Article © Alexandr Geraskin, uploaded June 11, 2009.

This month's featured catfish is a species from Peru which is has been maintained and bred in the Ukraine by Planet Catfish member, Alexandr Geraskin. While I just like the global nature surrounding the background of this information sharing article, Alexandr was prompted initially to get something down on paper as he could found very little information about this catfish. So, in his words, he'd "like to write about my experience of maintenance and breeding of this Ancistrus"...

Group of five day old fry.

I bought four fish in March 2008, later they were sexed as one female and three males. I put them into 140 litre tank planted with Echinodorus amazonicus, Hygrophila angustifolia and Ceratophyllum demersum. I used gravel, with an grain-size of 4-8 mm as substrate. The neighbours were then Ancistrus cf. dolichopterus less than 5cm in size and six Otocinclus vittatus. The tank housed one 2000 l/h pump with a sponge for filtration. Later I added one more filter (800 l/h). Also I placed plenty of wood in the tank, specifically I used oak (Quercus robur), pussy willow (Salix), birch (Betula), acacia and coconuts. In the birch I made caves for breeding. The size of the caves were 3.5 cm in diameter and 8-10 cm long. The fish were fed with different vegetables, frozen fish and shrimps, spirulina and different dry foods for plecos. In two months I noticed that the female became gravid. The temperature was stable at 28-29°C. For breeding I used tap water with a gH 14-15, kH 7-8, pH 7-8, 20°C. I replaced one third of my tank water with tap water twice over a three day period.

One day I noticed my female suddenly became thin. And the next day I saw quite a lot of small fry with large yellow yolk sacs clinging to surfaces all over the tank. As far I understand the male had expelled the fry from the cave because of his lack of experience. I didn't even see which cave he used for spawning. From this spawning only one fry survived. In a month the spawning was repeated, and I already knew which cave was chosen by the male. When the fry's yolk was almost absorbed (10 days after spawning) I removed the fry from the cave into a 30l tank. I counted 75, rather large fry, 1 cm long.

Male in breeding cave.

I started feeding them with spirulina and dry foods such as Tetra WaferMix, Tetra PlecoMin and Sera Catfish Chips. Later I gave them cucumber and vegetable marrow from time to time. The fry grow unevenly, and in a month their size ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 cm. In four weeks after this spawning they spawned again. Also I bred them in the separate 30 l tank with a 600 l/h filter. The caves I used were the same as in the main tank. The temperature was 25-27 C with Daily water changes and on the third day they spawned again. I took away the female. On the 11th day the fry started getting away from the cave.

This then is a pretty Ancistrus that appears to be relatively straightforward in care and reproduction, and one that comes well recommended.

Copyright information for the images used in this article can be found on the species' full Cat-eLog page.

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	Ancistrus sp. (L393)
Common Names	L393, Cheese Creek Bristlenose Sorthalet Antennesugemalle (Denmark)
Pronunciation	an SISS truss
Etymology	The name Ancistrus is derived from the Greek word agkistron, meaning hook, in reference to the interopercular odontodes that are hooked.
Articles
Species Information
Size	100mm or 3.9" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Mature males and sometimes females have soft tentacles (bushy fleshy growths) on the snout - this is unique to the genus Ancistrus.
Sexing	Typical for the genus with males possessing the so-called ''bushy nose''. Females also may have much smaller growths on the head but to a much lesser extent.
Habitat Information
Distribution	Peru, Rio Madre De Dios Amazon, Middle Amazon (Solimoes), Madeira, Madre de Dios (click on these areas to find other species found there) Log in to view data on a map.
Other Parameters	Prefers a noticeable if not strong current.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Omnivorous with tendency to vegetarian. User data.
Furniture	Appears to prefer bogwood over stone and rock.
Breeding	Mature at approximately 1.5 years, expect 70-90 eggs from one female. See CotM article.
Breeding Reports	There are 11 breeding reports, read them all here.
Further Information
Registered Keepers	There are 44 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There are 13 wishes to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 37 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
Forum BBCode
	Search for A. sp. (L393)
	Look up A. sp. (L393) on AquaticRepublic.com
	LFS label creator
Last Update	2022 Jan 22 08:09 (species record created: 2009 Jun 11 13:48)

Back to Catfish of the Month index.