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Steven Grant (3)

Description: Caudal peduncle comparatively deep (19.3–23.8% SL); body and fins dark, with darker dots especially on fins. Habitat: This species occurs in the Amazon river basin in Peru (Ortega et al. 2012). Carvalho et al. (2009) found it in a stream of the Upper Yuruá River. Its type locality is the Ucayali River in Pucallpa, Peru (Reis 1997). Unlike all other genera of subfamily Callichthyinae, the species of Lepthoplosternum are absent in the northern portion of the South American continent, north of the Rio Amazonas. The species are found in the upper Rio Amazonas in Peru (L. altamazonicum), middle Rio Madeira and the Madre de Dios, Peru (L. beni), Rio Paraguay (L. pectorale), and in the laguna dos Patos drainage (L. tordilho) in southern Brazil (Roberto E.Reis). Aquarium Care: Peaceful species which will do well in a planted tank with free swimming place. They can be quite easily housed in your planted community tank as they don't grow as large as thoracata or littorale and don't show any aggressive tendencies. Reproduction: This small species is a bubble-nester, where the female deposits her eggs in floating plant material or a floating polystyrene lid. Will attempt to spawn in a community setup, but if they do it would be a good idea to move the pair to their own breeding tank to make sure that the spawning is successful, in that the fry will survive the attentions of the rest of the tank inmates. Males have thicker pectoral spnes. To read a report on breeding this genera you can go to the breeding article section for an indepth look at "how to do it". Diet: As with most "Hoplo's" a good varied diet of frozen, live and a good quality flake food. It will eat most things given and of course keeping up the water changes.

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Callichthyidae

South America: Upper Amazon River drainage in Peru; range extended to the area of confluence of the Rio Solimões and Rio Japurá, Brazil. Type locality: Peru: Pucallpa: Río Ucayali.

5.0cm (2ins)

23-25°C (73-77°F)

6.5-7.5.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Hidalgo del Aguila, M. & Chocano, L. 2016. Lepthoplosternum altamazonicum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.
Reis, R.E., 1998. Systematics, biogeography, and the fossil record of the Callichthyidae: a review of the available data. p. 351-362. In L.R. Malabarba, R.E. Reis, R.P. Vari, Z.M.S. Lucena and C.A.S. Lucena (eds.) Phylogeny and classification of neotropical fishes. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS.
Reis, R.E. and C.C. Kaefer, 2005. Two new species of the neotropical catfish genus Lepthoplosternum (Ostariophysi: Siluriformes: Callichthyidae). Copeia 2005(4):724-731.