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Seen frequently at shops when small the Banded Leporinus is not a fish for the beginner. Stunning in color, it is a fast grower that has a mean streak to smaller fishes. They are fin nippers that sneaks up on its' prey no matter what size. A super jumper the aquarium must be tightly covered.

Quick stats:

Listed tank sizes are the minimum
Size:	Up to 12" (30cm)
Tank:	48 inches
Strata:	Bottom, middle
PH:	5.5 to 7.5
Hardness:	Soft to medium. dH range: 2.0 - 20.0
Temperature:	73ºF to 84ºF (23-29°C)

Classification :

Order:	Crypriniformes.
Suborder:	Characoidei.
Family:	Anostomidae.
Genera:	Leporinus.

Common name

Banded Leporinus or just Leporinus.

Additional species photographs

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Distribution

Fairly widespread throughout South America, mostly from the Rio de la Plata to the Orinoco river basins.

Bullet shaped and elongated and somewhat compressed laterally. Dorsal profile is more convex than the ventral profile. The name Leporinus comes from Latin and roughly means "of a hare " this is because the shape of the upper lip is very similar to that of a hare, hence its name. These fish can reach a length of twelve inches.

Mustard-yellow to golden-yellow with nine fairly thick black bars that run from top to bottom that sometimes split at the belly area and fade out on the underside. The nose has a dark spot. The first bar covers the forehead joining the eyes the second bar covers the gill edges. The last bar flares out in front of the Caudal fin into a crescent shape. There are no visible differences between the male and female. Some subspecies have been named due to variations of color and bar patterns. I do not know if they are valid.

A somewhat peaceful species that benefits from a large aquaria. Its tank-mates should be of the same size and temperament, no long finned slower moving fish such as Angels as they are notoriously sneaky about fin-nipping. The tank bottom should be gravel covered with plants and decorations. Feeding is not a problem as they take prepared staple food along with supplements of live and frozen food.
Their pH should be neutral [7.0], GH of around 10, temperature range of mid seventies to low eighties. They dwell in the middle areas of the tank. They are egg layers and to my knowledge have not been bred in captivity. Keep the tank well covered as they are great jumpers and can travel many feet. The Leporinus is a fine addition to any tank and Badman recommends them to anyone willing to meet their requirements.

Widespread throughout South America, Usually occurs in rocky areas of rapidly flowing waters.

Breeding:

