What am I ???

[Francois van Brederode]

Hello,
My name is Fritzl.
I am 20/25mm long.
My owner bought me yesterday, but he does not know what I am.

Please help me find my Latin name

Here are some pictures of me:








My owner thinks I am some kind of Gastromyson species, but that is the end of his knowledge.
The handy species index on lol doesn't make it any clearer.

Thanks in advance

[ch.koenig]

hi françois
it's a gastromyzon zebrinus ... and in good company I hope?
cheers charles

[Francois van Brederode]

It is definitly not a zebrinus. (unless young zebrinus have very different markings)

It is in a tank with zebrinus now, and they are so different.
Also the blue colour is more to the green then the zebrinus.

I thought it was one to, until I saw them side by side.

It is in Catsandfish hillstream tank at the moment learning that big sewellia are defensive of their chosen territory.
He looks very happy (perhaps a bit skinny)

[ch.koenig]

hi françois
I can understand your doubts. H.H. Tan transmitted me for your pictures the info that he has some specimen with similar pattern from the trade and put them tentatively to zebrinus as the origins are not known.
we had this discussion here
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
of course there is always the possibility of a new species. may be we shall know more with your specimen growing or a result by Tan's search.
cheers charles

[Francois van Brederode]

Hi Charles,

I must apologise to the master then.

Fritzzl looks very much like this one from your post:



Its just that the markings are so well defined and the colours so bright that still put a doubt in my mind.
(offcourse I hope it to be unique or new...)

I'll treat it as a zebrinus for the moment.
Untill it suprises me.

Thank you

[ch.koenig]

hi françois
I know. but I remember also my doubts then and the desperate browsing in "borneosuckers"
cheers charles

[plaalye]

Nice find Francois! Whatever it is it's beautiful!! How nice Charles to have the ear of Dr. Tan. Thanks for sharing!!

[CatsandFish]

Little Fritzl is growing (now at 3.2 cm TL) and turning out one bold Gastromyzon, this little fish even competes with my biggest Lineolata's 5.7 and 6.3 cm and when it comes to Hikari wafer time it forms a tagteam with my 2 female spotted Sewellia's





Just for comparisation: is this a Stellatus or a Zebrinus ?



This one is also around 3 cm in length i have 2 more but they are very shy and live on the other side of the tank compared to Fritzl.
There is much dislike between Fritzl and the other 3 where the latter ones are always grouping together, Fritzl prefers the company of the Ctenocephalus' and Sewellia

[ch.koenig]

hi
little Fritzzl is becoming a real dominant female! looking very good. the question about zebrinus or not is still open. as far I can see the stripes are becoming broader? the behaviour is in my eyes tipical for strong females. I've seen that in farragus, ocellatus, stellatus, viriosus and zebrinus, not in ctenocephalus, scitulus. there the males are dominant. but that's always a question of adult size. only for stellatus I can positively say that females grow very large, 6.5 cm an I havent seen a male of that size out of 20 in my tank and in tanks of friends many more.
about stellatus/zebrinus: I have several of that type together with zebrinus as the shape of the head is zebrinus-like - looking from ventral side. the markings are al little confusing sometimes, but there is time to decide. let them grow.
I'll add your pictures to a mail to H.H.Tan next time.
cheers charles

[Jim Powers]

Interesting looking fish.
The bottom pic looks more like stellatus to me, but I will defer to Dr. Tan on that.

[ch.koenig]

just some pictures about the "zebrinus-complex"
hope you enjoy it









as you can see, Frizzl is really good looking! hard to find a match
cheers charles

[plaalye]

Lovely fish Charles! One of my favorites and such variation in markings! There were some like yours in the bottom, middle, show up here a while back. I got two!

I've never seen the ones with the long, clear stripes! always looking!!