Royal Pleco (L190)

Panaque nigrolineatus

The Royal Pleco or L190 (*Panaque nigrolineatus*) is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and iconic armored catfish in the hobby. Unlike normal (and often boring) Plecostomus, the Royal has a compact, massive and stocky body, with a peculiar "big head" shape, adorned with a dense and geometric pattern of parallel horizontal black and pale grey/olive green stripes, combined with a dazzling ruby red eye. It is famous for its very rare xylophagous diet: this animal literally feeds on wood. It has enormously developed spoon-shaped teeth and a digestive system capable of processing and surviving by eating logs. A colossus (up to 40 cm / 16 inches) that requires colossal tanks and equally extreme filtration.

Family: Loricariidae
Origin: Sud America (Bacino del fiume Orinoco e fiumi affluenti dell'Amazzonia in Colombia, Venezuela e Brasile)
Tank use: Used in 0 tanks

Temperature

24 °C - 28 °C

6 - 7.5

Water type

Freshwater

Tank level

Zona inferiore. Spende la vita incollato sotto i tronchi o masticando le radici al buio.

Adult size

40 cm

Description

The Eyes of Fire (The Nocturnal Cyclops):

A fascinating distinctive trait of the species (and its variants like the L330) are its huge and very particular eyes. They are of a bright ruby red or bright rust red color and, like cats, are able to clearly regulate the dilation of the pupil based on the amount of light in the room.

Care and observations

Do Not Buy If You Do Not Have Real Logs:

This is not a simple "glass cleaner". The Panaque has a digestive system that processes cellulose to extract nourishment. Its aquarium MUST be literally filled with large soft bogwood logs. If kept in aquariums with fake resin rocks, fake wood or just stones, the fish will go into a fatal intestinal blockage due to the absence of wood fibers. Its favorite vegetables as a supplement are sweet potatoes and whole carrots nailed to the bottom.

The Sawdust Machine:

Being a fish that scrapes and chews wood 24 hours a day, the result is obvious: its digestion produces a quantity of fibrous excrement, similar to wet sawdust flakes, of biblical proportions. Within 48 hours the bottom of the aquarium will be covered with this residue. You must have monstrously powerful external filters, or the aquarium will become a stagnant brown sewer.

Intolerant of Each Other (Guerilla on the bottom):

They are beautiful, but ALWAYS KEEP ONLY ONE. If you put two Panaques (or a Panaque and another large Pleco) in the tank, they will choose the same piece of wood as a territory. At that point they will challenge each other by extracting their opercular bone spines (on the sides of the gills) similar to hooks and will scar each other's sides until they flay each other.

Fish profile

Temperament: Tollerante verso altre specie ma ESTREMAMENTE territoriale e brutale verso i conspecifici (altri Panaque) o loricaridi simili di pari taglia, battendosi per i migliori nascondigli legnosi e sfregiando gli avversari con i formidabili odontodi.
Diet: Xilofago (Mangiatore di legno) / Erbivoro. La dieta base è il legno della vasca, integrato costantemente con enormi quantità di verdure dure fresche (patate dolci, carote, zucchine, cetrioli) ancorate al fondo. Apprezzano wafers vegetali. NON fornire diete ad alto contenuto proteico animale, li farebbe ingrassare e ammalare.
Tank level: Zona inferiore. Spende la vita incollato sotto i tronchi o masticando le radici al buio.
Minimum group: 1
Adult size: 40 cm
Minimum tank: 500 L
GH: 2 dGH - 15 dGH
KH: n/a
TDS: n/a
Conductivity: n/a
Sex ratio: Esemplare singolo (Altamente consigliato). Se si vogliono tentare coppie o gruppi, si necessita di vasche di migliaia di litri con abbondantissime divisioni visive. Maschi maturi presentano formidabili odontodi inter-opercolari (spine simili a spazzole) molto lunghi ai lati della testa.
Feeding frequency: Legno e vegetali perennemente a disposizione in vasca.
Bioload: Estremo (Genera montagne di rifiuti legnosi costantemente)
Flow: Corrente da Moderata a Forte. Vivono nelle rapide in natura, amano acque altamente ossigenate.
Reproduction: Rigorosamente inesistente negli acquari domestici. La riproduzione in natura pare avvenga in profonde grotte scavate negli argini dei fiumi argillosi, impossibili da simulare in cattività commerciale. Tutti gli esemplari in commercio sono prelevati in natura (Wild Caught).
Compatibility: Mantenimento perfetto come incontrastato dominatore del fondale in grandi acquari sudamericani con grossi Ciclidi a nuoto libero (Oscar, Severum, Geophagus, Uaru). Assolutamente evitare l'inserimento di altri grossi loricaridi (Pterygoplichthys) con cui ingaggerebbe lotte furibonde. Rischio che raschi i fianchi larghi di grandi pesci piatti se denutrito (raro per il Panaque, comune per gli Ancistrus).

Image gallery

Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.

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Live aquarium/observation photo from iNaturalist for Panaque nigrolineatus.