Farlowella (load warning)

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Apr 2, 2002
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New York
Here is the pictureless thread http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...words-Here-s-2-000-words-re-Farlos&highlight=

I am awful at secxng fish. But I always felt that the rostrum ("long nose") on the males was thicker and darker than that of the females.

I had 3 and was lucky two were females because I lost the first mom after a few spawns and then the 2nd female stepped up and continued the tradition. One note, I have had a lot of fish spawn in my tanks over the years. The farlo fry were the absolute most difficult to raise I have ever encountered.
 

Narwhal72

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Aug 13, 2009
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Congratulations, You have a really great fish there. From the picture of the belly scutes you can see that there are three rows of scutes which makes the fish Farlowella mariaelenae and not the more common Farlowella vittata. This is a rare treasure you got there!

Farlowella are more commonly called "twig" catfish and not "Whiptails". Whiptail cats are members of the Hemiloricaria genus and do not have the snout extension that the Farlowella have. Whiptails are bottom dwellers that spend some or most of their time buried in sand while Twig cats spend most of their time clinging to submerged branches.

I just picked up a colony of 8 Farlowella vittata in hopes of breeding them.

Good luck with your fish. I hope it does well.

Andy
 

Kaosu

AC Members
Oct 22, 2010
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Congratulations, You have a really great fish there. From the picture of the belly scutes you can see that there are three rows of scutes which makes the fish Farlowella mariaelenae and not the more common Farlowella vittata. This is a rare treasure you got there!

Farlowella are more commonly called "twig" catfish and not "Whiptails". Whiptail cats are members of the Hemiloricaria genus and do not have the snout extension that the Farlowella have. Whiptails are bottom dwellers that spend some or most of their time buried in sand while Twig cats spend most of their time clinging to submerged branches.

I just picked up a colony of 8 Farlowella vittata in hopes of breeding them.

Good luck with your fish. I hope it does well.

Andy

oh wow..thank you very informative!!! ^_^ ..lets see if i can get the thread name changed.
 

Kaosu

AC Members
Oct 22, 2010
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Congratulations, You have a really great fish there. From the picture of the belly scutes you can see that there are three rows of scutes which makes the fish Farlowella mariaelenae and not the more common Farlowella vittata. This is a rare treasure you got there!

Farlowella are more commonly called "twig" catfish and not "Whiptails". Whiptail cats are members of the Hemiloricaria genus and do not have the snout extension that the Farlowella have. Whiptails are bottom dwellers that spend some or most of their time buried in sand while Twig cats spend most of their time clinging to submerged branches.

I just picked up a colony of 8 Farlowella vittata in hopes of breeding them.

Good luck with your fish. I hope it does well.

Andy

questions for you!

ok can you show me in a little more detail how to tell them the Farlowella mariaelenae and Farlowella vittata apart? what are the belly scutes?
can you previde picutres im really more of a visual person. This is very exciting i have been doing some research on the mariaelenae but there dose not seem to be to much about them. any more info would be great!

thank you.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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New York
Andy is correct. I misidentified them.

According to PlanetCatfish the mariaelenae normally are:
Commonly imported mixed in with the more common Farlowella vittata with which it shares its habitat. F. mariaelenae can be distinguished by its thinner rostrum and three, versus two in F. vittata, rows of belly scutes.
The scutes are the external bony scale-like plates you see running down the belly of the fish. If you look at my vitatta pics you will see there are two rows running down the belly. On your fish there are three rows.

Good luck finding more :)
 

Kaosu

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Oct 22, 2010
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Andy is correct. I misidentified them.

According to PlanetCatfish the mariaelenae normally are:


The scutes are the external bony scale-like plates you see running down the belly of the fish. If you look at my vitatta pics you will see there are two rows running down the belly. On your fish there are three rows.

Good luck finding more :)

aahh i see that now...how neat this is awesome.

i have never even seem the .vittata for sale around here let alone these guys the search is on^_^

don't know if ill ever find another one but ill keep an eye out! i have a few lfs who will do special orders for me....sooo we shall see!
 

Narwhal72

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Aug 13, 2009
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Farlowella catfish are pretty commonly available. But as you now know most of them are F. vittata and not the F. mariaelenae that you have. If you get a good look at the belly that is how you tell them apart.

Andy
 

bgourami320

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Jun 13, 2010
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Lucky you very nice:) I love these guys. I got a whiptail, pretty sure it's Rinelorcaria parva. My guy is very shy, he hides under wood and rock ledges in my tank. At least you get to see yours in action. Enjoy him!
 

DougsGraphics

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Try 3 at this post!!! Darn server!
I love Farlowellas! Kept them many times over the years. Since Aquarium Glaser recently realeased some Peruvian Farlowella oxyrryncha into the market, you could have one of these rarities! I just can't find a good guide to all the many species of these twig cats.
 

Kaosu

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Oct 22, 2010
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SSOo....payday came around I went to my LFS for some rainbows and shrimp...

happened to glance at a tank that had farlowella marked on it they just got a shipment in and guess what?!?!?!..there were about 10 in the tank ..and out of all of them there was one mariaelenae!!!.^_^ i

its about 2 inches long..Im so happy!!!!!
DSC07028.JPGDSC07031.JPGDSC07032.JPGDSC07033.JPG


they also had some royal farlowella..i want a few of those to!!

DSC07028.JPG DSC07031.JPG DSC07032.JPG DSC07033.JPG
 
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