Platydoras armatulus or not ? And behaviour questions

[kiwidu21]

Hello,

I welcomed a week ago, a fish under the name of Platydoras costatus. As I knew that the costatus sold are generally armatulus, I didn't ask myself too many questions. But I discovered while reading its file on PC that it was also confused with Orinocodoras eigenmanni.
As I have never had Platydoras or Orinocodoras in the past, the differentiations cited on their sheets seem a little vague to me.

I therefore ask for your help in order to identify it and be able to meet its needs.

I specify that he is 9 years old (17cm), and, in view of his belly, it must be a female.
https://youtu.be/jvivWCKKCXY[/youtube] https://youtu.be/gRUs8Gl-KJY[/youtube]


Also, I would have questions about his diet and behavior.
Due to the heat wave in France, the water in his tank is currently at 27.3°C (unfortunately I cannot lower it lower), the pH is at 6.4 and the nitrates are a bit high but I correct them with weekly water changes. It remains a quarantine tank.
Until now it remained hidden in a pipe and only came out at night. But since this morning he has been coming and going in the tank despite the light. Is it normal for him to go out in broad daylight? The water is a little amber so I guess that helps.

For food, its former owner fed it twice a day with a diet composed of live fish, dead fish, pellets.
Given that he seems big to me (unless it is due to the fact that he is a female), what frequency of meals do you recommend? What composition?

For his final tank I was thinking of leaving on a 400l, what do you think?

[fishguy1978]

Looks like a stripped Raphael (p. armatulus) to me. I both armatulus and o. eigenmani. The eigenmani have a much more sloped head than the armatulus.
Feed once a day if with other fish that are more aggressive feeders or once every three days if not. These guys have a tendency to turn into golf balls because they’re gluttons.

[kiwidu21]

Thank you for your answer.
He's with young ancistrus and a Hypostomus basilisko at the moment so he doesn't have too much competition (he doesn't hesitate to push them to take the pellets).
In terms of quantity of food, what do you recommend? Starting from a diet every two / three days.

[Bas Pels]

I've had 3 P armatulus for some 28 years, combined with central American cichlids.

When I got them, in 1988, I had a problem with the fish foord being course, and the cichlids spoiled quite a lot. So I needed a cleaner.

These cichlids sometimes hjurt each other, and salt is a good cure helping them healing themselves. Although Platydoras cvomes from the Amazon river, this was never a problem, even though I sometimnes had 2 g/l of NaCl in the tank

In their lateryears they dod show themselves during the day, but most often during feeding time, and if I fed floating food, they went to the surface. In hindsight, they were absolutely the right fishes for what I needed them to do

When I lost them, there was a desease in the tank, I think they could have lived quite lot longer, but I lost all my olf fishes including my Pt gibbiceps of 50 cm length and 17 years of age. Unfortunately, old fishes tend ot be a bit more sensitive towards deseases.

Is it a good fish to keep? Most certainly, but as I am 55 now, and don't ecpect to reach 85, I will not restart with them - it is not good for fishes to outlive their owner.

[fishguy1978]

O. Eigenmani are a by catch and not super common. Here are my two with a striped raphael.

Top view of both

Striped head profile

Ralph belly

O. E. head profile

OE belly

[OregonOutdoorsChris]

In terms of feed, I see you have plenty of snails in there. Mine appear to eat pond and trumpet snails, so you may start to see a lot of bleach-white empty snail shells starting to accumulate.

[kiwidu21]

Thank you for the photos. The difference between the two species is quite obvious when you have the two next to each other.

If I understand correctly it is supposed to be nocturnal. So, could this change in behavior be a sign of illness or a problem?
The light is filtered with water lenses so the brightness remains low.
I've had it for a week so I don't really know how it behaves.

[fishguy1978]

They will be more active in low light tanks. Mine come out when they smell food.