Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Characins > Black-Banded Leporinus

Black-Banded Leporinus

Banded Leporinus ~ Eight-banded Leporinus Family: Anostomidae

• Puzzles
• Postcards

Leporinus fasciatus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

   Count the stripes in its pattern and you can guess how old the Black-Banded Leporinus is!

   The Black-Banded Leporinus, also known as the Banded Leporinus or Eight-banded Leporinusis, is undoubtibly the most popular and brightly colored of this group of fish. The alternating bands of black and yellow are very striking and really stand out. It is very noticeable in the aquarium.

   The most interesting thing about the patterning of this fish is that as a youngster it only has 5 black bands. Starting at one year of age, the first of these bands splits, dividing into two bands. Then every six months another band will split into two. By the time the Black-Banded Leporinus is 3 years old, it will have ten bands with the yellow colored band turning orangish. You can actually determine the approximate age of this fish by the number of bands it has!

   The Black-Banded Leporinus is a good community fish, but is very active and should be kept in a large aquarium. Keep the aquarium covered as they will jump, and can jump long distances. Even though they are usually peaceful they can be a fin nibbler, so keep an eye on what you put in with it. We have kept them with a wide variety of community fish as well as small cichlids.

   An aquarium well suited for this fish has a sandy bottom with pieces of wood and rocks. As long as there is algae growing on the wood and rocks, they will swim in a head down position constantly grazing. If there is no algae, they will nibble on the shoots and leaves of plants.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Distribution:
   The Black-Banded Leporinus, also known as the Banded Leporinus or Eight-banded Leporinusis, was described by Bloch in 1794. They are found in Central South America, Amazon tributaries, and Venezuela.

Status:
   The species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.

Description:
   The Black-Banded Leporinus is an elongated heaily bodied fish with an arched back and narrowing towards the tail. It has a series of dark and light bands running along the entire length of the body from the snout to the caudal penduncle. Its fins are transparent, sometimes with a black hue.

Size - Weight:
   These fish get up to about 8 inches (20 cm) in captivity, though they have been know to reach 12 inches (30 cm) in their natural habitat.

Care and feeding:
   These fish are omnivores but they prefer vegetables to all else. The Black-Banded Leporinus, Banded Leporinus, or Eight-banded Leporinus will generally eat a vegetable flake when they are small, but as adults they will appreciate plant matter.
   Feed a good spirulina formula fish food or algae wafers and other vegetable matter such as chickweed, watercress, crushed lettuce leaves and spinach leaves. They will also nibble on the aquarium plants soft shoots and leaves.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   These fish will swim in the middle to lower part of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Hardness: 2-20° dGH
   Ph: 5.5 to 7.5
  Temp: 72-79° F (22-26° C)

Social Behaviors:
   They are a good community fish but may nibble others' fins on occasion. They can be destructive to plants in the aquarium, especially if they are not well fed.

Sexual Differences:
   Unknown.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   Breeding the Black-Banded Leporinus has not been accomplished in captivity. See the general description of how to breed Characins in Breeding Freshwater Fish.

Availability:
   The Black-Banded Leporinus, Banded Leporinus, or Eight-banded Leporinus is readily available.

