Ancistrus sp. 3 and sp. 4

Loricariidae

The type is Ancistrus cirrhosus; the fish is widespread in Rio Parana, Argentina. The identity of the fish available in LFS as Ancistrus sp. 3, currently defined as Ancistrus cf cirrhosus has been questioned; it has been argued that the fish, or some of the individuals nowadays described as Ancistrus sp. 3, may be hybrids. See Ingo Seidel, "The identity of the common bristlenose"; Shane Linder, Ancistrus 101, Part 1 • The Basics.

Loricariidae: from the Latin lorica (= corselet, alluring to the armoured thoracic area of the fish); Ancistrus: from the Greek angistron meaning hook), referring to the hooked interopercular odontes of the fish.  

 14-16 cm TL.

Mature males have a "bushy" nose, i.e. soft tentacles growing on their snout. Females may also have some growths on the snout though these are nowhere near as thick and well pronounced as the male's. The fish has not been formally described as there is no original locality information; in addition, as this fish has been bred (and interbred) in aquaria for a number of years a number of "varieties" are available. 

Adult males have thick fleshy growths (tentacles) on the snout; a number of these tentacles split at the ends giving a forked appearance. Females do not usually have these tentacles; those that do have considerably smaller and thinner growths at the edge of the snout only. Males have a ridge in the snout starting from the middle of the eyes and ending at the edge of the snout. Males are overall bigger and more slender than the females who are chubbier around the middle of their body.

The fish can be found all over South America.

6-8

25° C - 30° C. We have kept and bred the fish in these temperatures. It is reported that the fish will tolerate lower temperatures of 22^oC.

The fish does well in a number of parameters, though we have observed best growth of young in medium hard, neutral water. 

Herbivores. It is reported that the fish benefit from rasping on bogwood as lignin is essential for them. When young it is important to be fed a vegetable diet; ours do well on detritus too, which leads us to believe that they may benefit from the half digested food of other fish.  This makes some sense considering that in nature ancistrus feed on aufwuchs. Adults appreciate meaty foods though it is reported that meaty diets may lead to disorders of their digestive system.

We have kept this fish with a variety of non-aggressive middle and top water fish and they did very well. We have also kept them with small, medium and large loricariids of varying temperaments. Ancistrus will not harass other fish and learn to co-habit pretty easily. Having said that the fish will defend its young gallantly, often putting his own life in extreme danger.

Peaceful small and medium size fish is the obvious choice. If you plan to breed the fish make sure their tank mates will not hurt the wrigglers once they are out of the cave.

Soft wood (bogwood) is the obvious choice. Sand substrate is preferred. The fish will damage plants while rasping on the leaves.

The smallest tank we have ever kept our fish in is a 100 lit tank, for a short period of time. A pair can be comfortably kept in a 40 lit tank provided it has sufficient floor surface for the fish to move around. Males will engage in territorial fights; it is important to remember this when arranging the layout of the tank. Males spawn with more than one female at a time, if this option is available. This should also be taken into account when deciding the male to female ratio in a colony.

If placed in the right environment the fish will rarely be seen in the open. The will move in between pieces of wood rasping all day long. The fish cope better than others with poor environmental conditions though, of course, this is not a reason for relaxing aquarium hygiene.

The fish will spawn in self dug tunnels, inside wood cavities (which we found are their preferred locations) or inside clay or slate caves. For a breeding report see Keeping and Breeding Ancistrus sp. 3;  Shell-dwelling Bristlenoses