Possible Panaque maccus?

[Deb]

Hello.

A guy in my local club owns this fish. He saw some pix of my Panaque maccus tank and offered to give me his "clown pleco." From his description of the fish, though, I'm not sure if it is P. maccus and was hoping for some help.

This is the best pic he sent me. We are working on more.


His description is as follows:
" She is much darker than your fish. The yellow bands appear only
only on the dorsal and caudal fins. "

Thanks!

[wet-handed]

i would say its not a maccus, possible l272 or panaque sp'Acre'. My bit of guess work sorry. great fish

[Martin S]

Hi Deb
I'd say photos in the water would be of much more use in determining the ID, especially of a loricarid where so many look alike. Try and get a close up of the mouth as that is a good way to determine hypan/panaque etc. I'd say almost definitely not

Panaque maccus

, my only guess (and I don't think that's anywhere close) is

Peckoltia sabaji

.
Martin

[Deb]

Thanks for the replies, so far. Will check out those suggestions.

Martin, I agree that different photos are needed. ;) I've asked the guy to try for a close up of the face and a ventral view. Will post as soon as these are available.

(As to the photo taken out of water, he was moving the fish to a different tank at the time. This was probably one of the only times he has seen it in its entirety as it spends most of the time hidden!)

[Deb]

Well, the mystery is solved. Although I have never seen this fish myself, the owner has compared it to photos of similar fish and has decided the correct ID is Panaque changae.
Thanks again for all the help!

[Yann]

Hi Deb!!

No Panaque at all, neither maccus or changae!!

Peckoltia sabaji could be an option but I would expect it to be more lighter in terms of colour!!

Peckoltia sp(l147)

is an option you want to consider for an ID!!
Cheers
Yann

[Deb]

Oh! That adds a new twist to this discussion.

Martin had a feeling it might be P. sabaji, too. L147 could be - the owner says his fish has "yellow bands" on the dorsal and caudal fins. No other coloration (like spots) is mentioned.

It's a bit of a problem because I can't see the fish for myself and the owner's photos weren't very good. The best one is posted above. He said he would take more and better ones but ended up seeing a photo on the web and sent it to me claiming his fish looked exactly like the one in the photo. Can't argue with him as I have not seen the fish for myself.

So, it looks like this is still an open issue. Now I'm even more curious than ever to find out the true ID so today (or tomorrow) a friend of mine is travelling to where the fish is and will attempt to take some definitive photos. Will post ASAP.

Thanks again to all!

[Yann]

Pictures in water and in the tank would help solve this issue!!
Cheers
Yann

[LizB]

I'm Deb's friend and will be the new owner of this catfish tomorrow, and the current owner sent some more pics, though no views of the mouth or while in the water. However, I'm with Yann on this one.

[Yann]

Hi!

Yes it does look like Peckoltia sp L147!!

Cheers
Yann

[Deb]

It certainly does!

One more thing - would you say this is a mature specimen? To me, it has a slightly juvenile look. Based on the photo, and accounting for scale, I put it at just over 4"; about 4.25" TL or almost 11 cm.

[Yann]

Hi!!

Even if he hasn't reached its full adult size!! He has certainly reach sexualité maturity!
Cheers
Yann

[Deb]

Well, we went to see the fish today and my friend (LizB, above) took him for her 150 gallon tank.
In person, this pleco was much bigger than the photos showed; it is full size. There seem to be no male characteristics, as described in the cat-eLog, so we are assuming this fish is female. Let us know if you disagree.

LizB took some decent photos and may post them here, later.
Thanks again for all the help!

[Deb]

Here are some good photos taken by Liz.

A close-up of the mouth:


An approximately 2.5 cm tail extension in the shape of a banner:


There is no image in the Cat-eLog showing this extension. Might it be a sign of age? The fish is about 5 years old.