Red Spotted Sailfin Pleco

The red spotted sailfin pleco (Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps) is a large Amazonian suckermouth catfish with a bold leopard pattern of dark blotches over a tan body, and an enormous fan-shaped dorsal fin that it raises like a sail when it moves. It is an impressive animal. It is also one that gets sold far too often to people whose tanks cannot hold it, so we would rather be direct about that up front.

Aquarium care

• Grows very large. Adults commonly reach 40 cm or more.
• Needs a genuinely large aquarium, measured in hundreds of litres, not tens.
• Produces a great deal of waste; heavy filtration and large water changes are required.
• Peaceful towards other fish, though adults may squabble with other large plecos.
• Largely herbivorous: algae wafers, blanched vegetables and driftwood to rasp on.
• Bottom-dweller, most active in the evening.

The adult size is the whole story with this fish. At 40 cm or more it is beyond what most home aquariums can hold, so it belongs only in a very large cichlid or monster-fish tank, and never in a standard community aquarium. Buy it for the animal it becomes, not the one in the bag. If you want an algae eater for a tank under about 200 litres, a bristlenose pleco is the fish you actually want.

Sailfin plecos must never be released into the wild, into a pond, or into any lake, river, ditch or storm drain. Pterygoplichthys plecos have become established and damaging in warm regions around the world after being let go by aquarists. If you can no longer house the fish, bring it back to us or pass it on to another keeper.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is sold for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. Browse the current plecos.