Taxonomy
Order: Siluriformes
Suborder: Loricarioidei
Family: Loricariidae
Subfamily: Hypostominae
Genus: Scobinancistrus
Species: Scobinancistrus aureatus, Burgess, 1994
Description
The Scobinancistrus aureatus L14 is a very well introduced species in the aquarium hobby, that is also regularly imported.
This pleco can grow quite big, around 35 cm and is therefore a large-growing species.
Small specimens look really different than adult ones.
When they are young they have a beautiful coloration; an almost black ground coloration with orange-colored fins and big yellow spots over the whole body. Sometimes those spots are so big that they are connected as lines.
When this pleco gets adult it will loose those orange fins and the spots will get smaller. Some only keep a small colored band on the border of the fin. Adults have more and smaller spots in the fins instead of the yellow-orange coloration. The fins and the body have then almost the same color.
When stressed, this pleco shows large white/light stains over its body.
Typical for the Scobinancistrus spp. are the spoon-shaped teeth. They have only 3 teeth on the upper jaw and also on the lower jaw.
Also they have a bare belly, mostly white or yellow colored.
The meaning of aureatus in Latin is golden, referring to the orange colored fins.
Scobinancistrus aureatus is in the aquarium hobby also known under de name Sunshine Pleco or Goldie Pleco.
Distribution and habitat
Scobinancistrus aureatus is endemic to the Rio Xingu. There it inhabits the rocky substrates in shallow to deep waters. The streaming is moderate-flowing.
There the L14 lives mostly on the stones and between tree trunks and roots.
Diet
In the nature the Scobinancistrus aureatus have mostly aquatic snails in their diet.
Because they are not so difficult eaters you can give they a lot of different food in captivity. It is possible to feed for example frozen food like insect larvae, shrimps, mussels and fish meat.
But also dried food will be taken good. I fed my big L14 mostly with Futterdose Snail soft granulate, EBO Mussel soft granulate and EBO Shrimp sticks.
They don't need green food, although they will take it.
Because the teeth are so big it is possible that they break off. Also it is normal that they loose teeth from time to time. These will grow back.
Aquarium
Aquarium 180 - 200 cm
To keep this species you need a large aquarium since they grow large in adulthood. In addition to growing large, it is also a very aggressive species when adult. Under certain circumstances, they can injure each other with their huge teeth.
When you want to keep several adult specimens in one aquarium, there must be numerous hiding places, in which the animals can hide. For example, caves, stones or stone plates and wood can be used to build the hiding places.
Another thing that is really important with this species, is the oxygen. They are really sensitive and can die rather fast when filters stop running. Often they are the first ones to die from too little oxygen in the tank.
The water quality is also important, so a good filter is necessary together with a streaming pump.
Sex difference
Those two specimens are huge, and the male is the biggest pleco we photographed so far. The bigger foto-tank with around 40 cm length, seemed almost to small for this huge fish. Nonetheless, the foto-shoot worked well, even though we had to take care not to ruin our camera, because this fish causes almost tsunamis in the foto-tank when it starts to splash around.
Sexing Scobinancistrus aureatus L14 is in most cases quite easy, since it shows a relatively clear sexual dimorphism.
From the side we notice, that the male is higher, especially where the dorsal fin starts. After that point the silhouette starts to drop steeper down to the tail area. The female shows a more curved back line.
Also the heads show differences from the side view. While the male has a shorter but rounder and more massive head, the head of the female ends pointy and is in general flatter.
A close up of the gills, reveals longer odontodes by the male, compared to the female.
The same counts for the hard ray of the pectoral fins. The male shows a more massive hard ray with a lot of long odontodes on it.
Not always easy to see with the eye, but more easy to feel with the hands, are the small odontodes on the tail region of the male. While the female is mostly smooth all over the body, the male shows rather small odontodes around the borders of the skin-plates.
Also the silhouette from top is different with each sex. The male shows a really huge head and shows a straight body line till the tail. The tail region is a bit more massive. The female shows a smaller head and the broadest part of the body around the belly region. Gravid females show this even more. We can also see, that the pectoral and pelvic fins show more distance by the female, as with the male.
The typical head shape of L14 males is square-shaped. There is males, which show it way more, than this specimen does. Still in comparison it's a more massive but shorter looking head, than the females pointy and long head.
To judge this species sex only by the papilla can be difficult, since the papilla shape itself looks rather similar with male and female and also depends on how far it is extended outside of the body. One thing we can clearly see here again are yellow spots around the females papilla. If the overall more yellowish belly and the missing oval plate between anal fin and papilla of the female are also a sexing indicators, is something we have to compare with more specimens.
Reproduction and breeding
The Scobinancistrus aureatus are bred in the aquarium.
They are cave breeders and lay around 150 yellow-orange eggs. Also with this species, the male takes care of the eggs and youngsters.
Soon we will write a breeding report with pictures and videos of our breeding experience with the L14.
Below is a sneak preview of a 4 cm young one.
Literature
Burgess, W.E. (1994).
Scobinancistrus aureatus, a new species of Loricariid catfish from the Rio Xingu (Loricariidae: Ancistrinae).
Tropical Fish Hobbyist, 42 (1): 236 - 424
