Re: Scott's boring aquascape
scottturnbull said:
Otocinclus (Macrospilus?) enjoying the Bolbitis.
Looks like it to me

The dark black stripe clearly breaks from the black 'spot' which is hexagonal in shape. This fish has wonderful looking fins when watching from above swimming. Very wide spread and shark like in shape. very pointed nose with no white line between the black and grey area with large freckled dark grey spots on light grey back. These should stay small.
Although you may see the labels in the shops say affinis or Vitatus you will rarely be getting either of these 2. Neither look anything like the fish you have.
Affinis is nothing like what we think of as Otos in that it is a golden browny colour and the traditional black line we think of is much fainter and again a dark brown rather than black. they also get much bigger than most Otos.
On Vitatus the black line carries on through the body and tail and there is a clear white line between the black and grey area.
Check this page for all the different varieties (There are a few more than this but about the best page I have found for IDs.)
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/ge ... id=49#1083
I have had a few of these from several sources (all labelled affinis) although the ones I currently had (that Saintly brought after a cheeky request

) are the same as yours macrospilus
Macrospilus and Mariae are the prettiest 2 that I have had especially under the light. They are absolutely stunning fish in their own right rather than being just an unpretty worker. I did have 4 Cocama (which were obviously stunning) which I saw for the first couple of days after which I never saw them again!!!
AC