What are L catfish?
So many catfish have been found and imported in recent years that not all species could be scientifically described and therefore not given scientific names.
Therefore, newly imported fish were presented in words and pictures in the aquarium magazine DATZ. Because German names lead to confusion and practically every importer thinks up their own name, DATZ introduced the so-called L numbers. L stands for Loricariidae, i.e. armored catfish. With the numbering, the newly presented species should be subject to a uniform nomenclature and confusion should be avoided. All species would otherwise be Hypancistrus sp. be called. Name suffixes that refer to the area of origin, appearance or other characteristics are also not clear.
Later, another aquarium magazine «Das Aquarium» also began to present new catfish. However, since it was evidently not possible to agree on a common numbering, the editors of «Das Aquarium» assigned LDA numbers from now on.
Unfortunately, identifying catfish and assigning their L numbers is difficult. For example, different juvenile stages of the same species were presented as different species. They were therefore given several L numbers.
Around 300 L numbers have now been assigned. The animals are often not identified correctly and are sold under the wrong number.
Under certain circumstances, in such cases not even the genus is correctly determined. For example, if you buy a Peckoltia vittata (L 15), you often get an L 103, a small panaque. Incidentally, the real Peckoltia vittata is shown in the Aqualog under the designation L 134.
Many catfish look so similar that even a picture in the literature is of little help in identifying them.
You can look up the L numbers in the DATZ or e.g. B. in the Aqualog book «Loricariidae – All L-Numbers», in which almost all L-catfish are described with a photo. Many species are now also in other books, z. B. the Mergus atlases described.
The example L 46, Hypancistrus zebra or zebra catfish, shows that the L numbers are often used, even if the species was later scientifically described.
A disadvantage of the L numbers is that they do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the genus. Numbers are difficult to remember if there is no reference to the object. The L numbers would make more sense in combination with the genus name, e.g. B. L121 – Peckoltia sp. Only then can a conversation partner at least roughly imagine something if he does not know the species himself.