Okay, I've had a small collection of "Just Another Fantastic Ancistrus" (JAFAs for short) for a while and haven't bothered identifying them. They've now spawned and I guess I should figure out what they are, aye?

Originally obtained by kylefish from caserole, who I believe purchased them imported as A. Tamboenesis but not 100% sure about that. They look a lot like the "bushinose" ancistrus and have identical body shape to the "white spot head" ancistrus - both referring to the names given of fish imported and sold last year by NZ Discus.

My camera is currently on vacation on the South Island, but I'll (hopefully) have some pics up when it returns tomorrow.

Spawn date: 8/04/07

Hatch date: 14/04/07

Differences when compared to "Common Bristlenose" -

Spots on these ancistrus are more defined and regularly spaced, length of body is shorter between dorsal and caudal fin, profile line is more rounded and a curve of the "lip" is noticable.

There's nothing too flash about these guys, IMO. If you have some that sound like this, post some pics.

JAFA pics -

male (not the daddy in the spawning cave)

female

Thanks in advance for any help with ID, will move this over to PlanetCatfish later if no one can nut it out.

Lol i like the 'JAFA' thing... i woulda put it as just another F*%^&n ancistrus though :lol:

Sorry, cant realy help with ID but they do look nice. well done

Lol i like the 'JAFA' thing... i woulda put it as just another F*%^&n ancistrus though :lol:

Actually, I did. It seems that a moderator decided to rename them. I kinda like Fantastic, tho

They've been keen to go for a while now, but didn't have a proper cave as most of the ends of the bamboo caves have rotted or been eaten out. I rigged something up for them and spawning was almost immediate. Small batch left in there (mebbe 10) cuz I think some of the eggs may have been kicked out and I missed the save. Better luck next time, guys!

lol... great minds think alike.... Post this on planetcat. theres heaps of knowledgeable peeps there who will answer it in a couple hours lol.

Good luck!

Hiya Blue

They look really similar to what we bought as Tamboensis and we have a pair... we are also wanting to look into them. We also go a pair of the "bushinose" that Phil Collis brought over, but they look much different to those.

Heya Afrikan!

Well, it sounds like you have some of the same as I. I'd put money on the fact that they're not A. Tambos, as there isn't any reticulation in the pattern and they aren't growing as large as Tambos. I'll try over at Planetcatfish

far out, alright blue whats the secret in breeding ancistrus.

they look great, are they always this pale in color with dark out line?

let us know what they are if u find out.

LOL, if you've bred common bristlenose and/or GBAs you've bred them all. The male in that pic is the submissive male in the tank, so a bit pale and 'stress-barred', but the female is a good indication of appearance - with a camera flash, of course.

Have posted info/pics on PlanetCatfish - http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 000#111000

Heya

I am going to have a real close look at our ones.. as mine I am pretty sure look a tad different to ones you have pictured Will see if I can get a decent enough shot of them to.

still no positive ID huh. maybe try posting on PF?

still no positive ID huh. maybe try posting on PF?

Have posted info/pics on PlanetCatfish - http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 000#111000

Still no love, aside from confirmation that they definitely aren't sp3. Simple answer may be that they're A. Temminckii, which are normal versions of GBAs. Not worth much in monetary value terms, but good to have a variant along with sp3s and gbas that are easy to breed. 10 days without a water change (need to check with the fish sitter on that) means that these newly hatched F2 gens are tough as nails!

Ah, I should mention that caserole bred the original imported "grandparents" and the offspring - F1s - were passed on to kylefish, who passed them on to me. We at least know that they're 2 generations bred in captivity now...

I have been having a good look at mine the last few days while feeding out and with what we bought, they definately don't look like your ones pictured above blue. It's a shame I don't at this stage have a good enough camera to take a real close up shot like your ones.

Just had another look and even lifted the male and female up on bog wood under light, they have lines on them not spots.

Pretty much what Planetcatfish observed as well. Definitely not the sp3 "common" which has the line at base of caudal. But as mentioned previously, the body shape, head shape, nose shape - it's all different when compared side by side. If you ever saw the "white spot head" bristlenose imported by NZ Discus, it's the same fish without the spots, just a bit bigger. I couldn't tell them apart when stressed, so they cohabitated a tank with 3 of the white spot heads until a bad water change killed the three wild caught white spots and left me with these, obviously tougher due to being aquarium bred.

How long ago did you get what you bought as Tamboensis?

I got mine from a recent lot. Just a bit odd mine look so different to your ones.

I got some of those ones from Phil, have a pair.

Sorry, thought I clarified that. They're definitely not tamboensis. They were bred from imports so this would be something else.

Did you buy them labelled as Tamboensis tho?

The parents were purchased labeled as hoplogenys, according to caserole. Can be certain that's not a correct ID, either.