My new Leporinus desmotes...$6!!!

I'm pretty excited about this purchase. I went into Petco the other day to pick up some filter inserts and found a little treasure. I'm not a big fan of the Petco quality of fish, but I think I lucked out this day.

I saw they got a shipment of Leporinus affinis (incorrectly marked as Leporinus fasciatus) and one of them caught my eye right away. Upon closer inspection I realized they must have sent a desmotes by accident and the price tag was $6!! I scooped it right away and put him in my 30 gallon grow-out tank.

Here are some pics. I apologize for the picture quality...my camera sucks.

santoury;811046; said:

Hey
FINALLY somebody else got one! That leaves the moralesi

I do have one, and they are really awesome! Mine is pretty laid back, but likes his area to be "his own." How big is yours?

I was wondering how you distinguished between affinis and fasciatus?
I have one (either one?) and depending on which one mine is, I would like one of the affinis (If mine is a fasciatus?) Which store was this at?

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Nice...they seem like a very interesting fish to have. Mine is about 3" or so. He's still very jumpy, but not as bad as he first was.

The only difference between the affinis and the fasciatus is number of bands. The affinis has nine and the fasciatus has ten. The place to check is by the caudal fin. There is usually a double band on the fasciatus, where the affinis has only one.

I got him at the Petco in Plaistow, NH...right on route 125...just over the MA border. They actually have frontosa there for $9.99. They're little guys, but you can't beat that price.

santoury;812016; said:

Hey
Small guy! Mine is about... I'd say 5 or so inches. He's quite a confident fish. I'm sure he'll settle right in. What are his tankmates?
As for affinis/fasciatus, look at the tail on mine - is the semicircular band immediately touching the caudal, 1/2 of the double band (with the other 1/2 being the one before it) or does this mean I have an affinis?
He seems to have nine bands including the stripe through the eye, BUT one of the bands is starting to split.

Thanks!

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Yeah, he's a little guy.

Right now he's in a 30 gallon grow-out tank with my feeder plays and a couple of baby frontosa (1.5"). He's the boss of that tank, no question...just that he bolts as soon as someone enters the room. He's getting a lot better though and starting to come out when I feed. I saw him nail a couple of the platy fry this morning so he's up for the hunt.

I found some pics that show the difference pretty well. The splitting band is pretty normal for both the affinis and fasciatus. The first pic is the fasciatus and the second pic is the affinis. Does your guy have nine bands including the band that touches the caudal fin and the band through the eye? If so, it's an affinis. They both have that last band touching, or almost touching the caudal fin but the fasciatus has a band immediately after that where the affinis has a thick band spaced out a little more.

I hope this helps. Do you have a full body pic?

santoury, did you ever figure out what species your other guy was?