Bulldog pleco

Chaetostoma formosae

Also known as Rubber lip pleco, Rubbernose pleco, L187b

FreshwaterFish

Bulldog pleco (Chaetostoma formosae) — Frank M. Greco · CC BY 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 68–77°F (20–25°C)
pH: 6.5–7.8
Adult size: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Minimum tank: 40 gal (150 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: Hard
Rarity: Common
Origin: Upper Rio Meta and Rio Guaviare basins, eastern Colombia
Family: Loricariidae

Overview

Keep one on its own, since they get mildly territorial toward their own kind, in a tank of 150 liters or more. They are mostly peaceful bottom dwellers that spend the day grazing over rocks and wood. They need cool water, 20 to 25 C, with a pH from 6.5 to 7.8 and brisk current from a powerhead, which makes them a poor fit for warm setups like discus tanks. They are strict algae and biofilm grazers, so feed algae wafers and blanched vegetables like zucchini or cucumber, or they will slowly starve. Tankmates should be other cool-water, peaceful fish that handle the same flow.

In the wild

Bulldog plecos come from fast, high-oxygen Andean streams in the upper Rio Meta and Rio Guaviare basins of eastern Colombia. These are cool, brisk rivers running over smooth rock and sand, nothing like a warm lowland tank. To match that, give them a tank of at least 150 liters with strong flow from a powerhead, smooth rocks, driftwood, and a sand bottom. Keep the water cool, 20 to 25 C, with a pH from 6.5 to 7.8. The current and oxygen matter more here than warmth.

Good to know

This is a riverine pleco in the family Loricariidae, reaching about 11 cm as an adult. Breeding it in a tank is hard and rarely done, so most fish in the trade are wild caught. With good care and cool, well-oxygenated water it can live several years.

Did you know

Despite the heavy armored look, this is a grazer and nothing else, scraping algae and biofilm off hard surfaces all day. People sometimes buy plecos as cleanup crew and assume they live on leftovers, but a bulldog pleco will starve on a clean tank with no supplemental greens to scrape.