Crying Whiptail

About

The shop label on this fish usually carries three names at once - 'Loricaria filamentosa', 'Rio Atabapo' and 'red' - and only one of them describes the animal in the bag. Start with what is solid. For more than twenty years this was an undescribed trade line, and most of the aquarium literature still says so. It is not one any more. PlanetCatfish's Cat-eLog now heads the same record - the one that has carried the common name Crying Whiptail all along - as Loricaria nimairaco Londoño-Burbano, Urbano-Bonilla, Thomas & Britto, 2023, cites the description at Neotropical Ichthyology v. 21 (3): e230008, and keeps 'Rio Atabapo Loricaria' beside it as a second common name. Maidenhead Aquatics still writes 'Although this fish remains undescribed at present' and Aquarium Glaser 'still undescribed scientifically', but both pages predate the paper and neither has been updated, so treat them as out of date rather than as evidence that the fish has no name. Both do explain that name: two dark parallel lines run from the snout through the eyes and stop just before the dorsal fin, joined by a short crossbar, so the fish looks like it is crying. Where it comes from is the loose end. The described species is an upper-Amazon fish, its type locality the Río Amazon at Leticia in Colombia, while the Cat-eLog files this same record under the Orinoco, Middle Orinoco and Atabapo as well as under the upper Amazon, and notes the animal used to be sold as Loricaria sp. `Colombia` before any locality was attached to it. Take the trade's 'Rio Atabapo' and the described species' upper-Amazon range as not yet reconciled rather than as one settled origin. What the collectors do agree on is the water: a river 5 to 30 m wide running over rock and a few sandy patches at around 26 C, with no aquatic plants. Now the other two words on the label. 'Filamentosa' is an old aquarium name that does not belong here: FishBase gives the valid combination as Dasyloricaria filamentosa (Steindachner, 1878), a Magdalena-basin whiptail reaching 32.2 cm SL - different genus, different river, nearly twice the length. 'Red' almost always means a different fish again, the tank-bred red lizard whiptail Rineloricaria sp. L010A that we carry separately: 12 cm, rust-red, and an aufwuchs grazer. This one is an 18 cm grey-brown carnivore, and Loricaria is told from Rineloricaria by its far more feathered sucker mouth. They are not the same animal under two labels, and the diet is where confusing them costs you.

Care

Buy it at 5-6 cm and house it for 18 cm or more. Aquarium Glaser, which imports the fish, ships it at 5-6 cm and writes that 'The species attains a length of about 20 cm'; PlanetCatfish records 180 mm SL and Maidenhead Aquatics 18 cm. All of that length is body, so what it needs is floor rather than height: a long tank with a wide expanse of soft sand it can bury itself in, driftwood and rock for shade, and dried leaf litter. Gravel is out - Maidenhead is blunt that 'gravel must be avoided' - because this fish spends the daylight hours partly buried. Keep it at 25-27 C inside the 23-28 C both sources give, filter well but do not blast it: the natural current is moderate and Maidenhead warns that 'the actual water flow within the aquarium should not be excessive'. Keep three or more; they are peaceful with each other and the Cat-eLog's compatibility line is simply 'A good citizen - rather peaceful'. Dim the light or shade it with floating plants. Rooted plants get dug up, so tie Anubias to the wood instead. Feed meaty sinking food near its resting place, ideally after lights out, and watch that it arrives: a half-buried fish loses every race to a barb.

Diet

Carnivore-leaning bottom feeder. Sinking catfish pellets and tablets plus frozen bloodworm, white and black mosquito larvae, brine shrimp and daphnia. PlanetCatfish states plainly that vegetables and algae are not eaten, so do not stock it as an algae eater. Target-feed near where it rests if there are faster tankmates.

Telling males from females

What works for this species, most reliable first.

• Bristles and cheek spinesStrong · from about a year

  Male plecos grow odontodes — spiny growths on the cheeks and along the leading pectoral rays. Bristlenose males additionally grow branching tentacles across the snout and over the top of the head.

Also in these lists

Similar species

Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.

Sold in Lithuania

These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.

These links are unpaid: we get nothing for them and ask for nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What tank size does a Crying Whiptail need?

A Crying Whiptail needs an aquarium of at least 150 litres (39.6 US gallons) with a footprint at least 100 cm (39.4 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.

What water parameters does a Crying Whiptail need?

Crying Whiptail does best at 23–28 °C (73.4–82.4 °F), pH 6.4–7.6 and a general hardness of 2–15 °dGH.

What group size does a Crying Whiptail need?

Crying Whiptail is a social species — keep a group of at least 3 so natural behaviour emerges and stress stays low.

Is the Crying Whiptail suitable for beginners?

Crying Whiptail sits in the middle of the difficulty scale — manageable for a careful beginner who has done the reading, but it has specific needs worth researching first.

Sources

• PlanetCatfish Cat-eLog — Loricaria nimairaco (Crying Whiptail)
• Maidenhead Aquatics (Fishkeeper) — Crying Whiptail, Loricaria sp. 'rio atabapo'
• Aquarium Glaser — Loricaria sp. Rio Atabapo
• FishBase — Dasyloricaria filamentosa (Steindachner, 1878)
• Seriously Fish — Rineloricaria sp., Red Lizard Catfish, L010a/L10a