Hemiancistrus subviridis Werneke, D.
C., M. H. Sabaj, N K. Lujan, and J W. Armbruster. 2005.
|
his months factsheet ( August 2004) takes us into the ichthyologist
minefield of the so called L-Numbers and to a species which to
my mind is a fine starting point if you want to go into the uncharted
waters (so to speak) of the ever growing and burgeoning world
of the L-and LDA Numbers.
L 200 was first imported in 1995 and was depicted
in the Aqualog all L-Numbers as Loracariidae gen. sp. (similar
L 128) and it has been into the Baryancistrus
and Chaetostoma genera and now is labeled in the Ancistrinae
subfamily but may sometime in the future with the on-going work
of Armbruster, be placed in the Hypostominae. There are a lot of
grey areas with a lot of the L-Numbers and it will be many years
before an even slight semblance of order is carried out.
This doesn't take away of course, that in my humble opinion, this
is one of the nicest Loracariids going the rounds and certainly
one of my favourites.
Now you may have noticed the mention of L 128 and there is a quite
strong assumption that this species is actually the same as our
factsheet of the month and is the northern population. It is depicted
in the photograph below and you can see the resemblance with the
body shape and the spots. The difference of course is the darker
almost blue colouration and more spots which go all the way through
the body and on to the caudal fin. The further south you go in the
Orinoco River system the lighter the fish gets, and ranges from
the blue in our photo, in the north, to the yellow above in the
south and on our journey the colours range through black, bluish/green,
olive/green, mustard green and yellow. In the ensuing years we will
no doubt find out whether this assumption of one and the same fish,
is true or not.
| As stated earlier
this is a fairly easy species to keep as Loracariids
go and does well and looks good in the larger sized
community tank set-up with medium sized inmates such
as the South American Silver Dollars, or even African
Congo Tetras. Furnishings for your tank could include
either sand or gravel for the substrate, driftwood
and rock work for decoration. Plants are not a necesity
as they may eat them, but if Java Fern is used they
will browse the leaves of any build-up of algae. Does
like a bit of water movement in the aquarium from
either internal or external power filters. |
|
As can be seen from the mouth above, they
have two rows of teeth on each jaw which they use for grazing on
soft wood for Aufwuchs and rasping away on solid food such as prawns
and tablet food.
Footnote: Only
recently ( 2005) been described by the above authors. Green phantom
plecos (L200s) are actually two species, Baryancistrus
(Baryancistrus demantoides) and the other , this
months factsheet, Hemiancistrus (Hemiancistrus subviridis)
from Southern Venezuela
Hypostomus body shape. Forked
caudal fin. Sucker mouth with two rows of teeth on upper and lower
jaw bone.
As stated in article, if we are not including
L 128, colours range from mustard/yellow
to yellow with dark yellow to lemon spots over dorsal, pectoral
and ventral fins and over head and front part of body up to the
posterier end of dorsal fin. Belly clear.
Will do well in your medium to large aquarium
with larger tetra type fish.
No reports, as with a good many of the larger
L-Numbers, but if this is indeed a Hypostomus species they
may lay their eggs in burrows dug into the sides of larger rivers.
A note on the sexing of male and female.
There is a L 200 "Hifin" which
is basically the same as our factsheet of
the month but with a higher dorsal fin. This may represent the male
species against the normal dorsal of the female, we are not too
sure. Body shape may also play a part
with the male being broader across the head.
This is an Omnivore. In other words it will
thrive on a varied diet. Vegetable food such as algae tablets, cucumber
and courgette (zucchini), prepared
foods such as prawns and mussels, insect larvae,
tablet and pellet foods and it also likes to graze on soft woods
such as driftwood branches or logs.
DATZ Special; All
L-Numbers: Habitat, Care & Diet
Aqualog Special;
Loricariidae The most beautiful L-numbers
www.auburn.edu/academic/science_math/res_area/loricariid/fish_key
/Baryan/baryan.html
Werneke, D. C., M. H. Sabaj, N K. Lujan, and J W. Armbruster.
2005. Baryancistrus demantoides and Hemiancistrus
subviridis, two new uniquely colored species of loricariids
from Venezuela (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Neotropical Ichthyology,
3 (4): 533–542.
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| Synonyms:
|
| None |
| Common
Name: |
| L
200, Lemon Spotted Green Pleco, Green
Phantom Pleco |
| Family: |
| Loricariidae |
| Subfamily: |
| Ancistrinae |
| Distribution: |
 Venezuela,
Amazonas, upper Orinoco drainage |
| Size: |
| 25.0cm.
(10ins) |
| Temp: |
| 22-25°c (71-77°f.) |
| pH.: |
| 6.5-7.2. |
| Donation: |
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