Once
more we could import the beautiful Snowball Pleco (Hypancistrus
inspector, L102) from the Rio Negro in Brazil. The species can attain a
maximum length of about 18-20 cm and is one of the largest species in
Hypancistrus. However, our fish in stock are currently only 6-12 cm
long.
In
the most current import we found a greater variety of colour-morphs
than usual. Most L102 have large white spots on body and dorsal fin,
thus the popular name snowball pleco. But this time we also received
very finely spotted individuals, as well as dashed ones and almost black
ones. L102 can always be easily recognized by the dark seam of the
dorsal fin, that makes the species unmistakable. So we can be pretty
sure all these colour morphs belong to H. inspector. But these findings
are another good example that plecos can be very variable in respect of
individual pattern and that one should not care too much on that for
determination of the species.
For
our customers: the fish have code 26480-L102-2 (6-8 cm), 26480-L102-3
(8-10 cm), and 26480-L102-4 (10-12 cm) on our stocklist. Please note
that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
