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Andreas Tanke (1) Stuart McIntosh (1) Mark Henry Sabaj (1)

Introduced in the DATZ magazine of May 2006 as L404. Habitat: Hypancistrus margaritatus is described from the Takutu River. Description: The Hypancistrus genes is similar to the Panaque/Panaqolus and Peckoltia genera but have fewer and larger teeth in the lower and upper jaw. Colouration: It differs from congeners by having densely-packed light spots on a dark brown background, with spots about the size of the nasal aperture (vs. sparse light spots either smaller or larger than the nasal aperture, or brown to black spots, saddles, or stripes). Sexual Differences: Males posses a broader and longer head and odontodes on the posterior part of the body, behind the gill covers and on the pectoral fin spines. The latter two are a lot shorter in the females. A variable looking species where the body lines can either be thin or thicker on different individuals. Aquarium Care: No problem with keeping in groups but only one Hypancistrus species to a tank as there has been reports of hybridisation. Diet: Like all Hypancistrus sp. they prefer a meaty diet. Feed frozen foods such as bloodworm and beef heart, live foods such as brine shrimp, white and grindal worms and prepared foods such as sinking tablets and presoaked flake food. When young they seen to prefer a liking for vegetable foods.

L404

None

Loricariidae

Brazil: Rio Negro drainage. Type locality: Takutu River.

13.0cm. (5¼ins)

26-30°c (79-87°f.)

6.5-7.5.

Seidel, I. 2008. Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes, Ettlingen, Germany 208 p.
Tan M, Armbruster JW (2016) Two new species of spotted Hypancistrus from the Rio Negro drainage (Loricariidae, Hypostominae). ZooKeys 552: 123–135. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.552.5956.