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I purchased two plecos from my LFS and was told that they are clown plecos. They do look like L104 Panaqolus maccus. I just want to confirm. Same fish in both pictures. I will catch them and take better.
Also I have a Farlowella sp that I'm unsure which sp it is. I know it's not acus.

Hi fishguy 1978,

Yes, your pleco is a clown pleco. Most are sold as (L104), but I'm told that is more often what is imported.

There's not enough of the body shown in your photo to confirm ID. But there is a key to the Farlowella species here: viewtopic.php?p=322799#p322799

Cheers, Eric

Here are the side and belly

bekateen wrote: ↑13 May 2020, 18:53 Hi fishguy 1978,

Yes, your pleco is a clown pleco. Most are sold as

Panaqolus maccus

(L104), but I'm told that

L448

is more often what is imported.

There's not enough of the body shown in your

Farlowella

photo to confirm ID. But there is a key to the Farlowella species here: viewtopic.php?p=322799#p322799

Cheers, Eric

Perfect, I will endeavor to interpret the list. Thank you

Some more pictures of the clowns:

Here are some more of the Farlowella:

Don't have a good comparative photo from overhead to get inerorbital distance, neither a good pic of tail coloring . But estimating that your snout is relatively long, I'd say you have .

Cheers, e

1a. Median row of abdominal scutes incomplete; 2-5 anterior scutes present (Fig. 6b) .......2 (I get the scutes on the belly)

I don't see the odontodes on the side of the head,
2a. Breeding odontodes on side of head long, second row (Fig. 6d) of anterior lateral scutes thickened and forming a smoothly keeled ridge .....9
2b. Breeding odontodes on side of head short, second row (Fig. 6d) of anterior lateral scutes flat and smoothly keeled ridge absent ......3

No, you're misinterpreting step 1:

1b. Median row of abdominal scutes absent (Fig. 6a) or complete (Fig. 6c); 0 – 1 anterior median scutes present .........4 4b. Two rows of abdominal scutes (Fig. 6a) ....19

19b. No median abdominal scute at base of pelvic fins (Fig. 6a) ......23 23b. Snout-mouth length/interorbital width (Fig. 2) > 1.9 in adult male; outer rays (except outermost ray) of lower caudal fin lobe darkly pigmented from fin base to tip but may be interrupted by clear ocellus bar ... (without ruler measurements, I'm estimating this) Cheers, Eric

Thank you for clearing up my misunderstanding. Do I understand this statement "Snout-mouth length/interorbital width" to mean divide the "Snout-mouth length" by the "interorbital width"?

Yes

Your remaining choices, if SML/IOD is <=1.8, are , , , or . I'm not listing any of them on likelihood, but only that they remain in the key at this point. I know you've stated they aren't F. acus; I'll take your word for that, but so far in the key it could not be ruled out.

Regardless of step 23, your fish could also be , which is a recently described species and therefore does not appear in the key. F. yarigui differs from these other species by having the median anterior lateral row of plates diamond-shaped, instead of hexagonal.

Cheers, Eric

I don't think it's an F. Acus based on length of snout by comparison of images on the site.
Using the image above with the ruler the distance between snout tip and mouth is 5/8in or 0.625in, so if interorbital width (distance between eyes) is say 0.25 then SML/IOD= 2.5. Then: "23b. Snout-mouth length/interorbital width (Fig. 2) > 1.9 in adult male; outer rays (except outermost ray) of lower caudal fin lobe darkly pigmented from fin base to tip but may be interrupted by clear ocellus bar ...Farlowella vittata." I will need to check caudal fin

If IOD is 0.375(3/8) then SML/IOD= 1.666r then: Step 24 ff. Which will require a little more visual exploration of current F. sp attributes
Realistically, though, I think a narrower IOD is more likely <0.25in leading to the F. vittata determination.

People ask "What do you do for fun?" Me, "I keep fish." Perception is a 10g with neon gravel and a goldfish. I should spend my time studying for a PhD in ichthyology so I can id my fish.

fishguy1978 wrote: ↑14 May 2020, 17:43People ask "What do you do for fun?" Me, "I keep fish." Perception is a 10g with neon gravel and a goldfish. I should spend my time studying for a PhD in ichthyology so I can id my fish.

#Lifegoals!

@fishguy1978, in your photo above, the structures you circled are not odontodes. Those are the keels along the lateral plates. The odontodes, when present, are on the face and snout; they can look like whiskers or like fuzz along the sides, like this:
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/im ... ge_id=2644.

Cheers, Eric

P.S., I've revised the key to the genus to include all more recent species (HERE). If you can get a better view of the sides (perfectly horizontal, not angled up or down), we can eliminate F. yarigui.

Cheers, Eric

Ok, measured the IOD= 0.25

More pictures:

Here is a better side shot:

28a. Snout-mouth length/interorbital width (Fig. 2) > 1.9 in adult male; outer rays (except outermost ray) of lower caudal fin lobe darkly pigmented from fin base to tip but may be interrupted by clear ocellus bar ...Farlowella vittata

Fairly certain.

Agreed.

@bekateen thank you for your help

Anytime.

Can you tell if I have m/f/mm/ff from these pics of my p. maccus.

Probably too young to tell. Largest fish has slight roughness along caudal peduncle and might be male, and likewise the smaller fish already has a rounded midsection - might indicate female. But I wouldn't bet on it for either fish.

See this photo comparing mature male and female: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/im ... e_id=19895

My males get almost as fat as the females, so I can't sex them by body contour or taper.



Cheers, Eric

I will take a look at the nether regions when I get home. Thanks

Here are their nether regions:

Yes I believe the bigger fish is male, and the smaller female. Even so, I wouldn't be 100% confident yet.... maybe 90%.

Cheers, Eric

Well, sadly, I lost the Farlowella. I didn’t see any trauma, I have been supplementing agle tablets.

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully better success next time.

Regards, Eric

Picked up another Clown.