Ancistrus claro
By David Marshall
Written for the October 2004 issue of the Ryedale Reporter, Ryedale Aquarist
Society, England
Aquarticles
As aquarists we can all remember the time when we came across a photograph of a new or
rare fish species and longed for the day when we would be able to obtain such a fish
through our local aquatic retail outlet. My turn came upon viewing such photographs of the
loricarin to which the German aquatic magazine Das Aquarium had given the identification
tag of LDA 08. From the pictures it was clear that this was a Bristlenose Plec. of the loricariidae
subfamily Ancistrinae.
Having the luck to view LDA 08, aquarists on the European mainland had applied the apt
common names of Gold Marbled Bristlenose and Ancistrus 'species Mato Grosso' (it
is now known that the exact location is the Cuiaba River basin in the upper Paraguay River
drainage) to this beautiful little gem, which attains a fully grown size of just under 3
inches, and which comes to us from Brazil. When the scientific community began the arduous
task of putting scientific names to the earliest recorded LDA numbers they decided on the
name of Ancistrus claro (as proposed by Knaack in 1999) for our subject specie.
It would be almost five years from seeing the original photographs before the chance
finally came along for me to purchase a male and two female claro, which came
into a North Yorkshire retail outlet as 'U.K. bred'. The wait had certainly been
worthwhile as the patchwork orange-brown colouration of their young bodies was of an
intensity I had never seen in an Ancistrus species before. As the fish aged so
their colours darkened and become more merged.
Once safely home the three fish were placed into a 30"x12"x12" tank. So
tightly did they cling to their plastic bag that it had, after floating for 30 minutes to
equalise the temperature of bag and tank water, to be cut away around them in order to
initiate release and, after a few moments of shock, they literally fell to the gravel
before fleeing, or flipping as the case was, towards the nearest hiding places. In this
tank they had a large group of Berlin swordtails for company. The pH of the water was 7
and the tank was kept at a temperature of 26 C. Plenty of hiding places were provided in
the shape of variously sized ceramic pots and a halved coconut shell that had an entrance
hole cut into the side that was just big enough for whichever claro was in residency to
squeeze in and out. The leaves of large plastic plants were grazed, in competition with
the swordtails, for algae and micro-organisms.
Like all Ancistrus the claro are very quarrelsome and stake out loose
territories which are held until feeding time when the urge to devour flaked foods, algae
wafers, catfish tablets and any brine shrimp missed by the swordtails brought about a
truce in proceedings. When these fish were at rest you did not know they were around but
when at play, or feuding, they had times when they were extremely hyperactive and not only
could they move pretty quickly but could leap as well.
Although the male, who was easily told apart from the two females as he had larger and
thicker head spines, thought himself as a 'tough guy' and liked to throw his weight
around, the two females were never dominated over and when these two wily ladies had taken
enough torment they simply retreated to their latest territory. Throughout their time with
me all three were never quite sure of a 'human presence' so when the lid was initially
lifted for feeding or my hand went into their tank for maintenance work etc. they would
quickly dart to cover until the lid was returned.
As all three grew, and had reached in excess of 4" in body length, I had
encountered no problems with their care and although no other fish, apart from young
swordtails returning from separate growing on quarters, that could have caused real
problems were added to their tank in the time they were in my care they proved very hardy
and resistant to aquatic diseases and slight falls in the tank pH etc.
Unfortunately nothing had prepared me for their downfall. Now we all know never to tap
upon aquarium glass as the vibration can do great harm to our charges but sometimes such
vibration can fall beyond our control? When a severe thunderstorm hit the Ryedale area the
thunder (which almost shattered our house windows) caused the shelf on which the aquarium
housing my trio of claro was based to vibrate. This caused such panic with the
trio that I had the heartache of seeing them literally roll over and die in front of my
eyes (with some extremely large barbs in two separate aquariums also succumbing to shock).
An experience I would hate to repeat
Sadly I was robbed of the chance to try my hand at breeding claro. From the
scant information I have come across regarding this species it appears that the water
hardness would have had to have been, very slowly, lowered to a pH of 6 in order to make a
breeding attempt possible. Some Ancistrus remain almost seasonal in their
breeding habits, preferring a range between October and December so I would have increased
feedings and water changes etc. around this time.
There would have been no cast iron guarantee that the male and one of the females would
have become compatible or that they would have been willing to reproduce. I have heard
many strange stories, over the years, about how a spawning of Ancistrus was
'aquarist induced ' and the strangest of these happened with a local aquarist who was so
convinced that it needed an 'algal bloom' to make a spawning happen that he used a
non-toxic 'green food' for houseplants that he would, in desperation, literally throw into
the tank. It worked but please don't try this at home.
As with other species of Ancistrus a compatible pair would go through a
primitive form of courtship, which varies with both species and individual pairs, before
seeking out a cave-like structure or, like Tatia species, make a hollow
depression into bogwood. Once the female had deposited her eggs she would vacate the
scene, thus leaving her mate to guard the orange coloured eggs. At this point the female
would have been in danger from her mate and would have found sanctuary in one of her usual
hiding places.
About a week after the eggs hatch the fry would have been seen scurrying over the
aquarium substrate and glass etc. trying to feed upon algae and micro-organisms. Their
growth would have been assisted, once it was ascertained that they no longer had a yolk
sac, through feeding crushed algae tablets, boiled nettles and trying to get them to eat
live brine shrimp.
Hopefully the breeding of this specie will continue in aquaria and I am keeping my eyes
open for another young trio or group of Ancistrus claro.
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