Clown Pleco (L104/L162)

Geographic Origin and Biotope: Broadly distributed sedentary species in the flooded plains and large inland rivers of Venezuela and Colombia (Orinoco, Rio Apure, and Rio Caroni basins). Its natural home is not sand or bare rock, but the inextricable maze of immense fallen trees ('wood-falls') and submerged roots that slowly decompose in the tea-colored water (tannins) of the flooded forest.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Loricariidae family. For decades labeled as Panaque maccus, today its small stature has placed it in the genus Panaqolus (up to 8 cm / 3.1 inches max in adulthood). It is a 'Nano-Panaque'. Its vital physiological trait is enclosed in its mouth: it flaunts powerful and specialized spoon-shaped teeth, evolved not to chew meat or scrape soft green algae, but exclusively to gnaw, decorticate, and strip bark from soft bacteria-soaked wood. Teardrop shape, very rough dermal armor.

Social Behavior: Extremely lazy and nocturnal, yet of an extremely amiable and peaceful nature. It spends several days totally camouflaged inside the cracks of the wood (its refuge and food at the same time). If there are no other dominant and aggressive bottom-dwelling fish to steal its hiding place, it will exhibit great audacity and will be seen hanging from the trunks even in full light. Slightly intolerant towards other males of its own genus only if the tank has few woods available to mark.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: The outfit of the Clown Pleco is a contrast between mud and autumn. On a thick and gloomy coloration (from dark asphalt brown to coffee black), flow dozens of ring-like bands (often irregular, broken, or faded over time) of a vivid mustard yellow, ochre, or matte sunset orange. The more the fish is stressed, the more the colors will fade into a homogeneous mud gray. Growing up, the orange stripes on the flanks of old specimens tend to fragment, becoming chaotic scribbles. Formidable adult MALES: equipped with veritable bony 'thick furs' of very bristly and long pungent spikes (odontodes) protruding from the rear quarter of the tail (caudal peduncle), from the lateral fins, and like large mustaches from the cheeks; females visibly dilated by the swelling of the belly and totally devoid (or with minimal traces) of the aforementioned pungent hairs of spiny armor.

Tank Setup: THE ONLY SUPREME LAW: WOOD. Without massive trunks of real softened wood (Mopani, Bogwood, Mangrove, Peat Bog Wood), your Panaqolus will go into lethal metabolic asphyxiation from lethargic occlusion. It is mandatory to stuff the aquarium to the limit of its capacity with these intertwined roots. Abundant dark or peaty water and a not excessively dazzling and blinding light are appreciated, to avoid disorienting it or driving it into perpetual hiding. Do not strip the tank of blind ceramic crevices for safe refuges.

Feeding and Diet: THEY DO NOT EAT ALGAE ON THE GLASS AND THEY ARE NOT CLEANERS. They are Xylophagous-Omnivores. 70% of their diet derives from frantically chewing the dead cellulose of the wood and the microfauna encrusted in it. They will eat your tank producing a cyclopean and ridiculous amount of wood-like excrement similar to sawdust that will clog the filter. IT IS ESSENTIAL to support them at dark twilight by inserting sinking and rigid vegetable tabs for wood-eaters, zucchini (blanched decorticated raw vegetables), sweet potato slices, and sporadically rare fleshy bloodworm pellets to enrich them with protein.

Water Quality: Very robust and permissive, excellent for thoughtful inexperienced amateurs. Extensive and reassuring tolerances: pH tolerated from the light Amazonian acids 6.5 up to the neutral-light basic purified tap water 7.5. Quietly accepts hard or medium-soft urban waters (GH 2-18). Suffers deeply from cold drafts: stable temperature between a cool 23° (73°F) and the warm amateur equatorial tropicals of 28°C (82°F) well-oxygenated (do not exceed). Siphon the sand obsessively, due to the colossal and asphyxiating 'wood shaving-like' droppings from prolonged timber digestion that would devastate nitrites in weak inexperienced novice minuscule biological cycle filters.

Compatibility and Cohabitation: Helpless companion of pacifist community excellence: fantastic inert surface scavenger torpedo unknown bites hidden peaceful in its dark woody armored castle to peaceful serene invisible refuge in perfect mimetic shadow indifferent reassuring down on fish. Supreme glorious combination with fast tetras, peaceful lively reassuring high rasboras, placid large Dwarf Cichlids, adorable slow asocial round Corydoras, or large angelfish, does not tolerate and will stress into depressed retreats frightened and oppressed by hunger and blind competition for holes by asphyxiating hyper-aggressive Loricariids enormous violent rapid frantic sharks nocturnal territorial hunters giant lethal heavy Central American destroyer Cichlids.

Aquarium Reproduction: Very prolific, but complex, fascinating amateur amateurs if induced with light water changes reproducing fresh Amazonian winter rainy monsoon floods rich in oxygenated massive cold shower refreshes cold jolts and frightening protein fleshy and very fresh vegetable replenishments (pumpkins warm zucchini and mysis fleshy water worms and blood frozen massive rare bloodworms). The couple will clamp in extremely violent pushes or the absolute blind narrow cylindrical tubular dark ceramic crevice, where the titanic and courageous bearded hairy mini-master hyper-protective tireless dad will wave furious for heroic dehydrated starving weeks defender asphyxiating the heavy large scanty clear yellowish amber eggs and offspring weak defenseless fry until the triumphant exploring exit of the exact microscopic armored clones with gold black adorable laminae prone and instinctively inclined to the blind scraping of the paternal woody trunk for pure essential green microscopic cellulose infusorial ingestion for the live pure saving digestive vital intestine fleeing the tragic lethal malnutrition.

Risks and Diseases: Lethal Rotten Intestinal Occlusion due to lack of wood and timber devastating and asphyxiating starvation of starvation or prolonged asphyxiating liver block if aesthetically barbarically enclosed deprived forced of large real spongy and soft ancient stumps trunks or roots where to bite file chew and digest branches dying atrophied of blocked dryness skeletal and foolish dry empty, and pale gastric suffocation with agonizing lethargic asphyxiations of asphyxiating ammonia and putrid filter inhibiting immense droppings or phobias in lethal stress frightened devastating by aggressive immense jail mates that corner its food and cowardly hit its asphyxiated bare illuminated lair with blind led losing the animal due to stress panic hidden heart attack shortening vital atrophy skeletal years and drowning the water lethargic lethal asphyxia foolish and wilted.