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Bristlenose Pleco = ?

dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
I've seen bristlenose plecos offered locally as Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus, L144, Ancistrus triradiatus...among other things.

Are these really different fish (with any degree of certainty) or are they just different names for what we know as "bristlenose plecos" (and the form has spot for scientific name so you do your best)?

I've been to planetcatfish.com and lots of stuff comes up when you type in 'Bristlenose pleco" :)

Matt
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
Depending on who I'm talking to, I've taken "bristlenose pleco" to mean one of two things.....either the common one that we are all familiar with (Ancistrus cf. cirrhosis).....or anything from the genus Ancistrus.

And yes....they are mostly all different fish, so I don't generally like to allow mine to crossbreed because the true genetic history of these fish is often still unclear.

triradiatus is definitely it's own species. They are a dwarf form, and look different to me.

I consider the common brown and albino BN plecos (cf. cirrhosis) to be from a muddy past. There are some distinct color differences even just among the brown ones that I've noticed in the ones I've raised.....but these guys are the ones that have been line bread to make green dragons, and such. Perhaps Lemon Drops as well?

Last month's speaker mentioned to me that Super Red Ancistrus were believed to be a hybridization of something different (or maybe with) cf. cirrhosis.....but were not purely just another colorform of cf. cirrhosis. I've been asking around about calicos and haven't gotten much information.

L144s are a mystery to me, but I'm assuming that they are not (entirely or partially) cf. chrrhosis. In fact, I'm a bit leery about using their L number sometimes.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Thanks Christine and Jesse!

According to PC (planetcatfish), A. triradiatus get to ~4.7" or so, which is about the max size I've seen for other "Bushynoses".

Are there any known provenance specimens floating around for comparison?

Matt

chriscoli said:
Depending on who I'm talking to, I've taken "bristlenose pleco" to mean one of two things.....either the common one that we are all familiar with (Ancistrus cf. cirrhosis).....or anything from the genus Ancistrus.

And yes....they are mostly all different fish, so I don't generally like to allow mine to crossbreed because the true genetic history of these fish is often still unclear.

triradiatus is definitely it's own species. They are a dwarf form, and look different to me.

I consider the common brown and albino BN plecos (cf. cirrhosis) to be from a muddy past. There are some distinct color differences even just among the brown ones that I've noticed in the ones I've raised.....but these guys are the ones that have been line bread to make green dragons, and such. Perhaps Lemon Drops as well?

Last month's speaker mentioned to me that Super Red Ancistrus were believed to be a hybridization of something different (or maybe with) cf. cirrhosis.....but were not purely just another colorform of cf. cirrhosis. I've been asking around about calicos and haven't gotten much information.

L144s are a mystery to me, but I'm assuming that they are not (entirely or partially) cf. chrrhosis. In fact, I'm a bit leery about using their L number sometimes.
Click to expand...
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I believe L144 is a separate species. But could be wrong.

Most of the other common ancistrus like regular brown, albino, calico, long fin whatever, even lemon drop, red, green and such are all the same species, just color and fin variants of the brown.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
I'm honestly just trying to understand what's out there - not questioning your fish or source. If they max out smaller than the "A. cf. cirrhosus" bristlenoses, then they're likely something different.

But what is the question.

I think that what we think of as "bristlenose pleco" are labeled by good and honest folks as lots of things.

For example: http://www.hillcountrycichlidclub.com/articles/Ancistrus triradiatus.pdf

There's also A. cf. triradiatus floating around (recognizing that the fish being labeled as A. triradiatus maybe don't quite match the scientific description): http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00435-007-0054-0#page-1

Pics of the dwarf ones vs. the regular ones?

Matt

chriscoli said:
Matt, they were sold to me as triradiatus. I believe my source.
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