Should I buy it?
Banded leporinus
Leporinus fasciatus
Also known as: banded lep, lepo, Banded lep, Lepo
Fishori provides conservative planning guidance, not guarantees.
Based on multiple reputable aquarium care sources with strong agreement. Use the numbers here as planning defaults — your room, water, and routine still shape real-world outcomes.
A large nippy fish at 25 cm that actively eats plant leaves and fin-nips continuously. Bold black-and-yellow banding. Not a community fish.
Best for
Large South American cichlid setups 300L or more with robust cichlid-sized companions.
Avoid if
Planted tanks, community fish, or anything under 15 cm.
Top things that go wrong
- Fin-nipping risk in typical community layouts. Fin-nipping risk toward long-finned or slow tank mates when the school is understocked, bored, or kept in a tank too short to spread out in.
- Mouth gap vs tiny tank mates. Predation risk toward smaller tank mates. The figure that matters is the adult mouth size against the adult prey length, not the juvenile sizes in the shop.
- Shrimp & snails. Shrimp: not safe. The fish will eat adult shrimp, shrimp fry, or both, depending on the size of the shrimp.
Common mistakeBanded leporinus in a planted community. They eat plant leaves and nip fins on anything slow enough to catch.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Predation risk scales with gape, night feeding, and crowding. 'they grew up together' is a schedule, not a law.
- 2.A trio in 120 L. The dominant fish mangles every long-finned tank mate within reach.
- 3.Housed with tiny tetras. A banded 'leaf picking' nibble becomes a missing tail fan.
- 4.Keep a real school, strong flow, and long sightlines. Nippy behaviour spikes in understocked or cramped tanks. Size the tank to a measured footprint and the 20 to 30 cm adult length.
About this species
Banded leporinus are striped Anostomidae that grow to 20 to 30 cm and move fast in groups. They nip fins in the wrong set-ups. Tank size for this fish is measured in length and litres, not a 100 L 'rainbow' experiment that ends in shredded fins.
- Silver dollar300L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Denison's / red-line torpedo barb250L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Denisons Barb250L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Giant danio200L min · same fish family
- Rainbow / red-tailed black shark200L min · same fish family
- Rosy Barb180L min · same fish family
- Scissortail Rasbora150L min · same fish family
- Gold / Chinese barb120L min · same fish family
- Angelfishalso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
- Electric Blue Acaraalso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
- Firemouth Cichlidalso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
- Opaline gouramialso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
- Rainbow / red-tailed black sharkalso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
- Senegal bichiralso intermediate semi-aggressive, similar tank size
No reverse lookups on file yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are shown above; this section adds planning detail: pH band, swim level, bioload and activity, and the radar.
Swim zones
Planning trait chart
Six indices for comparing species on paper before you spend.
- Beginner ease22
- Peacefulness8
- Community fit0
- Small-tank fit66
- Hardiness54
- Energy86
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Common setup sketches
Conservative patterns from Fishori fields — still run the pair checker for every species you add; sketches are not a stocking guarantee.
Avoid “one of everything” baskets — Banded leporinus belongs in a plan built around territory, line-of-sight breaks, and matched water chemistry.
Tank mate intelligence
Use the "Often compatible" lists as a shortlist, not a stocking plan. Always run the pair tool and check the footprint of your actual tank first. Verify behaviour for Banded leporinus against your own reading before you buy.
Pair-level compatibility with this fish as anchor.
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Banded leporinus + Giant danio
- Try Giant danio — open the pair check.
- Try Tinfoil barb — open the pair check.
- Try Congo Tetra — open the pair check.
Behaviour, temperament, and what to watch
Prose and lists come from the same record: read temperament first, then glass-level signals so you are not surprised after day three.
Banded leporinus is semi-aggressive: stable in a calm tank, pushy with weaker fish when stressed or crowded. Fin-nipper when the school is understocked, bored, or kept in a tank too short to spread out in. Treats any fish small enough to fit in its mouth as food. Mouth size at adult length matters, not the prey's listed adult size. Holds territory on substrate, in caves, or at the surface film. Break the sight lines with hardscape to keep the resident off the visitor.
Stress / aggression triggers on file
- Small groups or boredom
- Long-finned or slow tank mates
- Bare tanks without structure
Fin nipping: Fin-nipping risk toward long-finned or slow tank mates when the school is understocked, bored, or kept in a tank too short to spread out in.
Predation: Predation risk toward smaller tank mates. The figure that matters is the adult mouth size against the adult prey length, not the juvenile sizes in the shop.
Territory: Holds territory on substrate, in caves, or at the surface film. Break the line of sight with hardscape, and avoid placing the tank where the fish can see its own reflection.
Planted tanks: good — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Busy at feeding time — expects food to hit the water predictably.
- Shoaling/schooling: most colour and confidence show when the group meets **5+**.
- Clamped fins, gasping at the surface, hiding non-stop, or refusing food after the first week.
- Rapid breathing when parameters swing — fix ammonia/nitrite first, then reassess mates.
- Chasing one individual repeatedly, torn fins on tank mates, or food theft every feed.
- Corner guarding, flaring, or body-blocking — territory is normal until it becomes relentless.
- Separate or rehome if injuries appear, one fish is pinned, or feeding becomes a daily chase.
- If water is stable but behaviour worsens, reduce stocking or remove the highest-impact species first.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Care parameters: water, food, inverts, grouping
Chemistry and group rules sit here so you are not re-reading the same line from tank mate or temperament blocks. Swim level is in the plan grid above.
Hardness
soft
Diet
omnivore
Mixed diet: a quality flake or pellet as the staple, with frozen or live foods two or three times a week.
Shrimp & snails
Shrimp: not safe. The fish will eat adult shrimp, shrimp fry, or both, depending on the size of the shrimp.
Shoaling species. Buy 5 or more of one species together. Smaller schools sulk, lose colour, and redirect their schooling energy at whatever else is in the tank.
Egg scatterers and schoolers still spawn in stable tanks. Have a plan for the fry, or accept that the parents and tank mates will eat them in a community setup.
- Hold 22 to 28 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 5.5 to 7.2 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Schooling species. Buy 3 or more from the same tank on the same day before adding any centrepiece fish.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 300L published minimum for adults.
- You can stock at least 5 individuals (group welfare).
- Heater can hold 22–28°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
- No known fin-nippers paired with long-finned fish unless you accept documented risk.
- No tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth gap for this species.
Explore and stocking hubs
Same library as the rest of Fishori: tank-mate index for this species, category peers, guides, and litre-based stocking lists where min tank on file is within the hub volume.
Plan with tools
Pair-level rules and multi-fish stocking use the same conservative engine — add this fish in the tank builder only after mates pass pair checks.
Filtration & heating
A 300L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 1200L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 22–28°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Banded leporinus does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 22–28°C and pH 5.5–7.2:
Profile status: partially verified · Evidence tier: high · 3 linked source(s). Fishori does not fabricate citations.
Fishori uses conservative planning rules based on these sources.
Confidence is explained in the summary at the top of this page (same tier as here), not repeated below.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Leporinus fasciatus
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Leporinus fasciatus
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Leporinus fasciatus
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
- Fishori profiles work from typical aquarium trade sizes and hobby care norms. Specialist site checks and literature review for this species are not yet recorded here, so the ranges on this page are planning numbers rather than guarantees.