Hypancistrus L173 and L236 are among the most highly sought after of all pleco species. With the ban on these and other Brazilian endemic freshwater and saltwater fish, there is simply no legal way to obtain these fish other than from private breeders who invested in these species when they were legally available. One notable example is the talented German aquarist Heinrich Will who has been exceptionally successful with these varieties of Zebra Plecos, Hypancistrus zebra, which probably represent different species. Heinrich and his wife Annelotte have produced a now classic website L173.de that displays and documents their work with these amazing Hypancistrus. One look at their fishroom shows how much love has gone into providing a very clean and suitable aquarium environment for these gorgeous fancy plecos. Although Heinrich focuses on the L173 Hypancistrus, he also breed Hypancistrus L236 and L46 but he is also working with L98 we wish him success with producing that L-number species as well. Some of their offspring have shipped to Asian aquarium markets but we’d love to see some of these singular pleco species make their way to North American aquariums as well. Follow the link for a few more shots of their amazing L173 plecos but you have to visit the source website if you want to get the full scoop on their fishroom and other details.

All the photos below are pulled from L173.de and they feature Hypancistrus L173.