What in the World?

[mollybabes]

I just got some more Clown loaches, and one died a few days later, when I fished him out, there were thse sharp hook things sticking out just below his eyes. At first I thought they were cat claws, and some cat was going to be in very big trouble, But I realized that there was two and they were both in the same place on either side of his body.

So I got a replacement for him under the warranty, and when I fished that one out of the bag to put him in the tank, I used my hand, and those hook things were out. I put him in the tank rather Quickly, to avoid getting stuck with them.

What are these things?

 

[OrionGirl]

Perfectly normal. Many fish, noticably many bottom dwellers, have these spikes. The spikes are a modified gill plate that is used for defense an establishing dominance. Ancistrus also have them, but don't display them as often as clowns. The spikes can be clicked, quite noisy! You can hear a recording of this at www.loaches.com under audio and video--there's also a video of a botia loach displaying it's spines, very similar to those of a clown.


Moving to Bottom Dwellers. OG

Just a request--you can post all of your tank specs in this forum: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=30 and post a link to your page in your signature. Just helps keep things tidy, so that posts don't take an entire page.

 

[fuddmain]

Also, because of these spines, care should be taken when netting the fish as the spines could snag on the net and lead to the fish being injured. You could also be jabbed. I never had either problem when handling these fish, but it can happen.

~Brian

 

[OrionGirl]

Very good point. I prefer to use a clear container, and chase the fish gently into it, so they can't get snagged in the net and are never removed from the water.

 

[Raithan Ellis]

The name of those "horns" is interopercular odontodes. Evertible spikes can be found to a lesser or greater extent on both sexes of all Loricariids (Plecos) that belong to the sub-family Ancistrinae. This includes the previously mentioned Ancistrus along with many other "L"-numbered plecos such as Baryancistrus, Hypancistrus and Panaque etc. Whether they are an anti-predator mechanism or used in inter pleco territory battles is an open debate. Often I will see my Baryancistrus "Snowball" showing them, espescially when out in the open with her angelfish companions.

 

[OrionGirl]

My male bristlenose has 'spiked' me with them when I inadvertantly picked up the wood he was underneath. Felt like a papercut, though it didn't break the skin. I will see mine slick there's out, similar to the botia video on loaches.com. I've also seen mine flick them out to intimidate a smaller male out of his cave.