PlanetCatfish.com

L-182 or longfin bn? I am leaning towards the L-182, because i like the spotted look, but ultimately, I want an ancistrus to clean my tank.

thanks.

The long-fin is same as the normal-finned , except for the "deformed" fins (same genetical "defect" can be found in other long-finned fish, such as gold-fish, rosy barbs, danios, angels (P. scalare)). They are EXCELLENT algae eaters.

I believe almost all species of Ancistrus are almost equal in algae-eating capabilities. However, black species with very bright spots, such as L182, L183, etc, are black-water species, so they are more likely to struggle if your water conditions are on the hard/alkaline side (which isn't uncommon in California, but it will depend on where your water comes from, and I can't say if ALL of California has the same water conditions or not). Of course, if you use purified water (via RO/DI units), then you'd be fine with the soft-water species, of course.

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Mats

I have a built in RO system in my home so water hardness is not a factor.
When you say black water, what exactly does that mean? When I think of black water I think of still waters with a lot of driftwood and leaf clutter. Is that correct?

This is where we need the "habitat information", but I don't quite think your definition is completely correct: Black-water is acidic, soft, colour of strong tea (without milk!). The colour (and low pH), indeed, does come from deteriorating plant-matter, such as leaves and branches. But not necessarily slow-flowing water in all places. pH in these rivers can be as low as 4.

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Mats