King Pleco or Mango Pleco

This fairly large Loricarid prefers a dimly lit tank with a good number of hiding places created w plants, driftwood, rocks or artificial caves. You should keep more than one specimen in the same tank as these fish prefer to be in numbers or colonies with other bottom dwelling fish.

This species is very hardy and adaptable once acclimatized, like most other Baryancistrus-species it tends to grow extremely slowly, if at all, in captivity. The main reason for this is that is most cases these fish are not kept under the proper, natural conditions. In the wild, the Mango Pleco is typically found in shallow, because of direct sunlight very warm, fast-flowing bodies of water that are very rich in oxygen. Under these circumstances, the rocks and pebbles between which these fish are found, are more or less permanently overgrown with a layer of organic matter consisting of both animal and plant matter (also known as “Aufwuchs”).