Panaque maccus are my favorite catfish. They are also known as clown plecos - in fact, the word "maccus" means clown. Here are some shots of the ones I keep in a 75 gallon.

Here's one!

For some reason, the sand is showing up yellow but in reality it's a light brown.

Here are two more.

One is hiding on top of the wood on the left.

The decor of the tank is wood from one end to the other so that each pleco can have their choice.

This character wedged himself into a crevice to avoid me.


These three wanted to hide so bad!


Note the long tail extensions on the one at the top of the photo.

Here is the tank I keep them in.

That is a real nice looking tank Deb. I really like it..

Very nice pics! I'm glad to really get a look at these fish - I typically miss them when I see your tank since they are so secretive.

Beautiful setup. I notice you have no background. Nice clean look. Where are the wires?

Deb don't need no stinkin' wires

I could explain where the wires are but Ill leave it up to Deb. This is a really great tank and you get a better perspective in person. The clown plecos seem to be in heaven with all that wood.

Thanks, All! You're very kind!

The tank has been set up going on three and a half years and I'm constantly adding wood or rearranging the decor to get it just right for the current number of wood-eaters. They are a bit territorial with each other which is normal.

The background is all the decor from dried palm, oak, and magnolia leaves. Some have fallen off so I need to fix them back up but usually they make a very good screen.

The window blind is natural wood slats so that acts as a screen, too. No lights on the tank, just sunlight from the windows and skylights. Makes a nice light-and-shadow effect over the course of the day.

On the left you see the heater and the HOB. The wires from these two are held off to the side and fixed on the back glass of the tank with one of those tiny suction cup hooks that you can get from Ben Franklin.

The HOB works fine but with these plecos the "blue pads" need to be rinsed OFTEN.

nice! is it just me or do most tanks look bigger in photo's??

alright, phew! it looked like a huge tank from the photo. its a nice one, either way