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Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (1) Erlend D. Bertelsen (1)

Description: Pterygoplichthys punctatus and P. weberi are unique among hypostomines in having a medially divided buccal papilla. The two species can be separated from one another by colour (small spots in P. punctatus, large in P. weberi), conditionof the buccal papilla (deeply divided at all ages in P. punctatus vs.shallowly divided in adults of P. weberi), condition of the lateral keel odontodes (fairly short and directed posteriorly in P. punctatus vs.large and directed almost laterally in P. weberi), and body width (SL/cleithral width 3.6-4.0 in P. punctatus vs.3.3-3.4 in P. weberi). You can identify a Pterygoplichthys species from Hypostomus for example due to the many more rays in the dorsal fin, which can be up to 10 or over. They also have nasal flutes on the nose. Habitat: Pterygoplichthys punctatus is known from the rio Madeira drainage and the rio Urubu of Brazil and has published, but unconfirmed localities in the rio Purus and rio Tocantins basin, and P. weberi is known from the Río Marañon, Río Ucayali, and upper Río Amazonas drainages of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Aquarium Care: Reasonably peaceful if large species which will need a good sized aquarium starting of with a 3 footer when small with good external filtration to facilitate a good oxygen content, as it excretes copious amounts of waste if fed properly on vegetable matter. If the water quality is not adhered to, small holes can appear in the fin membranes. You will notice when your water quality is not up to the mark as they "hang" in the water just of their fins, from the substrate, which means 'get that water change done'. It is kind to plants in the aquarium, the only problem is when it gets bigger and can uproot them in its conquest around the tank. Diet: They are mostly vegetarian with algae being their number one source of food but to keep a large fish fed on algae alone is impossible so you can feed also, spinach, blanched lettuce, cucumber, courgette (zucchini) and also non veg food such as tablets and prawns. 

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Loricariidae

South America: Río Marañon, Río Ucayali, and upper Río Amazonas drainages of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

30.0cm. (12ins)

24-29°c (75-85°f)

6.0-7.5.

Armbruster, J.W. and L.M. Page, 2006. Redescription of Pterygoplichthys punctatus and description of a new species of Pterygoplichthys (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Neotrop. Ichthyol. 4(4):401-409.
Seidel, I. 2008. Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes, Ettlingen, Germany 208 p.