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.