Taxonomy & naming
Leporinus tepui was described in 2019 by Birindelli, Britski and Provenzano in the journal Zootaxa, from material collected in streams of the tepui highlands feeding the upper Orinoco basin in Venezuela. It belongs to the family Anostomidae, the headstanders, within the order Characiformes — a family named for the way many of its members orient themselves nose-down at a steep angle while grazing. The species epithet tepui refers directly to the tepuis, the ancient sandstone table mountains of the Guiana Shield that give the type locality its name, and it places the species among a cluster of highland-restricted headstanders rather than the wider-ranging lowland Leporinus.
A subsequent molecular phylogenetic revision of the genus has proposed moving L. tepui, along with several other small-bodied, high-relief-fin species (including L. arcus, L. gomesi, L. granti and others), into the resurrected genus Hypomasticus. That reclassification is not yet universally adopted, and this article follows the original combination, Leporinus tepui, consistent with the species' original description; readers may also encounter it in the literature as Hypomasticus tepui. The genus Leporinus itself is distinguished from other anostomids by its numerous species, a terminal or near-terminal mouth, and a generally more elongate body than the closely related Anostomus.
Morphology
Leporinus tepui has the typical anostomid body plan: an elongate, only moderately compressed torpedo shape, a terminal mouth armed with a small number of premaxillary teeth suited to scraping rather than grasping, and four dark longitudinal stripes running along the flanks — a pattern shared with several other small highland Leporinus and useful for separating it from lowland relatives with blotched or barred patterns. The original description notes roughly 34–36 scales along the lateral line and about 12 scale rows around the caudal peduncle, technical counts that separate it from its closest relative, L. arcus.
Size data for this species is sparse: the type series ran in the range of roughly 6.5–8 in, and no larger wild or aquarium specimens appear to be documented. Given how many Leporinus continue growing well past their original type measurements, keepers should treat that figure as a working estimate rather than a hard ceiling. As in other headstanders, colouration is fairly stable and not strongly linked to sex; there is no documented external difference between males and females in this species.
Habitat
The species is known only from streams draining the tepui highlands into the upper Orinoco basin in Venezuela — clear, soft, acidic highland waters typical of the Guiana Shield, running over sand, rock and leaf litter with algae-covered surfaces for grazing. One source associates the species with the Rio Teles Pires system in the Tapajós basin of Brazil, but that record conflicts with the Orinoco/Guiana Shield type locality given in the original description and has not been reconciled here; this account follows the original, better-supported Venezuelan highland range.
Recorded conditions at the type locality run around 79–82 °F with a pH near neutral to slightly acidic (roughly 6.5–7), consistent with clear, well-oxygenated highland streams rather than the deep blackwater of lowland Amazon tributaries. Beyond the original collection data, detailed habitat descriptions — flow rate, substrate composition, seasonal variation — are not available in the sources reviewed for this article.
Feeding
Leporinus tepui is, like the great majority of its genus, a grazer of aufwuchs — the algae-and-biofilm film that coats submerged rock, wood and leaf litter — which it scrapes in the characteristic oblique, head-down posture that gives headstanders their common name. Small invertebrates picked up incidentally while grazing likely round out the diet, as documented for related Leporinus and Anostomus species, though no gut-content study specific to L. tepui appears in the record.
In the aquarium, this feeding style translates to a need for vegetable-forward foods — spirulina-based flake or wafer, blanched vegetables, algae wafers — supplemented with some protein such as small live or frozen foods. As with related headstanders, soft aquarium plants should be expected to take some grazing pressure; keepers should favour tougher, unpalatable species or accept some leaf damage.
Mating
No courtship behaviour specific to Leporinus tepui has been documented. In related Anostomidae, spawning is preceded by loose pairing rather than an elaborate display, with a ripe male and female breaking from the group as conditions (typically a temperature rise and softer water, mimicking a rains-driven rise) become favourable. There is no documented external sexual dimorphism for this species — no reliable colour, fin-shape or size difference between males and females has been recorded, and gravid females are presumably identifiable only by a fuller body profile, as in other Leporinus.
Breeding
Leporinus tepui is, so far as the record shows, an egg-scattering species with no parental care, consistent with the breeding biology documented across Anostomidae: a pair sheds and fertilises adhesive eggs over dense vegetation or fine root mass and then abandons them entirely. Breeding of this species in aquaria has not been documented in the sources available for this account, and headstanders in general are only rarely bred at home — a few other Leporinus and Anostomus species have been spawned by dedicated hobbyists, and some larger Leporinus are farmed commercially, but L. tepui itself should be treated as essentially unbred in captivity until better information surfaces.
In the aquarium
Leporinus tepui is not established in the aquarium trade to any meaningful degree, and this account should be read as a description of the species rather than a proven care template. Based on its measured size (roughly 6.5–8 in) and its relatives' behaviour, a tank in the 300-litre-plus range with a sandy or fine-gravel substrate, rockwork and wood offering grazing surfaces, and open swimming room would suit an adult. Water should lean toward the species' recorded conditions — warm (mid-20s to high-20s °C) and close to neutral pH — rather than the deep soft blackwater sometimes assumed for South American characins generally.
As with other Leporinus, keepers should be prepared for a fish that becomes increasingly assertive and territorial with age and is a documented fin-nipper in some congeners, particularly toward slower or long-finned tankmates; keeping it in a group or with robust, fast-moving companions is the safer approach, and single specimens in cramped quarters are more likely to become problem fish. Given how little is published on L. tepui specifically, anyone keeping it should treat published Leporinus care guidance as a starting point, not a guarantee.
Conservation
Leporinus tepui has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List. As a species described only in 2019 and known from a restricted highland range in the Venezuelan tepui country, it fits the profile of many recently described, geographically narrow Guiana Shield endemics that have not yet been assessed. No population trend, threat data or trade-pressure information is available in the sources reviewed here; in the absence of an assessment, the honest statement is simply that its conservation status is unknown, not that it is safe.