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Hi all, I've just picked up a pleco that the LFS sold as a longfin bristlenose pleco. I've had a look at some threads on various forums and I think it looks like a LDA072 but I'm a newbie to plecos so I'm looking for some more knowledgeable opinions.

Photos attached...

Thanks in advance.
Matt

Probably a common - that's the same species as the "long fin", but with normal length fins.

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Mats

I hope the fish pictured was not sold as a longfin BN.

MatsP wrote:Probably a common

Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus

- that's the same species as the "long fin", but with normal length fins.

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Mats

So is that a common BN Pleco then?

I just want to be sure as I'd like to make sure I'm caring for him/her correctly.

When it comes to care, I'm absolutely confident that the care should be same as the common one. I'm not 100% sure that it IS a the common species, as there are several that look similar. But for care, they are the same - this is almost certainly not one of the "blackwater" species that require extremely soft water - these have very dark body and bright white spots - your fish doesn't.

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Mats

Someone on another forum has suggested that it is a rubber lip pleco. Some of these species seem so similar and quite often two pics of the same species look completely different!!

By rubber-lip, I expect that to be a , and in at least one of your pictures, I see little bristles on the lower part of the head. This indicates that it's a Ancistrus species (there are a few other species that have HARD bristles, but these look like "soft" bristles - and there is only one known Genus that have this).

The more I look at it, the more I start to think that it's NOT a common variety. Exactly what it IS, however, I can't say.

And yes, many of the fish in this general group change looks when they grow, and depending on mood, conditions, and of course the way the photos are taken and processed can make them look different too...

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Mats

I guess it serves me right for picking the one that looks different!

Thanks very much Mats for your advice

Matt

Can you tell us the size of the fish?

And regarding "looking" different, I'm sure you realize that the fish in your picture is essentially showing up as three different colours: Dark gray in the first picture, brown in the second, and light gray in the last picture. This, I'm pretty sure, is not that the fish has changed colour [much], but rather that the photo's whitebalance and overall exposure is changing from one shot to another.

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Mats

Ok, for size it is about 2 1/2" long

It's colour was grey/brown when stressed (in the LFS and when released into my tank) then it settled down to the deep brown colour in the other photo.

As for different, it seemed to have a wider head than the others in the tank and its colour was lighter (which we now know was just stress). The staff at this chain LFS don't know much when it comes to identifying species. I'm at work now (2pm here in uk) so I'll try and get some better pictures tonight.

Again thanks for you help.

Matt

PvtDGrif wrote:I've had a look at some threads on various forums and I think it looks like a LDA072

This name () has cropped up recently of late (this thread), and I wonder if these are actually being imported, or whether it's just a misidentification?


LDA072 is , but I wonder if there in actually any difference is morphology or capture location, or whether Colombian exporters are just using a new trade name?

Alternatively, they could just be and someone is slapping on a fancy LDA number to bump up the prices?

If it was sold as a , however, I would be inclined to think it's a regular shortfin .

The more I look at him/her the more I think it looks like this - http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... ge_id=2540

I'll post new pics tomorrow if I can get any he/she was a little camera shy tonight.

Here are some extra photos as promised...

And a few more

Last two for tonight...

I'm now even more of the opinion that this is NOT a common .

However, I don't know which of the lots of different species of Ancistrus that it actually is - just what it isn't...

However, when it comes to care, I still think they are about the same...

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Mats

Mats do you have any links for beginner care for the ancistrus species?

So far (day 3) he/she won't eat either broccoli stem or algae wafers. He/she seems only to eat the very small amount of algae on my bogwood (and maybe the bogwood itself).

I think there is a bit of information in Shane's World.

Not eating the first days after moving is pretty normal, however.

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Mats

Finally got a photo of it's sucker...

I've got a video of him eating an algae wafer...


[Mod edit: use youtube tags rather than broken URL tags --Mats]

i thnik your fish is Ancistrus triradiatus a female one

djtonyel wrote:i thnik your fish is Ancistrus triradiatus a female one

Triradiatus- My thoughts exactly ( having browsed the cat-elog).

Not sure about male/female as it's only 2.5" long at the moment.

i just breed them . The male has the bush from very young

Hi mats

I'm posting from an iPhone using tapatalk and there is no option to add anything other than a url.

Is there a way I can post a proper link via tapatalk?

Thanks,
Matt

I have no idea. Use a proper computer, perhaps? ;)

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Mats

MatsP wrote:I have no idea. Use a proper computer, perhaps? ;)

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Mats

Thanks for that LOL

is this any better? It's a new vid showing the lack of bristles!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7fxngmpL90

FYI
If you put the between the youtube tags, like this: you'll get :

HTH
Martin

Martin S wrote:FYI
If you put the between the youtube tags, like this:

Code: Select all

[youtube]D7fxngmpL90[/youtube]

you'll get :

HTH
Martin

Thanks for the info Martin

Another pic...

I'm amazed at how different she looks in all the pictures I take. If I didn't know better I'd have said there are 3 of them!!