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I bought this fish at my LFS about a month ago after searching for nearly 3 months for anywhere that had ancistrus in stock that were big enough to sex to replace my female. I was told at the time that it was one that got put in a larger tank with other fish and "forgotten" and I didn't get a really good look at it as the assistant had to hand catch it and its been hiding for the last month in dark corners of the tank and I have started noticing that it doesn't really look like an female ancistrus as the head and body are wider and more "triangular" in shape than you would expect a female ancistrus to be, the eyes are different with a a black line down each eye and the fins have "furry" bits on the edges (not sure what the term for this would be)

Could anyone take a look at the very bad photos below (apologies for photo quality but its taken me 2 weeks to catch it with a camera) and see if they can ID it? PS Ignore the Gibby in the background.







Stuart.

On each and every photo I see 2 fishes - the one on the left is NOT an Ancistrus, I think it might be a Pterogoblichthys. The one on the right does not seem to be one either - but I'm not certain it is an odd Ancistrus, but definitely not a common Ancistrus either

Looks more like a Dekeyseria to me.

I'm with Coelcanth - it looks similar to or something like that - and unless the fuss on the pectoral fins is just blur in the photo, I suspect it's a male.

A clear photo of the fish where it is not in the shade would help quite a bit, however.

--
Mats

Yes, that's a Dekeyseria of some sort. Also, I don't think the Pterygoplichtys is a gibby.

Suckermouth wrote:Yes, that's a Dekeyseria of some sort. Also, I don't think the Pterygoplichtys is a gibby.

Agreed on both counts

Its the one on the right I wanted ID'd and I think you are right about it being an L052, and if I can ever manage to get it out from under the mopani wood I will take a better photo but its taken nearly a month for me to settle it enough to get to that part of the tank.

Stuart.

PS. I did include a line to "ignore the gibby" in my other post......I know that one, its an eating machine

the big un is not a gibby, but a regular pleco, most likely Pterygoplichthys pardalis

the headpattern is off for a gibby
also; the gibby is more highbuilt, it's a much bulkier fish and the head looks "edgy", it has a pronounced hump on the head just in front of the dorsal.
this build is also seen in the P scrophus (crocodile plec) several Panaque species and the closely related P joselimaianus.

this one in the pix however has a smooth forehead and hence is not a gibby.

Actually, the Pterogoblichthys looks a bit like my dwarf ones - Pt weberi or Pt punctatus. Dwarf is relative - they are only 20 cm

Actually, the Pterogoblichthys looks a bit like my dwarf ones - Pt weberi or Pt punctatus

There is no P.weberi or P.punctatus at the photos:)