydirt (literally) with the Microglanis. We returned to the same place for the third evening and walked slightly upstream. In the first 1-2 hr we caught no Microglanis. Then all of a sudden our dip nets, once rammed into the muddy banks, were pulling the Microglanis up in almost every scoop. Twice we caught 3 Microglanis in a single scoop and twice we caught two in a single scoop. We now have 22 Microglanis total from tributaries of the Nanay. So today, I pickled 10, then took pics and a DNA sample from one of those. 26.8mm SL - and this was one of the big ones!

These Rio Nanay fish are slightly smaller than the Rio Blanco fish I bought. I wonder if the remaining living Rio Nanay fish will grow to match in size.

[yellowcat]

About batrochoglanis being near Iquitos? There is an exporter said to be near Iquitos in Loreto named 'Acuario La Tahuampa SAC and there is a website under that name. In their list of recent arrivals (not recent) or their photo gallery you, or anyone will see photos of catfish and other species I've never seen elsewhere. From there I found photos of what seems to be b. villosus they call "jumbo novia" and b. raninus called "bambi novia tuxedo" Not sure if "novia" is a generic name of batrochoglanis or just catfish in general? Also seen were a few species of pseudopimelodus or possibly microglanis they call "aguaytia". Just in case you're in the neighborhood... Amazing sampling results Eric!

[bekateen]

Interesting! Here I see novia used mainly with wood cats, but obviously that's not so for this seller.

"BUMBLE BEE CAT AGUAYTIA" is Rhyacoglanis.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

One last fishing trip, this my first by boat, on the Nanay. Something other than walking in streams and creeks.

[Shane]

.From there I found photos of what seems to be b. villosus they call "jumbo novia" and b. raninus called "bambi novia tuxedo" Not sure if "novia" is a generic name of batrochoglanis or just catfish in general? Also seen were a few species of pseudopimelodus or possibly microglanis they call "aguaytia".

" Novia" is most often applied to woodcats but I can see it being used for pseudopimelodids as a common name given the similar general shape (to a collector with no taxonomic background). Aguaytia is a town in Ucayali, so maybe a collection location?
Keep the posts coming Eric!
-Shane

[bekateen]

With the help of a savvy local fisherman, who took us several places along the Nanay, we seined the river about 5 times, about 4 hours on the water.

Caught lots of Loricariinae (mostly what the locals call "common loricaria," but I suspect are more of the Limatulichthys), one of which is quite large (like my other catch, about 15cm SL), but also we caught one large dark in the anterior species that the locals call "royal loricaria" and if you ask them the species name they say Loricaria simillima, but IDK (GBIF says only Loricaria cataphracta has been caught in the immediate area of Iquitos). This fish is about 10-11 cm SL.... I hope it's not cataphracta, because those fish get huge (about 30cm SL)! The color pattern reminds me more of Loricaria sp`rio_atabapo`, except the space between the eyes is solid black on the fish we caught, rather than having two black stripes by the eyes and pale color on the nose bridge as in the Rio Atabapo fish.

We also caught about 20 Centromochlus heckelii-like fish (this will be new for me) and over 30 Auchenipterichthys coracoideus and about a dozen Trachelyichthys exilis (neither of the latter I need, since I'm breeding both), plus about 40 doradids of various sizes and at least 2 species mixed together. Also caught angelfish (whatever species is here in the Nanay) and LOTS (I'd guess close to 100, all of which we let go) of festivums, and we got 2 large peacock cichlids and a nearly 2 foot long Pseudoplatystoma.

But no Microglanis along the shores, even though we know other fishermen catch them along this stretch.

The hardest work was dragging large floating mats of aquatic vines against the shore (some mats covering an area of 20+ feet x 15+ feet of water) in order to effectively use the seine, and in two cases we had to wiggle free submerged dead burnt tree stumps and throw them out from inside the seining area so the seine wouldn't snag).

Exhausting work, and I developed some kind of contact allergy after being in the water for so many hours. I ached all over and had a weird skin parasthesia which felt like fiberglass stabbing my skin. Fortunately, 8 hours later, with benadryl, motrin and two showers, the symptoms subsided. And I'm glad it did subside. Last thing I want is the airport authorities to look at me and deny entry to plane thinking I'm infected with something contagious.

Internet is still bad, so we'll have to wait longer for photos.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Just caught up on all the posts Eric, great reading and super envious! You're going to have a lot of fun puzzles to work with when you get home. Safe travels!


Jools

[bekateen]

I'm looking at the largest male "common" Ancistrus I brought back from Iquitos. This male has several fleshy bristles (not opercular odontodes) running from the lower front edge (approximately) of the operculum back and up towards the eyes. I've never noticed these before in other Ancistrus I've had. What other Ancistrus species have this feature?

Now that I browse the CLOG pics, I see these on L156 and on Ancistrus tamboensis.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Hola! I'm back in Iquitos at the Amazon Research Center for Ornamental Fishes this summer. We tried night fishing yesterday in two small creeks along the Itaya. My local fishing partners tell me that these are usually good spots for wood cats and Microglanis at night, but last night we found almost nothing.

I decided this year I would only save fish we catch if they are fish I'm searching for, rather than keeping most of what we caught (which we did last year). Last night we saw only one large Rhamdia sp., three Helogenes sp. (we caught one but released it).

We caught and kept three 10-12cm SL hoplos, all the same species, although I haven't had time to ID them. Here's pics of two of them. I'm not very familiar with the Callichthyinae; are these Megalechis thoracata?

Hopefully more and different catfish will follow in the next 10 days.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Yes on the Hoplo ID. That large one is a female (ventral plates not touching).

Have fun!




Jools