Bristlenose Pleco Stats
Minimum Tank Size: 29 Gallons
Care Level: Easy
Water Conditions: 6.5 – 7.5 and Soft to Medium but is highly adaptable
Temperature: 70-80 F (20-27 C)
Maximum Size: 6 inches (15 cm)
The bristlenose pleco (Ancistrus cirrhosus), also known as the bushynose pleco, has a wide distribution throughout the Amazon river basin in South America. It can be found in a variety of habitats, from shallow low oxygen floodplains, to the deep, dark waters of rivers. There are several commercially available species, but Ancistrus cirrhosus is the most common.
Bristlenose plecos are commonly known as suckerfish, and make an excellent addition to most freshwater aquariums. They are arguably the best algae eaters available – both because of the large amount of algae that they consume and their hardy, easy to care for nature.
While the common pleco can grow to the size of a river monster in a tropical aquarium, bristlenose plecos stay quite a bit smaller, and usually top out at around 6 inches. Because of this, they are a far better choice than the common pleco if you are looking for an algae eating fish.
Housing
Bristlenose plecos need a spacious tank with strong filtration. The reasons for this are simple – they need space, and they tend to be prolific poopers. Much of their life seems to consist of searching for food, eating the food, and then searching for more. Because of this, they are prodigious poop producers, and if the water isn’t well filtered, the water quality will quickly plummet.
In the wild, adult bristlenose plecos tend to hide in caves and under driftwood when they aren’t foraging and should be provided with similar hiding places in the aquarium. This can be as simple as providing a clay pot on its side, or you can provide large pieces of driftwood with overhangs that a bristlenose pleco can hide under.
When choosing a filter for them, a HOB (hang-on-back) filter is the most economical choice, and in combination with a sponge filter, it will keep the water sparkling clean . However, if you have a bit more money to spend, a canister filter is usually the best choice for most tropical aquariums.
I would strongly recommend choosing an Aquaclear Power Filter
Feeding
Like previously stated, bristlenose plecos love to eat and you can provide them with a wide range of food. Their main diet should be composed of a herbivore sinking pellet, since they tend to mainly eat on the bottom of the tank. An excellent choice is Hikari Algae Wafers, which I use for my plecos
This should be supplemented with vegetables, as they need a large amount of plant matter in their diet. A hungry bristlenose pleco will completely devour every last piece of blanched zucchini, cucumber medallions and shelled peas. They also appreciate broccoli and a wide range of other vegetables. Always remember to remove any uneaten vegetables after 24 hours to prevent water fouling.
If you are hoping to get a bristlenose pleco into breeding condition, they should be fed live or frozen foods. Their particular favorites are bloodworms and live blackworms, and they tend to ignore most other frozen and live foods. The key is to ensure that the food reaches the bottom of the aquarium, or they most likely won’t even notice it.
One thing to remember with bristlenose plecos, is that they require fiber in their diet- especially if they are consistently fed regular fish food. Some fiber can be provided through vegetables, but unless you are careful to consistently feed vegetables, they generally won’t have enough fiber in their diet to remain healthy.
There is a simple solution to providing enough fiber – just include a piece of driftwood in their tank. Nearly all species of plecos will rasp on any driftwood in their tanks, which provide them with more than enough fiber to help them stay healthy and active.
Breeding
Bristlenose plecos are easy to breed and only usually have to be provided with a cave to spawn in – the rest they do on their own. You should always try to have more females than males, unless you have a very large tank. The males are incredibly territorial and will quickly claim a cave for breeding purposes. Any other males will then fight the male for control of the cave and given the opportunity, will indulge in quick meal of caviar (they will eat their male rival eggs).
When preparing to breed bristlenose plecos, you first need to determine if you have at least one male and female. You can determine the sex of them by simply looking at the “bristles” on their heads. Males will usually have larger bristles and they will extend to the middle of its head. Females will only have bristles around their mouth, and they tend to be much smaller than the males.
When the male is ready to breed, it will begin to excavate a cave (clay pot or overhang), and will clean off the surfaces of it in preparation for eggs. Once the male is done, he will settle in to his newly claimed cave, and wait for a female. Once a female comes by, she will inspect the cave and if suitably impressed, will decide to move into the cave and deposit her eggs.
