#chaetostoma

(Pic above: Chaetostoma formosae from bing. Not Khal Chaeto.)

I’ve been seeing “Chaetostoma are so cute!” around random social media lately. It’s true, they are the cutest of the army of small plecos to choose from! I’m probably biased though, I spent several months visiting one. (Khal Chaeto, who I’ve posted before. I miss seeing them so much! Most ridiculous pleco I have ever seen. So much personality!) (Ancistrus ranunculus is the cutest of the bristlenose brigade.)

Very cute, in fact (Chaetostoma joropo - read the 1 comment if you’re on instagram, if you’re on a browser click where it says “more” and scroll through the pics. You can also hop to instagram by clicking the above pic. Aquarium Glaser has some of the best pleco pics on instagram.)

Khal Chaeto, several years ago. Best pleco I’ve ever watched. (Probably one of my favorite fish to see at job skills.) I think he thought he was a much bigger pleco than he actually was sometimes. I looked forward to seeing him and his ridiculousness.

Forever a tiny boss, running all the yo-yo loaches out of their caves in fish heaven

It’s a GIANT Chaetostoma! I was reading a facebook post and one of the fish listed was a “chaetostomus tiger”. Of course I’m googling it!The closest to that by common name was Chaetostoma leucomelas, which looked nothing like what was pictured in the facebook post. But this post isn’t about that pleco...

Say hello to our neato pleco, Chaetostoma fischeri! I was actually trying to find a good pic of Chaetostoma brevilabiatum (also a GIANT at 11”) but came across this one instead. Maybe it’s the same fish...

Planet Catfish was lacking info on this fish, so I came across a German site (while looking for pics of C. brevilabiatum) so here’s all I got, thanks to google translate:

It gets to be 11”. That’d be... about the same size as Hypostomus soniae, from a previous neato pleco post

It’s from Central/South America just like many/most Loricariids are

It likes a habitat of fast flowing mountain streams (like most Chaetostoma)

“In the wild, Chaetostoma fischeri mainly feeds on algae growth, which it scrapes off the stones and wood, but also on small invertebrates.” (Remember all plecos eat more than just algae, this one is mainly vegetarian so get out the algae wafers and garden vegetables.)

And finally, the German name for Chaetostoma: Bergsbachharnischwelse! (Somehow ends up being “Bergsbach armor catfish” in google translate.)

hi.

Please tell me I’m not the only pleco person who would want a chaetostoma (rubberlip pleco) / sewellia (hillstream loach) tank.

The whole fast moving water flow and smooth rocks everywhere type biotope.

Khal Chaeto has such cool armor.

It’s 4” - a typical Chaetostoma. It looked SO BIG the video I posted recently. It’s still exciting in the sense of another documented and verified Chaetostoma!

I guess we wait for the MYSTERY GIANT CHAETOSTOMA... again.

ETA: 9” / 25 cm via Fauna Tropica, I give up on this. Comparable size approximately to Ancistrus ranunculus. Much bigger than most Chaetostoma.