Macushi pleco

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep this steady, medium-large pleco on its own; it is peaceful toward tankmates but does not need company of its kind. It spends its day near submerged wood and wants room to roam the floor, so give it open space and a few shaded hides. It is a hardy, adaptable omnivore that takes vegetables, sinking prepared foods, and gel diets, and it will rasp driftwood and biofilm. Pair it with calm community fish. Allow at least 300 liters with driftwood over a sand or fine gravel floor.

In the wild

It lives in the Rupununi savanna rivers of Guyana, near dead, submerged wood in water with moderate to fast flow. Give it a tank with plenty of driftwood, some laterite-toned rock, a sandy floor, and steady current. It does best in soft to neutral water, warm at about 25 to 29 C with a pH of 6.0 to 7.4, and it is forgiving of ordinary tap-water conditions.

Good to know

Hypostomus macushi is a loricariid that reaches about 20 centimeters and is sold as L303 or the red pepper pleco. It belongs to the wood-associated cochliodon group, with spoon-shaped teeth. It is named for the Macushi people of the Rupununi, who collected the first specimens and hosted the scientists who described it. Breeding is rated hard and is not well documented in aquaria.

Did you know

Like several of its relatives, it is thought to be able to gulp air at the surface and take up oxygen through its gut, a useful trick when the warm, still pools it lives in run low on oxygen.

Tank mates

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

• Giant river hatchetfish

  Triportheus rotundatus

  Freshwater

  9.8 in (25 cm)79 gal (300 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Llanero whiptail

  Lamontichthys llanero

  Freshwater

  9.1 in (23 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Xingu peppermint pleco

  Parancistrus nudiventris

  Freshwater

  8.7 in (22 cm)79 gal (300 L)81–88°F (27–31°C)

• 

  Rubber pleco

  Parancistrus aurantiacus

  Freshwater

  8.7 in (22 cm)79 gal (300 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)
• Smoothcheek eartheater

  Gymnogeophagus gymnogenys

  Freshwater

  7.1 in (18 cm)79 gal (300 L)61–79°F (16–26°C)
• Circular whiptail

  Planiloricaria cryptodon

  Freshwater

  8.7 in (22 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• Red bruno pleco

  Hypostomus soniae

  Freshwater

  7.9 in (20 cm)79 gal (300 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)

• 

  Basilisk pleco

  Hypostomus basilisko

  Freshwater

  9.4 in (24 cm)79 gal (300 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)
• Brown pleco

  Hypostomus plecostomoides

  Freshwater

  10.2 in (26 cm)79 gal (300 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)

• 

  Spotted pleco

  Hypostomus punctatus

  Freshwater

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

  Hypostomus luteus

  Freshwater

  13.8 in (35 cm)106 gal (400 L)64–79°F (18–26°C)

• 

  Common pleco

  Hypostomus plecostomus

  Freshwater

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