Ancistrus ID

Reginator · Post by **Reginator** » 25 Jun 2006, 10:41

I've had this fish for almost a year, he has very small barbels on the end of his snout and a cluster of five or six between the eyes. He seems to be able to make them bigger or smaller at will. He also changes colour from near black to sandy brown with khaki stripes.

Post by **Silurus** » 25 Jun 2006, 12:05

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... cies_id=49

It would be a she, not a he.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 25 Jun 2006, 14:54

Hi!!

I also think it is a Ancistrus sp(03) but I would say it is a male, you can see very small tentacules on the snout going back up in between the eyes...

Because of this species being wildy bred, especially using fish from the same batch...after a while they seems to loose the features of a typical Ancistrus...

Still I found the coloration a bit strange...the fins are not in great shape, could be to unproper water conditions or to tankmates...

Cheers
Yann

pureplecs · Post by **pureplecs** » 25 Jun 2006, 15:19

Definitely a he.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Jun 2006, 10:57

I certainly agree that it's - common, captive bred, Bristlenose.

I would agree that it's a male. On the other hand, HH (Silurus) knows a lot more about fish than me, so he may have seen something I didn't. Care to discuss, HH?

Generally accepted is that tentacles running up the nose is a clear indication of a male.

However, on a male that is a year old and well-fed, it should have developed a "full nose of tentacles", so there's probably something missing in the equation - perhaps he needs some better food. Try reading this article. This fish is a herbivore with a slight omnivore streak, so mostly vegetable and fruit would be good food, with the odd meaty food thrown in for good measure.

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Mats

Reginator · Post by **Reginator** » 26 Jun 2006, 11:45

I actually was given this fish by my LFS as he was getting battered in the tanks there, was by far the smallest fo the fry at about half an inch compared to three quarters for his sibs and the owner knows what a sucker I am for the underdog.I started him on courgette about a month back after reading about it here, apart from that he eats pellets with spirulina, cleans up after the cichlids and goes MAD for bloodworm, to the extent that he chases everyone else away from them and consumes all he can find. So what changes to make him healthier? Or will he always be a bit small/underdeveloped?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Jun 2006, 11:49

Keep feeding it Courgette - maybe vary it with some other fruit or vegetables (beans, mango, melon, pineapple, grapes and all sorts of others end up speared with a spoon in my tanks [beans that have been cooked sink, so they don't get a spoon through them]).

It may of course be that this one will always be small...

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Mats

pureplecs · Post by **pureplecs** » 26 Jun 2006, 12:15

MatsP, I have an adult male albino bristle nose who is now four years old, and it wasn't until the past two years that the bristles have really come in, I bought it as a young female and did for about the first two years would have put money down that it was a female due to lack of bristles. As I don't think this is a common occurance necessarily, it does happen that there are "late bloomers". Also, I've not seen a female sp.3 that has a chubby nasal area like the posters pic...

Reginator · Post by **Reginator** » 26 Jun 2006, 16:07

For the first time today I noticed a pair of kind of pouches on the sides of his head directly below the eyes that extend a whole cluster of barbels.. what are they?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Jun 2006, 16:19

Reginator wrote:For the first time today I noticed a pair of kind of pouches on the sides of his head directly below the eyes that extend a whole cluster of barbels.. what are they?

They are "evertible interopercolur odontodes" which means "spines that can be pushed out from between the gill-covers" using more plain English. They are part of the fish's mechanism to defend/fight for territory and avoid being eaten by bigger things (fish or birds, normally). They _ARE_ sharp, so don't mess with them...

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Mats

Reginator · Post by **Reginator** » 26 Jun 2006, 16:44

Cool, Cheers MatsP!