Scientific Name: Hypostomus plecostomus (Linnaeus)
Common Name: Sucker catfish, plecostomus.
Habitat: Native of La Plata region, Rio Grande do Sul, Trinidad.
The fish prefers slightly hard, alkaline water. Temperature around 24-27C.
They are algae eaters but will accept a great variety of live worms such as earthworms or frozen foods. They will accept chopped lettuce leaves instead of algae. It can reach 180 cm in natural waters; most captive specimens get no longer than 30 cm.
The body is grayish to dark brown in colour with irregular dark markings. The fins sometimes show rows of dark spots. Not all catfish are beautiful. The sucker catfish is among one of them. The mouth is a round, underslung affair with which the fish can attach itself to a flat surface and rasp off the algae. This makes it a very useful citizen in a tank which is plagued by algal growths. They have a striking large banner-like size fins. Their eggs are large (10-12 mm) and orange in colour.