Author: David Brough, CFS

Add your comment here!
Click to see All the comments!
Click to see all of the coolest comments!
Latest Comments
I have found this fish to be highly agressive. We have had ours over 4 years, he now lives in his tank alone. He started out in a tank with tiger barbs, after killing all but 1 of the tiger barbs we moved him to a tank with African cichlids, he has killed 3 African cichlids. teri 2009-07-13
I posted 5 months ago when I first got my 2 leos back in October 2008 and now I am posting again- I bought both my Banded Leporinus when they were very young, they were 1 and 2 inches…after about 5 months they are now 3 inches and 7 inches respectively- they grow fast. Contrary to what I’ve read, they have not killed any other fish in my tank and seem to get along very well in my 55 gallon tank with each other and their tank mates (silver dollars, bala sharks, parrots, clown loaches, gourami and pleco). I do catch them nipping at a fin here and there, but nothing too bad. They definitely should not be kept with slow moving fish or any fish with long fins. Make sure you have plenty of space for them to hide and live because they are very territorial and do not like sharing! They will eat whatever I put in the tank and especially love algae wafers. They are very sneaky and are not afraid of anything and are my favorite fish in the tank. I highly recommend them to anyone who knows what they are doing! Evan 2009-03-13
We have two Lepos in our tank. They are very nice shy fish. At first they hid a lot, but now that they are more comfortable they come out often. They are not aggressive to any of our fish. However, I noticed a lot of the fish on here that they are eating are from tropical community fish tanks, but these fish are for semi-aggressive communities. We have ours in a 110 gallon tank with a black ghost knifefish, 3 needlfish, and a school of fish including albino tiger barbs, albino tinfoil barbs, silver dollars, an african leaf fish, and 2 plecos. They are the most sweet of all the fish in there - well except for our knifefish and plecos. Just our experience! shawna 2009-02-26
We are currently looking fora new home for our one year old Lepo! He has killed all of his tankmates except a single Gourami. We love watching this fish - dig rocks, stay inverted for long periods of time and just "rule" our tank. Unfortunately, my daughters have been crushed to see each of their "pretty" fish disappear to our Lepo. He has eaten large tiger barbs, mollies, various large Tetras and 2 Plecos. Unless looking to raise this fish with very few othes - I would not recommend it. I think the pet shop will take him back - going to try tomorrow. Joslyn 2008-11-08
I just got my Leporinus, 2 of them actually. When I first saw them they were in a tank with painted parrots, and silver dollars. When I asked about them I was told they are good community fish and will not harm any of my fish. Reading these comments it seems that I was given wrong information. I don't want them to kill any of my fish so I'm thinking about returning them... I don't know what to do because they are such beautful fish and I really like them, but I love my other fish too and I've had the others for about a year and a half now! What do I do... ps. It seems they are being picked on by my painted parrots, but according to most of you here, that might be a different story soon. Evan 2008-10-24
Some of the coolest comments:
The first Leporinus I brought home is snow white w/blk. bars. I took a second one home the following night and the two swam side by side with mouths open before going at it with scales flying. I brought a third home the next night, and neither showed this behavior towards it. I suspect the first two are males. They still spar, but no out and out fighting. These two seem to have a bit more black edging on dorsal and rear of anal fins. They also have a bit more color on their pelvic fins. They pay attention only to each other, not their tankmates, which are gouramis, headstanders, bleeding hearts, kissers. They are in a 125. They need their own kind to interact with, and lots of room. They love meaty foods, but also love halved cucumber and zucchini held with an elastic on a rock, and spinach and romaine lettuce on a veggie clip, and algae wafers. Blondie 2005-04-20
I have kept Leporinus fasciatus for about 5-6 yrs. I got a pair of them (2 really), not knowing how to distinguish the gender! ;) I would strongly suggest that if soomeone purchases leporinus fasciatus, to get more than one. All of the aggression from this fish is between the 2 of them and in 5 yrs they have not harmed each other but seem to quarrel regularly. Many descriptions of this fish describe them as sluggish or lazy. This is strange because they are the most active fish i have kept and they are very long lived from the looks of it. I cannot stress how hardy they are. My fish are under the care of my sister now, in a one hundred gallon. Almost every time she cleans the tank or vaccuums it, one of them leaps out to incredible distances. I am serious, 12 feet was the last distance last week. It seems impossible, but true! Varied diet describes what they eat more than herbivoeous. The various descriptions of this fish are very old for reference and do not seem to ever get updated because they have been available in the hobby for decades. Great fish !!! mine are 7 inches each and they seem to do a crazy courtship-type dance that is tough to describe. No breeding here yet though! But I sure hope they breed! :) Chris S 2004-10-03

Back to Characins