The large wood-eating Panaque of the relationship around P. nigrolineatus are fantastic fishes. Juveniles are almost splendidly colored, so also L191, a species which is still not described scientifically. L191 originates from Colombia. According to the available information the native area is the Rio Caguán in Caquetá. Particularly splendid is with young L191 the green shimmer, which the animals show.
L191 is exported again and again mixed with a quite similar species, the L190. This is probably the “real” P. nigrolineatus, but the experts are still bickering. Easiest distinguishing feature in juveniles is eye color: red in L190, yellowish, grayish or blackish in L191. The pattern of both species is very variable. By the way, they do not occur together, L190 comes from another area in Colombia (drainages of the Rio Meta and the Rio Orituco). The two species are mixed only at the exporter. Mostly they are sold as a mix, you should know this if you want to build breeding groups.
Among themselves the large Panaque – they become consistently over 40 cm long, see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/we_can_big_too_l191_en/) are to some extent compatible, but they fight with each other and demand individual free space. Large aquariums must therefore be planned for if they are to be cared for, also because of the considerable amounts of feces that are produced when caring for these fish. An essential food component of the animals is soft wood. This has hardly any nutrients and therefore a Panaque eats a lot. And who eats a lot, the sh…, um, also puts down a lot of excrement.
For our customers: the animals have code 274404 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
