About Suckermouth Catfish

The suckermouth catfish, also known as the plecostomus or the pleco, is an algae-eating fish, originally from Central and South America. These fish are commonly kept as pets, as part of a tropical aquarium setup. If you plan on keeping suckermouth catfish, it's important to learn about them.

  1. Description

    • Suckermouth catfish are dark gray to black in color with small, lighter patches, giving them a mottled look. They have tapered upper tails and large fins. Their mouths are placed on their undersides, which is the optimal position for bottom-feeding. In the wild, they can grow up to 24 inches. Because of limited space, they rarely grow this large in captivity, usually reaching about 12 to 13 inches.

    Habitat

    • The natural habitat of the suckermouth fish is in tropical areas of South and Central America. They're found in freshwater rivers and in brackish estuary waters. In captivity, they should be kept in a tank with a minimum capacity of 20 to 25 gallons. The temperature should be between 72 and 82 degrees. They prefer subdued lighting, so place floating plants to achieve this. They also need caves to hide in and a fine substrate for burrowing.

    Diet

    • Suckermouth catfish are omnivorous, but should exist on a mainly plant-based diet. They will eat the algae in the tank, from the bottom and the glass walls. They've even been known to eat algae from flat-sided fish, such as angelfish. In addition to aquatic plants and weeds, you can supplement their diet with algae waters and spirulina pellets or flakes. Occasionally give them carnivorous foods, such as bloodworms or brine shrimp.

    Spawning and Social Behavior

    • In the wild, suckermouth catfish breed and spawn in holes they dig into the substrate of the riverbank. As yet, there have been no reports of successful breeding in an aquarium. Most specimens in a pet shop are hatched and raised in a farm after they were taken, as eggs, from a riverbank. They are peaceful and can happily coexist in a community tank, although they can be aggressive toward other plecos, if they weren't raised together.