Rubber-lip Pleco

Looks how to spot one

Armoured suckermouth catfish

A compact, bony-plated catfish with a broad head and a wide, rubbery sucker mouth that it uses to cling to stones in fast water and scrape food from them. Mature males grow a little larger, show more pronounced bristle-like odontodes, and develop a thickened anal-fin ray edged with fleshy ridges.13

Personality what they are like

Peaceful toward open-water tankmates but likes to claim its own patch of the bottom, so it may squabble with other rubbernose plecos. It settles best in a tank set up around its needs rather than a busy mixed community.1

Daily activity how busy a day looks

An active grazer that comes from swift, clear, oxygen-rich streams. It enjoys strong current and plenty of rock surfaces to move over.12

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Keep water cool for a tropical fish, about 20 to 24 C, with pH 6.5 to 7.8 and hardness 8 to 25 dGH. Strong filtration, good water movement and high oxygen levels suit it, along with regular partial water changes to keep the water clean.12

Home where they are happiest

Seriously Fish gives a minimum tank base of 120 x 30 cm (about 108 litres). Recreate a rocky stream bed with smooth boulders, pebbles and some wood, plus a powerful filter or extra pump to create flow.12

Food basics what goes in the bowl

In the wild it grazes the biofilm (aufwuchs) on rocks, taking algae along with tiny crustaceans and insect larvae. In the aquarium offer algae-rich surfaces, frozen or live foods such as bloodworm, Daphnia and Artemia, vegetables, and good sinking dried foods once it learns to take them.1

Company who they like around

Can live alone or with calm fish that use the middle and upper water. Give each rubbernose pleco its own space, as they can be territorial with their own kind.1

The story where it all began

This pleco was known to fishkeepers under several L-numbers and was often sold under the wrong name, Chaetostoma thomsoni, before Ballen described it scientifically in 2011. It is one of about 48 species in a genus of Andean foothill stream catfishes.124

Recognised by the official bits

Taxonomy

Formally described by Ballen in 2011; belongs to the Chaetostoma anale species group1

IUCN Red List

Assessed as Vulnerable (2020), owing to pressure on parts of its river habitat3

Aquarium trade codes

Traded as L146, L146a and L187b (Aqualog) and also listed as L4441