This variety of fish are native to the northern and central regions of South America , most of them come from the Río de la Plata, Río Grande and Trinidad.
Its most outstanding morphological characteristic is the presence on its body of an overlap of the bone plates, which extends to the head.
Loricarids are armored fish that frequent muddy-bottomed streams , with decomposing organic matter.
They show a clear preference for aquatic areas invaded by vegetation, and in the aquarium we must recreate their natural spaces, with good planted vegetation and a substrate made of sand and peat.
The water should be slightly acidic and soft, with temperatures between 22ºC and 26ºC.
As for food, their diet is basically made up of green algae and tubifex.
They are very peaceful and tolerant, they have no problem sharing space in a community aquarium, even with larger species.
Successful reproduction in the aquarium is possible, although there is not much data, which opens an important field of research for amateur aquarists .
Ancistrus dolichopterus
Bearded-nosed catfish
It is a very calm fish, that lives in the bottom of the aquarium, and that can be very well kept in a community aquarium.
Its natural habitat is fast-flowing rivers, with clear waters and abundantly planted , so the aquarium has to try to reproduce its habitat as much as possible.
It is a fish with nocturnal habits, during the day it will look for hiding places to take refuge, and we will only see it at night or with very dim lighting.
See: Ancistrus dolichopterus
Cleaner fish
Hypostomus plecostomus
This fish is usually sold in pet stores, as «Pool Cleaner Fish» . It really is not the only fish to be named after, as there are many fish that feed on algae, which are given similar names.
The Hypostomus plecostomus, is native to the Orinoco River, we can find it in Guayana and Venezuela , in places with fast and clean currents.
They are very tolerant fish, calm and very easy to keep in a community aquarium . You just have to keep in mind that they are species of nocturnal habits, we will see them go out at night to eat.
See: Cleaner Fish
