Care
The Leopard Sailfin Plec is widespread throughout the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon and is also known from the Rio Orinoco in Venezuela. This species grows to a substantial size and will require a spacious, mature aquarium. Provide dim lighting, a dark substrate, and an abundance of shady retreats amongst bogwood and sturdy rocky caves, ensuring all decor is secure as larger specimens can be a little clumsy at times. Robust plants should be safe with this species, but as it will uproot them in its ongoing search for food, it is best to opt for species such as Anubias and Java Fern which can be tied onto and trained to grow on the wood. Filtration should be efficient (adult fish produce a substantial amount of waste) with areas of brisk water movement along with some quieter resting spots out of the current. There should be a decent level of oxygenation, and small frequent partial water changes will help keep nitrate to a minimum. The Leopard Sailfin Plec is generally peaceful and mixes well with most community fish, although it can be rather territorial with its own kind and similarly sized Loricariid species. If more than one specimen is to be kept in the same tank, it must be very spacious with the provision of multiple hiding places/visual barriers. May also be seen on sale as Gibbiceps Plec, L083, or L165.
Feeding
Offer a variety of different foodstuffs containing a good proportion of vegetable matter. Courgette, cucumber, lettuce, pumpkin, squash, spinach, sweet potato etc should all be enthusiastically consumed, and these can be supplemented with sinking wafers/tablets, catfish pellets, and the odd treat of meaty frozen foods such as bloodworm and chopped prawns.
Breeding
This species has not been bred in the home aquarium. In the wild, breeding is thought to take place inside long burrows dug into muddy banks.
