Firstly I would like to thank spooky and all my friends and the vcs members that have backed me up through all of this .
Now for all you self proclaimed experts out there who were prepared to comment without knowing that facts.
In an attempt to sort all of this out, I took a trip to Aquarium Industries today and purchassed a trio of
A. Leucosticus, Orange spotted Bristlenose.
(this is exactly how the fish is listed with Aquarium Industries)
We (Spooky and I) have taken a few Photos of what was obtained today.
Here is a pic of the fish posted previously by myself and Spooky, which is of approximately the same size (the fish) as the above pix. (note the gravel size 6mm in both lots of pix)
Please take a good look at the above pic, note the difference in head (and in fact overall shape), there is a unique cratering (are you gonna flame me for that too?) in the top of the head, possibly not too obvious at first glance. This is consistent through juvenile to adult fish, as can be seen in the following pix.
Next we go to colouration or markings.
Yes the fish have a couple of similar orangish markings on pectoral and dorsal fins, but thats where the similarity ends! (if you've had a good look at the pics so far that is)
Note the difference in the size and regularity of the spotting and indeed the colour of the spotting.
I might add at this point, that I and spooky actually had 20 between the two of us to begin with and all 20 of those juvenile fish were identical to each other complete with head cratering!
(Neither Peppermint nor regular/garden variety Bristlenose exhibit this trait, and believe me, I checked all mine, and I have plenty, before posting this!)
So all the people that I'm sure will say NOW that these fish are crossed, one word, research!
Also very unimpressed about having to upset lots of happily spawning catfish in an attempt to prove a point to a couple of prawns from the other side of the country who just know it all!
The following pix are of our adult fish (which is the full brother from the same batch of the fish in pic #4 (above) which is now about 2 years old)
Follow the link as its the closest resembling fish that we could find including using the LATEST Aqualog Loricariidae all L- Numbers hardcover, for those assuming that we are using a 5 year old outdated book.
L182The last Photo shows the same fish as previously pictured out of the water.
Thanks to Spooky for being the hand model in the pic
We are yet to see a picture of any of "your" adult or otherwise orange/red spot bristlenose.
As for the very clever remarks from Alan and Shaun regarding Victorian Fish keeping, update your books, do some more research and in a couple of years you may be able to talk to us!
I am not prepared to go through each and every post and quote all your erroneous comments then pick them apart, which you all really deserve anyway, I will simply say that the fish I advertised is most definitely not the fish you all assumed it to be which should be obvious even to the untrained eye.
I am sure however that you will not consider anything outside your little box and can find some more ridiculous arguments to further your cause.
I hope on the other hand that you might consider that someone outside your own little clique can have fish you haven't yet seen in this country.
In closing, any attempt to slander what has been said in this post will not be answered. If it is of a constructive nature (which I hope that it is) maybe the fish in question can be identified properly.
Cheers
Geoff...