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I’ve been given this beautiful fish. She was given to me as a ‘pleco’ that wasn’t rehomed before I bought the tank. So now she’s mine.
I’ve been told she’s approx 2 years old. She’s around 5-6 inches. Small bristles across her top lip, and bristley spikes in her cheeks.

Can anyone help me identify her species? She was in a 60L tank (!!!!!) so has been put in my big tank, but I’d like to know what she is

Thanks!

Hi redkittyxo,

Welcome to Planetcatfish!

Nice looking fish you have there. The fact that it has short bristles around the lip and its age and size tell me it's a female bristlenose pleco (genus Ancistrus) of some type. There are a number of spotted varieties, and many of them change appearance with age, so accurately IDing an older fish can be challenging.

I'm not certain, but compare your fish to . If the fish's fins are red tinted, consider also .

I keep rio Ucayali. When young, the body and fins are all spotted, with bars on the pectoral spines. Large adults have a brown-black body with fewer spots (depending on mood), but the fins retain spots, although the spots shrink in size with age. Also, the pectoral fin bars shrink to just spots in large adults.

All that said, I'm not convinced my ID options are right. Your fish appears to be higher bodied than mine. So the ID could be some other Ancistrus species.

Cheers, Eric