SCOTCAT.COM  

Steven Grant (4)

Desciption: Caudal peduncle comparatively deep (20.2–24.5% SL); ventral lateral series of plates 20–21; skin of belly and ventral portion of head with scattered chromatophores, not forming dots. Habitat: 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: Peacfull 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. Remarks: L. tordilho is severely impacted by habitat degradation, and to a lesser extent pollution and invasive species. The Extent of Occurrence (EOO) is 543 km² which qualifies it for the Endangered category, with a continuing decline observed in EOO, habitat quality and number of locations. The past decline of the species is estimated to be greater than 50% of the population size based on direct observation, a decline in EOO and the effect of pollution (IUCN).

None

None

Callichthyidae

South America: Northern tributaries of Laguna dos Patos in southern Brazil. Type locality: Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul: Marginal lagoon near sanga do Junco, on dust road between hwy BR-116 and Barra do Ribeiro.

5.0cm (2ins)

23-25°C (73-77°F)

6.5-8.0.

Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2017. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 02/2017 ).
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.
Reis, R & Lima, F. 2009. Lepthoplosternum tordilho. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009.