Head-spot delta pleco

Lasiancistrus tentaculatus

Also known as L092, Delta tail pleco

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 77–84°F (25–29°C)
pH: 5.5–7.2
Adult size: 6.7 in (17 cm)
Minimum tank: 66 gal (250 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Orinoco basin, Venezuela
Family: Loricariidae

Overview

This is an easygoing, placid pleco that suits a community tank and is best kept as a single fish. It is not territorial, so it mixes calmly with characins, peaceful cichlids, corydoras, and other loricariids without squabbling. Importantly it is a wood-eater: it needs real driftwood to rasp as part of its diet, backed up with vegetables such as cucumber and courgette and sinking dried foods. It works over wood and rock through the day and grows to a modest size. Give it at least 250 liters with plenty of driftwood and caves.

In the wild

It lives in tributaries of the Orinoco basin in Venezuela, warm rivers running over wood and rock. Fill its tank with driftwood, which it both shelters in and feeds on, plus rounded stones and caves over a sand or fine gravel floor. Keep it warm at about 25 to 29 C with soft to neutral water, a pH of 5.5 to 7.2, and steady, clean flow.

Good to know

Lasiancistrus tentaculatus is a loricariid that reaches about 17 centimeters, gold-freckled on the head over an olive body, with a delta-shaped tail; the trade knows it as L092. It is the one member of its genus that mainly eats wood, aided by specialized gut bacteria. It spawns in caves, and breeding is of moderate difficulty.

Did you know

Its species name, tentaculatus, refers to the tentacle-like whiskers that mature males grow on the snout, bristly odontodes that make this genus look a little like the bristlenose plecos.

Tank mates

Head-spot delta pleco is a peaceful, solitary species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.