Flash Pleco (L204)

Care at a glance

Overview

A medium wood-eating pleco for a tank around 150 liters with plenty of driftwood. Its gut is built for wood and fiber, so keep soft wood available at all times and supplement with sinking wood-based and vegetable pellets and blanched zucchini, with only occasional protein. Fairly peaceful but territorial around its chosen cave or log.

In the wild

Found in fast, well-oxygenated Peruvian streams full of sunken branches and root tangles. Like the rest of the Panaqolus group it is a wood eater, rasping at driftwood and digesting the biofilm and fiber, so submerged wood is not decoration but part of its diet. Needs driftwood, caves, and clean flowing water.

Good to know

Described in 2017 as Panaqolus albivermis, the name pointing to the white worm-like lines on a dark body. It is a small member of the wood-eating pleco group. The fine cream stripes give it the flash and emperor trade names.

Did you know

Wood-eating plecos like the flash pass a lot of fine sawdust-like waste, a normal sign that they really are rasping and digesting their driftwood.

Related species

• Tiger Pleco (L002)

  Panaqolus sp. L002

  5.1 in (13 cm)40 gal (150 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)

• 

  Clown pleco

  Panaqolus maccus

  3.5 in (9 cm)20 gal (75 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  King tiger pleco (L066)

  Hypancistrus sp. L066

  5.1 in (13 cm)40 gal (150 L)79–84°F (26–29°C)

• 

  Clown peckoltia (L134)

  Peckoltia compta

  4.7 in (12 cm)29 gal (110 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)
• Blue Panaque (L239)

  Baryancistrus beggini

  4.7 in (12 cm)30 gal (115 L)79–86°F (26–30°C)
• Orinoco Angel Pleco (L201)

  Hypancistrus sp. L201

  5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)79–86°F (26–30°C)