No reports of successful breeding in captivity have been reported

Banded Leporinus Click photo to buy

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From: Larry Date:07/22/2009 I just lost one of my two Banded Leporinus due to an ornamental cave I bought when these fish were much smaller. The cave holes are around two inches wide and today I found one of the fish stuck in the cave hole. I`m writing this because I never even considered the possibility that this could happen. These fish grow very fast,this has been a very bad lesson learned for me. I don`t know if anyone has heard of this happening or forgetting about cave opening sizes with fast growing fish, but if I can help save or remind someone about what happened to me today and save somebody a fish than this post was worth it. Larry 90 gallon tank. From: Kit Date:07/10/2008 I got a Leporinus at the same time as two clown loaches. The Leporinus seems to school with the loaches quite frequently. At only 4", he will pick on my gourami if he feels they are bothering him. I lost a black ghost knife mysteriously, and believe the Leporinus aggressively picked the food I was placing in front of the knife fish. Overall, a beautiful fish and only semi-aggressive on occasion, but a big eater! He'll eat the loach pellets, the gourami pellets, the occasional flake, blood worms and brine shrimp. They are no picky eater! From: Carole Date:04/18/2007 I have two leporinus in a 55gal with 4 silver dollars. I have had them for them 1 1/2 years. They are great fish. They love lettuce, as do the silver dollars, so I have to put 3 or 4 pieces in different places around the tank so the leporinus can't hog it all. There is a big sunken ship that they "live" in and guard it very well. They are very peaceful but do have their territory. From: Rob Baseel Date:09/13/2007 I have had my leporinus for about four years or so now and he is just under 1 foot in length. He was always an aggressive and sneaky character, even as a cute little 2" youngster fresh from the LFS. I originally had him in a tank with semi-agressive tropicals (TIger Barbs, Pictus Cats, etc...) but the bigger he grew, the more of my other fish he killed off. I came so close to finding him a new home on many different occasions but I just couldn't do it... I found I had grown quite attached to him. Instead I just kept getting bigger fish for him to live with. I now have him in a tank with a Green Severum, A Blue Acara, a common Pleco and a handful of Silver Dollars. Everyone gets along amazingly well with only some occasional half hearted squabbling. From: John Date:03/29/2007 I stumbled across these wonderful fish at a local pet store. They were not identified on any price tag and I was told they were Bumblebee Catfish. I bought 2 of them on their beauty alone. They were each about 2 inches long and appeared small in my 125 gallon tank. Because of their beautiful color and playful behavior, I went back and purchased another. Within a few months they doubled in length to over 4 inches and now really look like showfish. I love to watch them twist and turn, play hide and seek, and search for food. They usually stay together and I have noticed they appear to "hunt" for food in groups. One will come in from the back and one from the front to try and flush out any babies that may be in the grasses. I feed my fish dried shrimp, flaked food, cichlid pellets, and algae tablets - as well as keep live plants in the tank. They have not once shown aggression to my other fish - guppies, platys, swords, gouramis, rainbows, iridescent catfish, or cory catfish. A previous poster called them "sly" and I certainly agree. A+ From: kayleigh Date:02/28/2007 The first leporinus I had ever bought was almost four years ago and I added a second one two years ago. They have been very peaceful in my 55gal with a large angel, Parrot fish, red bellied pacu, Gold nugget pleco, common pleco, 3 tiger barbs, giant danios, red eye tetras, two gouramis, red tail shark and two gold fish. One is about 12" (maybe a little larger) the other is smaller about 7". They both seem to eat what ever I put in the tank as far as flake food, pellets, veggie rounds, bloodworms, frozen food, live guppies and they do have a liking to live plants that I put in the aquarium. The larger one likes to pick off a large piece of Malaysian drift wood and spends most of his time in a cave built out of pieces of lace rock. The smaller leporinus follows the larger one around and hides in the top part of the cave or under the drift wood. The leporinus is an amazing fish for those who have the right size environment to keep them and recommended to those who do! ! I would not trade my leporinus for anything and will always have at least one in my aquarium. From: Shawn Date:02/11/2007 I've had two of these fish in my FW tank for over a year, and while occasionally a small tetra goes missing, I've not seen any overt aggression. They're lovely fish, and seem to be quite hardy. From: Shawn Date:02/27/2006 I have 3 banded leporinus and found them to only somewhat suitable tankmates. There are in a 75 gallon tank with a 14" ghost knife, a eel, a large pleco, 4 kuhli loaches and just recently 3 pike cichlids. Before I bought the pleco I had a tiger shovelnose catfish and in one night they destroyed him. They bit his fins, his whiskers and actually took half his face including an eye. The largest leporinus tries to hide with the ghostknife mostly only coming out to chase the other to from the cave. I've decided to sell the largest and smallest and keep the mid-sized one as he swims the most and seems to follow the pike cichlids. From: Dave Taylor Date:02/18/2006 My lep aquarium, a 55 gallon high-flo is a high and and tall, densely planted base, particularly toward the rear of the tank. I have owned Leo, a leporinus fasciatus, for almost three years, who is almost 10”, and added two others a year ago, both of which are approaching 7”. These beautiful fish inhabit the aquarium with a 16” silver arowana, as well as two common plecos, and two raphael catfishes, and more importantly, my medium silver gourami (G-Fish). All three of these leps have been nothing but peaceful and wonderful. At one point I had three medium barbs, but as I expected, the arowana made short work of them, yet the leps never bothered any of the other fish. Indeed they are jumpers, yet when I do weekly maintenance on the tank, they shift from side to side with no trouble. I highly recommend then, but as they are sly animals, watch ‘em. Rock on, Dave. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMMENTS

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