Bulldog/Rubberlip Pleco - Chaetostoma sp.

[Wills]

In planning for one of my 300 litre tanks I've been looking for Central American catfish and that search threw up a coupe of Ancistrus and Chaetostoma species so while I went down that rabbit hole I came across both the Striped and Spotted forms of the Bulldog Pleco and their profiles on Seriously Fish and Planet Catfish have words to the effect of them benefiting from harder and alkaline water.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/chaetostoma-sp https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/chaetostoma-cf-thomsoni/

Neither of these are the Chaetostoma species from Costa Rica/ Panama that I was looking for (seems highly unlikely to find any non domestic bred Central American fish in the hobby, though thats a longer story) which I would expect to fit into that descriptor of harder, alkaline waters. But these two species come from Colombia, in particular the Rio Orinoco and some of its tributaries.

I just wondered if I could get a couple of opinions from people as it first opens up a good option for my tank with my 7.4ph and 16/17gh water? I note their requirements for cooler, highly oxygenated and higher flow tank too which I can provide and which fits with the other species I want to keep .

Then secondly, how do we interpret this info overall? Presumably if there is a habitat for these plecos what other fish from the Rio Orinocco region would do well in my waters? I'll add this species Chaetostoma Joropo to the mix, comes from two of the same regions as Chaetostoma Formosa and is stated as being supplied to the hobby with Formosa via bycatch or 'contamination'.

https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=6595

This profile states conductivity rather than hardness - which when high can indicate a high TDS which can imply harder water, though I appreciate TDS could just mean there is a lot of leaf litter so it could be a little inconclusive but the compatibility section is particularly interesting.

In nature, this species occurs with other Loricariids (Chaetostoma dorsale, C. formosae, C. platyrhynchus, Panaqolus maccus and Lasiancistrus tentaculatus) as well as crenuchids (Characidium gr. boavistae, C. chupa and C. cf. steindachneri), parodontids (Parodon apolinari), characids (Bryconamericus cismontanus, B. cristiani, Creagrutus bolivari, C. taphorni, C. maculosus, Hemibrycon metae and Salminus hilarii), heptapterids (Cetopsorhamdia orinoco, Phenacorhamdia macarenensis and Rhamdia quelen), cetopsids (Cetopsis orinoco and C. coecutiens), aspredinids (Hoplomyzon sexpapilostoma), trichomycterids (Trichomycterus knerii, Ochmacanthus alternus, Schultzichthys bondi and S. gracilis), apteronotids (Apteronotus albifrons), and cichlids (Crenicichla saxatilis).

Sexy reading eh! But just to pull out a few that stand out to me Panaqolus Maccus - the Clown Pleco, Lasiancistrus Tentaculatus, Parodon Apolinari (which I saw annoyingly recently!) Potentially Hemibrycon Metae if this is Hephessobrycon Metae and Apteronotus Albifrons the Black Ghost Knife Fish... and when you read up on some of their profiles these do state a range of hardness that goes much higher than I would expect for South American species.

You can probably tell I'm quite excited by this and really interested to see others thoughts on this.

Wills

 

[Wills]

I guess no one else is as excited lol

 

[AlexT]

I guess no one else is as excited lol

On the bright side, you have not got multiple tank syndrome. You are far too methodical and patient.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

On the bright side, you have not got multiple tank syndrome. You are far too methodical and patient.

Oh no, he definitely has. He's just high-functioning and hides it well....

 

[Wills]

Oh no, he definitely has. He's just high-functioning and hides it well....

I mean I'm going to pick up tank number 6 on Sunday so probably in deep by this stage...

Wills

 

[DoubleDutch]

 

[Wills]

Just to blow some dust off this one and just challenge the perception that South America is exclusively a soft water habitat I wanted to share this video

Like @DoubleDutch I am a big Oliver Lucanus fan so very excited by this video you might even spot my comment with replies on the post but to share here it went like this

@WillsAquarist
You're providing a real service with these videos thank you! I'm interested in the limestone bed of this location and the species found here - does that mean that the water is harder than you'd usually expect from South America?

@belowwater
yes, mineral clay and limestone, pH is alkaline and quite hard, lots of magnesium

@WillsAquarist
You're providing a real service with these videos thank you! I'm interested in the limestone bed of this location and the species found here - does that mean that the water is harder than you'd usually expect from South America?
@belowwater really interesting do you happen to know any gh or ppm figures? Do you think it would be fair to keep some of these species in harder water in aquariums?

@belowwater
@WillsAquarist yes, certainly. H.eques did perfectly fine outside at 14 Celsius and pH 7.8 in my well water in Canada. Sorry I do not have the actual values, these measurements are always taken in peak dry season when we travel, so i am not sure how relevant they are. Much of the Serra de Bodoquena is karst limestone (that is why there are cave systems and cave fish).

I just find it interesting there are karst habitats in locations that previously everything is said to be soft and the particular interest in this location is there are endemic species that are in the hobby - the Bonita Tetra in particular. Given this report I'm pretty happy with the prospect of finding some fish from here to consider in some of my tanks in the future.

Wills