Ancistrus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Loricariidae of order Siluriformes. Fishes of this genus are commonly known as the bushynose or bristlenose plecs. In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. ... Genera about 70, see text The armored catfishes are a family Loricariidae of catfish noted for the covering of bony plates covering their bodies. ... Families Akysidae Amblycipitidae Amphiliidae Ariidae Aspredinidae Astroblepidae Auchenipteridae Bagridae Callichthyidae Cetopsidae Chacidae Clariidae Claroteidae Cranoglanididae Diplomystidae Doradidae Hypophthalmidae Ictaluridae Loricariidae Malapteruridae Mochokidae Nematogenyidae Pangasiidae Parakysidae Pimelodidae Plotosidae Schilbeidae Scoloplacidae Siluridae Sisoridae Trichomycteridae Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of fish. ...

Taxonomy

The type species is Ancistrus cirrhosus.^[1] This genus is the largest genus within the tribe Ancistrini.^[2] Type specimens When a new species is discovered, more important than creating a new and unique name for the species is developing a reasonably detailed description. ... In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic classification in between family and genus. ... Genera Acanthicus Ancistrus Baryancistrus Chaetostoma Cordylancistrus Dekeyseria Dolichancistrus Exastilithoxus Hemiancistrus Hopliancistrus Hypancistrus Lasiancistrus Leporacanthicus Leptoancistrus Lithoxus Megalancistrus Neblinichthys Panaque Parancistrus Peckoltia Pseudacanthicus Pseudancistrus Pseudolithoxus Spectracanthicus Ancistrini is a tribe of catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Loricariidae. ...

The name ancistrus derives from the Greek 'agkistron' meaning hook - a refernence to the form of the cheek odontodes. The genera Pristiancistrus, Thysanocara and Xenocara are now synonyms of Ancistrus.^[2]

Appearance and anatomy

Ancistrus sp. clinging to a stone in an aquarium

Ancistrus species show all the typical features of the Loricariidae. This includes a body covered in bony plates and a ventral suckermouth.^[3] The feature most commonly associated with the genus are the fleshy tentacles found on the head in adult males; females may possess tentacles along the snout margin but they are smaller and they lack tentacles on the head.^[3] Tentacules, tentacles directly associated with odontodes, develop on the pectoral fin spine of the males of some species.^[3] Males also have evertable cheek odontodes which are less developed or absent in females. They also lack odontodes along the snout.^[2] In comparison with a typical plec, a bristlenose is typically shorter (15 cm or less), more flattened and fatter with a comparatively wider head. Colouration is typically mottled brown, grey or black. Small white or yellow spots are common.^[2] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 461 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Ancistrus Own picture of my aquarium Author : Dake File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 461 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Ancistrus Own picture of my aquarium Author : Dake File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this... In fishes, a suckermouth is a ventrally orientated (inferior) mouth adapted for grazing on algae and small organisms that grow on submerged objects. ... Odontodes, or dermal teeth, are hard structures found on the external surfaces of animals or near internal openings. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... Plec may refer to: Plecostomus, an aquarium fish Plectrum, a device for plucking or strumming a stringed instrument Category: ...

Distribution and habitat

Ancistrus is one of the widest ranging genera of the family, and representatives are found throughout the range of Loricariidae.^[2] They are found throughout rivers and floodplain areas of the Amazon River in South America. There are also some species, A. cryptophthalmus and A. formoso, that live in caves.^[4] This article is about the river. ... In archaeology, a troglodyte is any member of a primitive tribe of cave-dwelling people (from the Greek troglodytai, from trogle, a hole and dyein, to enter). More recently troglodyte is used to describe a technophobic person; i. ...

Ecology

The diet of this genus is typical for a Loricariid - algae and aufwuchs. Bristlenoses do not school but hide when not feeding, juveniles however are typically found in brightly lit shallows at the water margin making them susceptible to predation by birds. A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Aufwuchs is a term used to cover the small animals and plants that encrust hard substrates, such as rocks, in aquatic environments. ...

