ne look at the photograph of this species and you will realise that this is, or used to be, Hoplosternum pectorale. The above has been moved into a new genus along with Hoplosternum thoracatum ( now Megalechis thoracata) with Hoplosternum littorale staying put. The Brazilian ichthyologist Roberto E.Reis completely revised this family in 1996 and erected a new genus for pectorale. There are also three other newly described species in this new genus being namely, L.altamazonicum, L.beni and L.tordilho.

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 (L. beni), Rio Paraguay (L. pectorale), and in the laguna dos Patos drainage (L. tordilho) in southern Brazil (Roberto E.Reis).

Now to get away from the scientific bit L. pectorale is a dwarf species (8.5cm.) and as such is a good addition to any community tank which doesn't house any aggressive species. It is a hardy fish and  the only time that you will get any hint of aggression from this species is from the males when they come into breeding condition, and can get quite territorial. 

Colour-wise this is quite a drab species having a brown body colouration with darker spots scattered over the body. The males can be identified as having a thicker leading ray to the pectoral fins and the rest of the fin can be a milky opaque colour while the females is clear. You can identify this species from M.thoracata and H.littorale by the shape of its caudal fin, it being slightly rounded while M.thoracata is truncate (square) and H.littorale's caudal fin is forked.

Megalechis thoracata Square Caudal	Lepthoplosternum pectorale Round Caudal	Hoplosternum littorale Forked Caudal