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Haakon Haagensen (1) Hudson Crizanto Gonçalves (2)

Aquarium Care: The Ancistrus genera make good community fish where they do not grow too big for the aquarium. Some species have different requirements in the aquarium so best to read up on the species you have whereas if they need higher oxygen requirements or not, or if they prefer cooler waters if they originate from the southern parts of South America against the species from further up north. Diet: Vegetable foods such as cucumber and courgette and also tablet and meaty foods. Also prefers soft wood in the diet. Reproduction: The female lays her eggs in caves or crevices... that the male has chosen and cleaned.... as a cluster. The male usually then guards the eggs after ejecting the female. The fry then cling to the sides of the cave and when they use up their yolk sac, which is around the four to seven day period, they will be ready to feed on infusuria, vegetable matter, brine shrimp naupli or micro worms. In a community tank a few will survive if enough hiding places are afforded to them. Etymology: The specific name damasceni: Patronym not identified, probably in honour of Col. José Damasceno Nogueira, who hosted Steindachner at his home in Filomeno, Brazil, in June 1903, near type locality. Remarks: Ancistrus damasceni is possibly endemic to the Maranhão-Piauí ecoregion, which includes the coastal basins of eastern Maranhão and the Parnaíba River basin, whose headwaters are in cerrado areas and whose middle course partially cuts through the Caatinga. The species is common, although not very abundant. Although A. damasceni occurs in an area of agricultural frontier, no significant threats that put its population at risk have been identified. For this reason, A. damasceni has been categorized as Least Concern (LC), (IUCN 2022).

None

Xenocara damasceni

Loricariidae

South America: Parnaíba River basin (Brazil). Type locality: dem Parnahyba bei Victoria und Sa. Filomena [Brazil].

6.5cm. (2½ins)

22-27°c (71-81°f.)

6.0-7.2.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Fisch-Muller, S., 2003. Loricariidae-Ancistrinae (Armored catfishes). p. 373-400. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (03/2024).
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). 2022. Ancistrus damasceni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.