Whiptail catfish
Farlowella acus
Parameter dashboard
24-27 °C
6-7
15 cm
8 years
Care guide
The twig or whiptail catfish is a slender, stick-shaped loricariid from the Orinoco drainage of Colombia and Venezuela, where it clings to submerged branches and roots in clear, flowing streams. A note on the name: most 'Farlowella acus' in the hobby are in fact F. vittata — true F. acus is rarely, if ever, exported — but the two are near-identical in care and are traded interchangeably. Whichever you have, it is an olive-brown fish with a dark side stripe and a long needle snout, so well camouflaged that it disappears against wood. It grows to about 15 cm.
Everything about this fish comes back to one point: it is a delicate grazer that starves easily. It eats aufwuchs and algae, so it belongs only in a mature, established tank with a good film of algae and biofilm already growing, backed up with algae wafers, spirulina and blanched vegetables such as courgette and spinach. It is also very sensitive to water quality and to being moved, so it needs stable parameters, gentle drip acclimation and clean water with near-zero nitrate.
Give it an 81 litre tank, reasonably long, with fine sand, vertical driftwood and hardy plants such as Anubias and Java fern. Keep the flow well-oxygenated but not turbulent, at 24–27 °C, pH 6.0–7.0, in soft water. It is entirely peaceful and does well in a quiet community of small tetras, rasboras and corydoras, and it is content in a small group — several can share a tank, though rival males posture a little. In good conditions it is long-lived, up to fifteen years or so. Males guard the eggs, which are laid on a cleaned vertical surface and hatch in about a week.
Sources
- seriouslyfish.com — https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/farlowella-vittata/
- fishbase.se — https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Farlowella-acus.html
- planetcatfish.com — https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=64
Further reading on identification and aquarium care.
Tankmate compatibility (sample)
Pairwise screening against other species in the database (prioritizing the same family when data is available).
Review first (10)
Caution or avoid from automated rules — confirm before mixing.
| Species | Assessment | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Leopard Frog Pleco Peckoltia compta Caution | Caution | Fish 2x+ larger may eat smaller tankmates · close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space Open pair in Compare → |
| Nannoptopoma Nannoptopoma sternoptychum Caution | Caution | Fish 2x+ larger may eat smaller tankmates Open pair in Compare → |
| Royal Farlowella Sturisomatichthys festivus Caution | Caution | close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space Open pair in Compare → |
| Royal panaque Panaque nigrolineatus Caution | Caution | Fish 2x+ larger may eat smaller tankmates Open pair in Compare → |
| Sunshine Pleco Scobinancistrus aureatus Caution | Caution | close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space · one is boisterous and the other a much smaller peaceful fish sharing the same floor, where it can be intimidated and outcompeted at feeding time Open pair in Compare → |
| Vampire Pleco Leporacanthicus galaxias Caution | Caution | close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space · one is boisterous and the other a much smaller peaceful fish sharing the same floor, where it can be intimidated and outcompeted at feeding time Open pair in Compare → |
| Whiptail Catfish Loricaria simillima Caution | Caution | close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space Open pair in Compare → |
| Zebra pleco Hypancistrus zebra Caution | Caution | the two share only a narrow band of temperature, so one of them sits at the edge of its range · close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space Open pair in Compare → |
| Blue-eye panaque Panaque suttonorum Avoid | Avoid | Species with non-overlapping temperature ranges cannot coexist · the two share only a narrow band of temperature, so one of them sits at the edge of its range Open pair in Compare → |
| Gold Nugget Pleco Baryancistrus xanthellus Avoid | Avoid | Species with non-overlapping temperature ranges cannot coexist · the two share only a narrow band of temperature, so one of them sits at the edge of its range · close relatives, and one of them is territorial, so both claim the same kind of space · one is boisterous and the other a much smaller peaceful fish sharing the same floor, where it can be intimidated and outcompeted at feeding time Open pair in Compare → |
2 species with compatible assessment in this sampleCollapse to hide the list; use “Open pair in Compare” for the full matrix.
| Species | Assessment | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Medusa Pleco Ancistrus ranunculus Compatible | Compatible | No rule-based conflicts detected for this pair. Open pair in Compare → |
| Twig Catfish Farlowella vittata Compatible | Compatible | No rule-based conflicts detected for this pair. Open pair in Compare → |
Same rule engine as Compare. Not a substitute for observation, tank size, or acclimation.
Related species
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