Article © Julian Dignall, uploaded July 01, 1997.

When I first started to become intersted in catfish, the sailfin plec or gibby (which still doesn't seem to be a widespread term) was still only available as 2-3" wild caught specimens at around £10 upwards. These fish were often different in pattern and colour ranging from nice to spectacular. Every now and again an adult fish would appear for sale at 12" plus with a huge dorsal fin and directly proportional price tag.

In my view, the only down-side of commercial breeding is that you don't get the odd-balls and regional colour variations that appear in shipments of wild caught fish. When looking at Sailfin Plecs in the shops, they all look the same now. Mind you, I still look just in case! There is now the almost monthly influx of other new plecs to the hobby, so suckermouth fans remain well catered for. On the subject of unusual imports, there is also an albino strain of this fish which is hard to acquire.

Progress has given us commercially bred Sailfin Plecs and these can be found on a visit to most aquatic shops most of the time. You should be able to find an adult (which has usually been returned upon outgrowing its owner's provision for it) without much difficulty. Commercial breeding has dropped the price and made this fish readily available at an affordable price for all aquarists. The cloud of this particular silver lining is that this has led to the fish being sold cheaply at the 1-2" mark which invariably means more people will buy them unaware of the 18" gentle monster they are now responsible for.

Growing gibbiceps shouldn't be a problem for most 3ft or larger aquariums as most shops will happily swap a well-fed healthy 8" gibby for a scrawny 1-2" juvenile. The dealer gets a nice fish to sell; the aquarist gets the fun of raising another of these fish. Most importantly the plecos get moved to tanks suited to their size. As an aside to this someone setting up, for example, a mid-sized cichlid tank will have a ready made supply of suitably sized algae eaters/worker catfish to buy "off the shelf". Excepting raising cichlids and plecos from youngsters together, it is easiest to add adult plecs to big fish tanks than throw in a few youngsters with adult fish and hope for the best.

Finally an advert. I once put a 6" gibby in a 4'x2'x2' that could only be described as green. In 48 hours the tank, the rocks, the bogwood and even the individual pieces of gravel were spotless! The only problems were enormous amount of 'processed' algae from the back end of the gibby and what to feed it next. It now demolishes a cucumber per fortnight along with sinking catfish tablets. I ended up adding an external power filter just to look after the huge quantities of green waste (no pun intended!) these fish produce.

Copyright information for the images used in this article can be found on the species' full Cat-eLog page.

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps  (Kner, 1854)
Common Names	L165, Sail Fin Pleco Gibby, Leopardplettet Sugemalle (Denmark), Sejlfinnet Leopardmalle (Denmark), Waben-Schilderwels (Germany)
Type Locality	Upper Rio Negro near Marabitanos, Amazonas State, Brazil.
Synonym(s)	Ancistrus gibbiceps, Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps, Liposarcus altipinnis
Pronunciation	terry gop LICK thees - gibb EE seps
Etymology	Greek, pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin + Greek, hoplon = weapon + Greek, ichthys = fish. This specific epithet refers to the hump (gibbus=hump) on its head (kephale=head).
Articles
Species Information
Size	500mm or 19.7" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Pterygoplichthys can be identified by the number of rays in the dorsal fin. Ten or more dorsal rays (usually more than 10) indicates that it's a Pterygoplichthys. Most other plecos have 8 or fewer rays (in particular the larger Hypostomus species that are most likely to be confused with Pterygoplichthys). The trademark spotted sailfin makes this a distinctive species.
Habitat Information
Distribution	South America: Middle and upper Amazon and Orinoco basins. Amazon (click on these areas to find other species found there) Orinoco (click on these areas to find other species found there) Login to view the map.
IUCN Red List Category	Least Concern , range map and more is available on the IUCN species page. Last assessed 2020.
pH	6.5 - 7.8
Temperature	23.0-27.0°C or 73.4-80.6°F (Show species within this range)
Other Parameters	Larger fish require heavy filtration, not because they are fussy about water quality, but because of the high volumes of waste they produce.
Husbandry Information
Feeding	Lettuce, Peas, Frozen Spinach and any prepared food that reaches the bottom. Larger fish enjoy prawns or pieces of freshwater trout. Algae (especially soft brown) will be eaten immediately. User data.
Furniture	An appropriately sized shady retreat is all this fish requires. Will not eat plants, but any individual larger then 100mm or so may inadvertently pull up plants that are not entirely established. Larger fish require heavy filtration, not because they are fussy about water quality, but because of the high volumes of waste they produce.
Compatibility	Larger individuals are territorial to conspecifics however not predatory and able to look after itself with all but the most violent tank mates.
Suggested Tankmates	Hardy and stoic, a good companion fish for most larger fishes. Not a good pleco to keep with other similarly sized, less gregarious plecos as the P. gibbiceps will usually win any competition for food.
Breeding	Although commercially farmed, spawning in a home aquarium would be very difficult to achieve as a large wall of mud (I.E. a river bank) is tunnelled into and used for the incubation / hatching process. Large tunnels and fish would be required in a super-size aquarium.
Breeding Reports	There is no breeding report.
Further Information
Reference	Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. v. 7, pp 284 [34], Pl. 5 (fig. 2)
Registered Keepers	There are 356 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There are 4 wishes to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 51 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
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	Search for P. gibbiceps
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	Look up P. gibbiceps on Encyclopedia of Life
	Look up P. gibbiceps on Global Biodiversity Information Facility
	LFS label creator ARN ref:1.4.6.148
Last Update	2022 Aug 21 01:51 (species record created: 1997 Jul 01 11:22)

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