Aquarist Atlas
Aquarist Atlas · suckermouth catfish

Plecos

The Loricariidae — suckermouth armoured catfishes — are one of the largest vertebrate families on Earth, with well over 900 described species spread across the fresh waters of South and Central America. They range from the tiny otos (Otocinclus, under 5 cm) that graze algae in planted tanks, through the familiar common pleco (Hypostomus plecostomus), the bristlenose (Ancistrus), the royal pleco (Panaque), and into the spectacular colour-morphs traded under the DATZ L-number system. This section is an atlas of Loricariidae built to the same standard as the cichlid and cory pages: researched, cited species accounts with no Wikipedia and no invented facts. It will grow species by species.

© Adobe Stock

The L-number system (and its sister LDA series) was introduced by the German magazine DATZ in 1988 to give hobbyists a working label for undescribed or unidentified pleco morphs. Numbers such as L046 (the zebra pleco, Hypancistrus zebra) or L018 (the gold nugget pleco, Baryancistrus xanthellus) remain the primary identity tokens in the trade even after formal scientific descriptions are published. Where a species carries an L-number, it is shown prominently on that species' page.

Slender whiptail catfishes lying still on sand and driftwood, their mottled bodies blending with the substrate
Whiptail catfishes (Loricariinae) — slender, twig-like loricariids that lie still on sand and wood, camouflaged by mottled bodies.
A boldly black-and-white striped pleco gripping a smooth river stone underwater in a planted aquarium
The suckermouth: a fringed, ventral mouth that grips current-swept surfaces and rasps the algal film (aufwuchs).
Mature male Ancistrus bristlenose pleco showing the fleshy tentacles growing from its snout
Mature male bristlenose plecos (Ancistrus) grow the fleshy snout tentacles that give them their name.

Photos © Adobe Stock

Species

989 of 989 species

Hypostominae · 497

The largest and most familiar subfamily — bristlenoses (Ancistrus), commons (Hypostomus), royals (Panaque), and the L-number-rich Hypancistrus and Baryancistrus.

Loricariinae · 255

The whiptails and reedfish — elongated, depressed catfishes (Loricaria, Rineloricaria, Sturisoma) adapted to flowing water.

Hypoptopomatinae · 184

Otos and allies — tiny, algae-grazing catfishes (Otocinclus, Hypoptopoma) beloved in the planted-tank hobby.

Delturinae · 7

A small Southern-Brazil subfamily containing only Delturus and Hemipsilichthys.

Lithogeninae · 3

Neoplecostominae · 38

Rhinelepinae · 5

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