Photo: Lars Jamne

FARLOWELLA PLATORYNCHUS

A fish that resembles a twig is of course very amusing! Add to the fact that it’s easy to keep and a great algae eater, and you have a superb choice even for inexperienced (but dedicated) aquarists.

Facts:

Name: Farlowella platorynchus (Retzer & Page, 1997)

Trade names: Twig Catfish

Origin: Rio Ucayali, Peru. Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Maximum TL: 20 cm / 8”

Twig catfish from the genus Farlowella are hard to tell apart, and there’s lots of them out there. Sure, they aren’t all regulars in the ornamental trade, but there are quite a few of them around. This one is among the most common, a regular export from Peru. It has a nice network pattern, and it can be identified by it’s number of abdominal plates. It can be kept in normal community set ups, but it doesn’t compete well with boisterous, nippy, aggressive fish. It feeds all day (like most herbivore species), and should be fed a varied diet of tablet foods and vegetables. As with all Plecos, clean, well filtered water is beneficial. Eggs are placed at the aquarium glass or on a leaf and cared for by the male, which can be recognized by it’s nose odontodes.

Source :

http://www.loricariidae.no/loricariidae.no/_Farlowella_platorynchus.html