The needle suckers (Farlowella) belong to the most specialized Loricariids at all. Their whole life is dedicated to the trick to look like a stick.
Currently we received fantastic, up to 18 cm long Farlowella platorhynchus from Peru. There is a lot of variation observable regarding coloration. Males and females can be distinguished best by a look from the top: males have a much broader head. In contrast to many other Loricariids, Farlowella are not cave brooding, but spawn open on the surface of things, quite often on the glass of the tank. Here the male guards the eggs until the fry hatch.
Keeping Farlowella is not difficult, but one has to note some essential things. First of all, Farlowella are slow feeders. They are used to feed on Aufwuchs in the wild, and so the keeper has to make sure that the needle suckers get enough food. Tablet food and frozen Cyclops do very well. Also the gravel should be fine, best sand, for otherwise the fine food particles vanish too fast in the ground. Finally: please note that Farlowella are very bad swimmers, so they can become entangled easily in dense plants etc.. So furnish the tank for Farlowella only neatly arranged.
For our customers: the animals have code 253875 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Farlowella: dedication name for W. G. Farlow, former professor at Harvard University, USA. platorhynchus: from ancient Greek, means “with a broad snout”.
Suggestion of a common name: Broadsnouted Needle Sucker
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Peru |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 15 - 18 |