Ancistrus species have the capability of obtaining oxygen through their modified stomach.^[5] This allows them to survive in conditions with low oxygen levels.^[2] Hypoxia may refer to: Hypoxia (medical), the lack of oxygen in tissues Hypoxia or Oxygen depletion, a reduced concentration of dissolved oxygen in a water body leading to stress or even death in aquatic organisms This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Breeding takes place in hollows, caves and mud holes in banks. Males may clean the inside of the cavity with their suckermouth before allowing the female to approach and inspect the nest. Courtship includes expanding the dorsal and caudal fins and attempts by the male to escort the female to the nest. While the female inspects the nest, the male keeps close contact.^[3] The female may lay 20-200 adhesive eggs, usually to the ceiling of the cavity.^[3] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The female plays no role in parental care; the male takes care of its young. Males will clean the eggs and the cavity with its fins and mouth. Males inspect eggs to remove diseased or infertile eggs, and aerates the clutch by fanning them with its pectoral and pelvic fins.^[3] During this time, a male usually will not leave the cavity to feed, or will leave only occasionally and quickly return.^[3] The eggs hatch in 4–10 days over a period of 2–6 hours; the male guards the eggs for 7–10 days after hatching.^[3] The fry remain in the cave, attaching to the walls and ceiling with their mouths, absorbing their yolk sac in 2–4 days and becoming free swimming.^[3] The egg yolk is the yellow inside an egg. ...

Males of these species are competitive and territorial. Males display to each other by positioning themselves parallel to each other, head to tail, with dorsal and caudal fins erect and cheek odontode spines everted. If this escalates to combat, the males will circle each other and direct attacks at the head.^[3] If an intruding male manages to evict another male from the nest, it may cannibalize the other male's young.^[3]

A male bristlenose may guard several clutches of eggs simultaneously. Females prefer males that are already protecting eggs and may prefer males that are protecting larvae; it has been suggested that the tentacles may act as a fry mimic to attract females, which would allow males without eggs in their nest to compete with males guarding eggs.^[3] Several clutches in various states of development from eggs to free-swimming larvae can be found in one nest.^[2] A mimic is any species that has evolved to appear similar to another successful species in order to dupe predators into avoiding the mimic, or dupe prey into approaching the mimic. ...

In the aquarium

Female Goldspot Ancistrus Albino (Ancistrus sp. gold albino

These fish are often kept by aquarists as they are dutiful algae-eaters and smaller in adult size than the common plecos usually seen in petshops. They are hardy animals, tolerant to a wide range of water conditions, breeding easily in captivity, compatible with most other freshwater fish, and come in many beautiful colors and patterns. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

Historically commonly available species of Ancistrus were Ancistrus dolichopterus and Ancistrus temminckii, other species are now available though exact identification is difficult.

Size is up to 15 cm (male), 12 cm (female), recommended temperature 23-27 degrees Celsius, lifespan up to 12 years. Feeding is easy, bristlenoses will graze on algae and other surface growing organisms as well as eating algae wafers or tablets, flake food, squash, spinach, cucumber, zucchini, green beans and peas.

Sexing is very easy as the female will occasionally have bristles around the edge of the chin and the male will have them up the center of the head

Breeding is also possible: Males attract female to small cave or hollow, then guard eggs after fertilization through hatching (4-8 days) until fry are free swimming (4-6 days after hatching), the aquarist need only supply a suitable cave, food, and one of each sex. Like other plecs benefit from the addition of bogwood, which they will rasp at and use as a hiding place - in the absence of other plant matter (sources of fibre) wood may be essential to the survival of these fish in the aquarium when fed on typical high protein fish food.^[6] Bogwood is wood preserved in a bog due to anaerobic conditions. ...

Caution should be taken with the spines (odontodes) - although the risk of personal injury is small with this genus the hooked nature of the odontodes means that a bristlenose may become trapped in non-natural material such as sponge filters and netting.

Species

The genus Ancistrus includes at least 59 named species.^[2] Unnamed Loricarrids are typically identified by an L-number and may continue to be so identified (especially outside academic circles). The L-number system is a semi-scientific classification system of catfish based on photographs of shipments of tropical catfish published by the aquarium magazine DATZ (Die Aquarien und Terrarienzeitschrift) Additionally the aquarium magazine Das Aquarium introduced a similar system using the prefix LDA The L-number system is commonly...

Albino Bristle-nose catfish, Ancistrus sp.

Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... A young male Bristlenose Catfish. ...

External links

• Planetcatfish.com - Thumbnails of Ancistrus species
• ITIS Listing for Ancistrus
• How to Keep Bristlenose Plecostomids
• Ancistrinae Internet Lecture by Ingo Seidel (translated from the German) Detailed article on the tribe Ancistrini containing this genus with relevance to fishkeeping and breeding.

References

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ...

See also

• Aquarium
• List of freshwater aquarium fish species