Phago loricatus
- Thread starter phoenixx
- Start date
These are rarely imported, in all the years I have kept fish I have only had one. It may even have been a different species as back tthen they were pretty much all called Phago maculatus. They are easy to keep, needing water between 6 and 7.5 pH and medium hardness. Temps between 72-80F. They are apparently hard to get to feed on nonliving food but will take crickets, other insects, and even worms but they prefer fish. I kept mine in a 20G. They seem to prefer a lightly planted tank so that they have a couple clumps of cover.
This was the the single most visious fish I ever owned, the day I brought it home (came with tankI added a couple dozen guppies and an 8" pleco, It killed all the guppies in well under an hour, only eating a few of them. That night it shredded the pleco so badly I had to destroy the catfish. It had no fins, tail, or eyes left, ang a slash in it's side that intestines poked through. Phagos are definitely a specimin tank type fish, The one I had was about 7" long.
In the wild they dart out of the weeds and clip off chunk of fins from much larger fish.
I do not know if they are all like that or if mine was just psychotic but in that ones case, well, picture Freddy Krueger with fins.
This was the the single most visious fish I ever owned, the day I brought it home (came with tankI added a couple dozen guppies and an 8" pleco, It killed all the guppies in well under an hour, only eating a few of them. That night it shredded the pleco so badly I had to destroy the catfish. It had no fins, tail, or eyes left, ang a slash in it's side that intestines poked through. Phagos are definitely a specimin tank type fish, The one I had was about 7" long.
In the wild they dart out of the weeds and clip off chunk of fins from much larger fish.
I do not know if they are all like that or if mine was just psychotic but in that ones case, well, picture Freddy Krueger with fins.
thanks Guppy. I picked one up from my LFS today and can vouch for what you are saying. It is about 3" long and when I put my finger up to the tank the fish would try to bite thru the glass. I have never seen one of these guys before and they look pretty interesting. Mouths look like alligators when they open up and chomp down. Can't wait to see what this guy will look like when he gets larger.