L200 subviridis vs demantoides

[Chris helland]

Hey fellow hobbyist!

Just some quick questions around these plecos. It's said that they are hard to tell a difference on, but is it?

From what I can tell the demantoides is also known as L200 «high fin» and then my guess would be that this is a «high fin» also known as demantoides (The picture is borrowed from a Norwegian website)

Mowing on to the subviridis witch doesn't have a high fin, and then in my opinion should look like this:

As you can see the dorsal fin on the first pic is higher and not sort of pointing backwards as it does in the second pic

Now am I wrong and it ain't that easy? Does it just depend on the quality of the fish?

[MarcW]

The key to telling these apart is that the dorsal and adipose fin are joined in

Baryancistrus demantoides

, and there is a gap between them in

Hemiancistrus subviridis

.

There is more information in the identification section in each of the Cat-eLog pages I've linked to.

Hope this helps, and welcome to Planet Catfish!

[Chris helland]

Oh! Okey, so what is it that makes the dorsal fin so big on som subviridi? Dos anyone know?

[bekateen]

Hi Chris,

The answer, as best we know, is here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm ... cle_id=151

Cheers, Eric

[b.reder]

Chris-
I have several of each. Visually I have not seen a clear distinction no matter how hard I look. Their diet, on the other hand, is a dead giveaway. The Hemiancistrus subviridis will eat veggies, shrimp, clams, etc. The Baryancistrus demantoides will eat nothing but veggies. Hope that helps. -Barry

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

what Marc says is one of the ways how to distinguish both species. Unfortunately it doesn't always work, since there are specimens with characteristics in between. Some H. subviridis do show a small membrane for example, what they "shouldn't".

The best way to tell both species apart is to have a look at the shape of the mouth. H. subviridis has a almost perfectly round mouth, while B. demantoides shows a more rectangular mouth.

H. subviridis: http://www.l-welse.com/gallery/files/9/ ... cm_600.jpg
B. demantoides: http://www.l-welse.com/gallery/files/9/ ... 03_600.jpg

[Chris helland]

Hmm okey the more you know

thx

[b.reder]

Acanthicus-

That is fantastic! Now I'm tempted to capture all of my L200s for a look. Thanks again. -Barry