Antennae armor catfish

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Antennae armor catfish
Head of a male catfish

Head of a male catfish

Systematics
Order : Catfish (Siluriformes)
Subordination : Loricarioidei
Family : Armored catfish (Loricariidae)
Subfamily : Hypostominae
Tribe : Ancistrini
Genre : Antennae armor catfish
Scientific name
Ancistrus
Kner , 1854
Brown catfish
From the front: aerial catfish
Albinotic form of an antenna armor catfish
bottom

The antenna catfish ( Ancistrus , Syn .: Xenocara ), also called antenna catfish , are a genus of the armor catfish and the largest group within the subfamily Ancistrinae . New species are often described, about 75 species are currently known. Type species is Ancistrus cirrhosus (originally Hypostomus cirrhosus ).

Because of their conspicuous appearance, the uncomplicated keeping of many species and their reproduction in captivity, aerial armor catfish are often kept in the aquarium hobby.

distribution and habitat

Antenna armored catfish live in northern and central South America , their habitat extends to the Río de la Plata in the south and to Suriname in the north . Most species live in rivers. Overall, however, the populated habitats are diverse. They range from fast-flowing rivers to stagnant bodies of water in floodplains and swamps.

features

Typical is a more or less dorsoventrally flattened body structure and a suction mouth with numerous fine teeth. The interoperculare (a bone of the gill cover ) is covered with spiky skin teeth, the odontodes , and can almost always be turned out. The operculare (another bone of the gill cover) is usually also freely movable. The sides of the body are armored with bone plates, which in many cases also have skin teeth. The abdomen and the first quarter of the head are bare. The most obvious feature are tentacle-like attachments on the front part of the head. In the males of some species these can also branch, in females they are less pronounced or absent entirely.

Way of life

Ancistrus eat like all loricariids mainly on algae and periphyton , but are not pure vegetarians. They live strongly on the ground and only swim short distances freely. Antenna armored catfish are very peaceful towards non-species fish. Internally, the territorial males can become very aggressive towards each other, especially during spawning time. For reproduction, caves are preferred, on the walls of which the female attaches up to 200 orange-colored eggs about three millimeters in size in a cluster. The clutch is guarded by the male. The larvae hatch after about five days. They then feed on their yolk sac for about five more days. Then they leave the shelter and look for food independently.

Systematics

Ancistrus cirrhosus
Ancistrus triradiatus

Code system in aquaristics

A code system was introduced for aquarists in 1988, the so-called L numbers . The reason for this was the import of highly diverse, as yet undescribed armored catfish. The "L" comes from their family name Loricariidae , the number refers to the order of publication in DATZ .

See also

Web links

Commons : Antennen-Armischwelse ( Ancistrus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Axel Zarske: Ancistrus Kner, 1854. Antennenwelse. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 52 f.
  • Günther Sterba : Freshwater fish in the world. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89350-991-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ T. Geerinckx, M. Brunain, A. Herrel, P. Aerts, and D. Adriaens (2007): A head with a suckermouth: a functional-morphological study of the head of the suckermouth armored catfish Ancistrus cf. triradiatus (Loricariidae , Siluriformes). Belg. J. Zool., 137, pp. 47-66. ( PDF ).