PlanetCatfish.com

Can anybody give me a positive id on this plec please.

I bought it for £5 and told it was a Queen Arabesque, I didnt get a really good chance to look at it until the next day and knew it wasnt a Queen Arabesque.

I have since been told it could be either L066 or L333 but I dont know so thought I would ask some experts .




Thanks

Mark

My guess is that is a queen arabesque.

juveniles have a lot less stripes than the adults, same goes for the L066.

A good looking cat anyhow!

Doesn't look like a QA to me.

My hunch would be....





Eyes seem a bit big for , but it does seem to have that velvety colouration.


Good bargin though!

Nice fish, and very cheap !
Here in the netherlands you pay at least 20 euro for that fish !

Headshape isn't right for L129 tho', is it? More like L260/333/066 in that respect. I think there's been a bit of discussion about L399/L400 in this forum a few weeks or so back... This may be similar.

I agree with Bennyvis - very good price...

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Mats

It's either a young L66 or a 399. The 2 look very similar when young. As it gets older it will either change and look like a 66 or stay the same in which case it would be a 399.

The original fish in the first post is an adult and NOT a juvenile.

check the 'hairiness' on the head and the little 'beards/sideburns' (opercular spines) sticking out from the gillplates; both only develop when such a fish is adult, not on a young Ancistrinae.

Headshape isn't right for L129 tho', is it?

You're right. It doesn't appear to be.

The original fish in the first post is an adult and NOT a juvenile.

I would agree with that. Young fish also don't tend to show that broken line pattern either.

It's either a young L66 or a 399

I don't know what L399 looks like. It's not in my copy of DATZ or Aqualog. Can't find any pics in the forum either. Anyone have any?




With a bit more investigation, and having got my pleco ID eye back in....

I reckon it's too squat to be L066, which is usually a more elongated fish with a more lyrate tail.

It seems to be the wrong colour for L333, which tends to be more yellow (could be the photos).

I think it's L318.

To be more confident, we will need bigger dead-straight-on photos from the side and the top, plus total length in mm.

These fish are usually £30+ by the way!

Ah yes I agree they are not juveniles. I missed the odontodes the first time I looked at them. 399 is going to be my best guess, even then it's hard to say for sure without a collection point.

These are 399s. I post this pic of them in the bag to show the different shape of the head between male and females. It's the only pic I have of them together. http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y120/x ... =imgAnch61 If you look close they eyes are a match.

They are not juvie L260. For the person that suggested that here is a pic of what young 260 look like http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y120/x ... =imgAnch17

Does look very similar to those L399, but the L399 seem again like a quite elongate fish, while Mad Duff's fish appears quite squat.

I only have a couple of pics of L318 to go on. Anyone have any more?

Compared with the pic of L318 in Datz all L-numbers it's almost identical with yours and I would go for that.
Some people think that Hypancistrus sp "Monte Dourado" is identical with L318 but they have looked in the Aqualog all L-numbers and they show a young H. sp "Monte Dourado", but as we all know it's Datz that have the original L-no

Janne

I received one pleco that is a dead ringer for this one in a group of L333 which in fact were all like this fish rather than L333
5 of the six died within a week and the lone survivor is living with some real L333's but they don't much care for his company. I was guessing my oddball was a L129 but these things are all hard to tell apart for me.

Thanks for all your help guys, so I guess it looks like L318 or L399 then .

I got a couple more pictures this morning if it helps any, its total length (including tail) is 80mm.

its total length (including tail) is 80mm.

Definately an adult then. And a girl by the look of it.

As Janne says, it does look identical to the L318 in DATZ (the original L# source).

If a few more folk can agree, maybe she could go into the Cat-elog, as there aren't any pics of L318 in there yet.

You can rule out L399, they are more elongated, their tailfins more extended and their eyes is much smaller.

Janne

Well I will go with L318 then, thanks guys for all your help.

I would be happy for any of the photos to be used in the Cat-elog .

Mark

Nice pleco...

To get pics on the Cat e-Log, send'em to [email protected]

Best regards.

Daniel.

Cheers Daniel, I have just sent them off