Leopard Cactus Pleco (L114)

Care at a glance

Overview

A large, spiny cactus pleco for a warm tank of 400 liters or more with lots of caves. Feed a carnivore diet of frozen or fresh prawn, mussel, chopped fish, and bloodworms plus quality sinking foods, not a vegetable staple. Territorial toward its own kind and other cactus plecos, though it usually tolerates dissimilar tankmates when it has a cave to hold.

In the wild

Lives in the warm, soft, slightly acidic water of the Rio Demini, sheltering among rock and wood in flowing stretches. It is mainly a carnivore, taking protein and invertebrates and only eating plant matter when little else is around. Wants warm water, strong flow, oxygen, and heavy cover of rock and caves.

Good to know

Traded as L114 and LDA07, it is tentatively linked to Pseudacanthicus leopardus and so is usually written Pseudacanthicus cf. leopardus. It shows a bold leopard pattern of dark blotches on a gray body with reddish fin edges, and it carries the sharp cactus spines typical of the genus. It runs warmer than many plecos, doing best in the upper twenties Celsius.

Did you know

It likes water in the high 20s Celsius, warmer than most plecos, and keepers who run it too cool often see it sulk and refuse food.

Related species

• Scarlet Cactus Pleco (L025)

  Pseudacanthicus pirarara

  15.7 in (40 cm)119 gal (450 L)79–86°F (26–30°C)
• Sunshine Pleco (L014)

  Scobinancistrus aureatus

  13.8 in (35 cm)106 gal (400 L)79–86°F (26–30°C)
• Vampire Pleco (L029)

  Leporacanthicus galaxias

  9.8 in (25 cm)66 gal (250 L)79–86°F (26–30°C)

• 

  Common pleco

  Hypostomus plecostomus

  15.7 in (40 cm)85 gal (320 L)72–86°F (22–30°C)

• 

  Blue-eyed pleco

  Panaque cochliodon

  11.8 in (30 cm)119 gal (450 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Spotted pleco

  Hypostomus punctatus

  11.8 in (30 cm)79 gal (300 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)