Has been recorded from major river channels, smaller tributaries, and floodplain lakes, many of which comprise acidic, mineral-poor blackwater environments with brownish, tannin-stained water, although it has been observed to inhabit clear waters as well.

Many of its habitats lie within the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, a vast, highly biodiverse system of tropical savannah grasslands, seasonally-flooded plains and forests covering an area measuring almost 600,000 square kilo…

It differs from H. paucilepis by possessing 30-31 scales in the lateral row (vs. 28-29), 3 scales between the lateral line and anal-fin (vs. 4), 10 predorsal scales (vs. 9), ii, 9 dorsal-fin rays (vs. iii, 8), 4 maxillary teeth (vs. 1), and the distance between the dorsal-fi…

Known with certainty from tributaries of the middle Río Orinoco between the city of Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state, Venezuela and the lower Río Meta, Colombia.

It may have a wider distribution within the Meta system since some reports suggest it to occur around Villavicencia, Colombia, some 600 km upriver.

This species is much rare in the hobby than its congener A. stigmatias, presumably a reflection of its more remote, restricted natural range.

The red pigmentation on the body can vary in both extent and intensity, and apparently begins to fade when the fish have been maintained in aquaria for a period.

This species does appear in the aquarium trade from time-to-time, often among shipments of other wild-caught fishes from the Orinoco basin.

Populations from Colombia were formerly referred to as C. metae until Zarske (2011) synonymised the two when designating a lectoty…

Type locality is given simply as ‘Amazon River, Brazil’ and according to current thinking this species has a huge natural range encompassing the Amazon River system in Brazil and Peru plus the Paraná-Paraguay drainage in southern Brazil and Paraguay and rio São Francisco basin in southern Brazil.

Specimens in our images were collected fro…

Found in a number of habitat-types, though rarely in smaller tributaries, generally preferring deeper, flowing channels through which it travels for considerable distances at certain times of year. Like other large, migratory pimelodids these movements are typically associated with nutrient-rich, white water drainages rather than nutrient-poor black waters.

This species is traded under a number of English vernacular names, of which some others include ‘blonde bulldog pleco’, ‘blonde rubber pleco’, ‘blonde rubbernose pleco’, ‘striped rubber pleco’, and ‘striped rubbernose pleco’. It may also be seen referred to as ‘L146’, ‘L146a’, or ‘L187b’, these codes having been used for it in the Aqualog series of books.

It can be told apart from all congeners except C. anale and C. jegui by…

T. stellatus is superficially similar to its only congener T. securis, but can immediately be identified by the presence (vs. absence) of a prominent dark spot in the dorsal-fin. It is sometimes traded as ‘platinum hatchetfish’.

The genus Thoracocharax was originally erected by Fowler in 1906 as a subgenus of Gasteropelecus, but was elevated to generic status by Weitzman (1960).

This species can be identified from similar-looking congeners by possession of a pair of small rictal barbels.

Its colour pattern can vary considerably depending on collection locality, with some forms having been misidentified as other species in the past. Those possessing a dark marking on the sides of the body are sometimes referred to as Corydoras sp. ‘olga’.