Three beacon pleco

Leporacanthicus triactis

Also known as L091, Triactis vampire pleco

FreshwaterFish

Three beacon pleco (Leporacanthicus triactis) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 79–86°F (26–30°C)
pH: 5.5–7.2
Adult size: 11 in (28 cm)
Minimum tank: 106 gal (400 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Upper Orinoco, Venezuela and Colombia
Family: Loricariidae

Overview

The three beacon pleco is a large, cave-holding carnivore with bright orange flashes on its fins, peaceful toward tankmates it cannot eat but territorial toward its own kind. Keep just one per tank with a roomy cave of its own, and choose midwater tankmates too large to be swallowed and too calm to compete on the floor. It works the bottom by night. Feed it as a carnivore: sinking meaty foods such as prawn, mussel, bloodworm, and snails, plus quality carnivore pellets, with only occasional vegetables. Give it big boulder caves, strong flow, warm soft water, and a tank of around 400 liters.

In the wild

Leporacanthicus triactis lives among boulder caves and mud banks of the upper Orinoco in Venezuela and Colombia, in warm, soft, flowing water. Build the tank around large, stable stonework forming caves big enough for an adult, over sand, with strong current. Keep it warm at 26 to 30 C and soft and slightly acidic to neutral, about pH 5.5 to 7.2, clean and well oxygenated. Secure, generous rockwork matters for a big fish that holds and defends a cave.

Good to know

Leporacanthicus triactis is a member of Loricariidae reaching about 28 centimeters, dark grey with orange tips on the dorsal, adipose, and tail fins. The name triactis marks those three flashes of colour, and Leporacanthicus are the so-called vampire plecos, carrying a pair of long teeth in the upper jaw used to prise snails and soft prey from shells and crevices. Breeding is of moderate difficulty; it is a cave spawner, with the male tending the eggs.

Did you know

Its name counts its own warning lights: triactis, or three rays, for the orange tips that flash from the dorsal, adipose, and tail fins as it sits in a cave mouth. The genus also earns the nickname vampire pleco, for the long fangs it uses on snails.