Once the eggs have been deposited on the walls of the cave and fertilized by the male, he will push the female out the cave, and begin to guard the eggs. During this time, other females may be enticed into the cave, and the male may end up fertilizing the eggs from several different females.
The eggs will then hatch after around 4-10 days and the fry will cling to the sides of the cave until they have completely absorbed the egg sacks. During this time, the male will continue to guard the fry until they are free swimming on their own.
The fry can be feed with infusoria or powdered spirulina. After a few days they can be fed baby brine shrimp and they will also eat any available algae.
Pleco or Plecostomus?
If you are new to the hobby, you will only ever rarely hear “plecos” referred to as a plecostomus. There is a simple reason for this – it’s considered bad luck to refer to plecos by their full name. There is a belief among some in the fish keeping hobby, that if you use the full name, you will soon have a dead pleco. (I will update this page if I suffer any devastating pleco losses after daring to say plecostomus in this article.)
Hi there,
I have a few questions…
How do they mate together ?
How long are they pregnant for ?
As today’s date is the 14th October, how many times does it get pregnant for. ?
They don’t get pregnant but a male bristlenose pleco will entice a female bristlenose pleco into a flower pot or cave where she will lay her eggs and he will fertilize them. The eggs are then cared for by the male until they hatch in a few days. The fry will then become free swimming a few days after that.
This can happen relatively regularly if you provide them with good food and conditions.
Hi I have two one month old bn plecos and at this stage its hard to sex them but what I want to know is when they get close to each other they chase each other away why
It can be difficult at that age, but soon you’ll be able to sex them pretty easily. And they tend to be aggressive to each other regardless of the sex.
Hi does plecos need light in tank if got a breed pair?
If the tank isn’t planted, then they don’t need strong light. You should be alright with just a small amount of light in the tank, but you don’t want to leave them in darkness all day long.
Hi I have a 250litre tank and have had a bn pleco for around two years. About a month ago a friend donated another bn pleco and after watching them for a few days figured as they didn’t attack one another they are ok together. However, I’ve just got back from a weeks holiday to discover around 50 or so baby pleco in the tank and I’m not sure what to do. Do i seperate them ? I only have this single tank and dont want them to fight but not entirely sure what to do or how to go about it.
Generally, if you don’t already have a breeding tank setup, it’s best to keep the fry in your main tank. Baby fish are incredibly sensitive to poor water conditions, and if you put them in a different tank without cycling it, you would probably lose them all. Plus, they’re usually pretty safe with the adult plecos. Bristlenose plecos normally don’t hunt their fry, so you should have pretty decent survival rates if you can find the fry food to feed them.
We just found out we have baby plecos, but we also found out the male pkeco died as we don’t see it in the tank anymore and my husband saw what he thinks skeleton. Do they die after babies hatch?
Sorry to hear about the lose of your pleco, but no, they don’t die after mating. Generally speaking, it means there is either an illness in the tank or there is something wrong with the water. I would get your aquarium water tested as soon as possible (most pet stores do this for free) and keep an eye out for illness.
How do I get my bn to stay out of hiding long enough for me to get a good look at his bristles? He’s quickly back in hiding. I’d like to get him/her a mate, but the wrong choice could be disastrous. I put algae wafers in, and cucumber/ courgette or whatever.
It can be very difficult to get some plecos out of hiding. If you remain completely motionless after adding food, it will often come out so it can be examined. Barring that, you can use a flashlight after you turn the lights out in the room, and you can often get a good look at it that way. I’ve used that method with some of the other nocturnal fish that I have.
My bristlenose is young 1/2 inch german orange Pleco, he was very active for first 6 weeks and always in view, but for the last 5 days I cannot find him or her, could he be dead? or hiding under driftwood?
The pleco is probably hiding. Watch the tank after the lights are out while not moving. If you don’t see the bristlenose pleco, then you’re probably going to start searching for a dead pleco.
I lost 2 plecos the last 2 days after saying their full name a week ago…
But today i have just found 12 babies!!! 😀
Take care of those babies. They can make up for you saying the full name. lol
I know it’s a silly superstition, but years ago I said the full name and a 12 inch pleco somehow escaped my main tank and died on the floor. I haven’t said it since.
I have about 12 baby Plecos in my tank should I leave them in the main tank or separate them from the cichlids.
I got 4 plecos in July as barely half an inch long so I’m guessing not very old. But how old do they generally have to be to start breeding?
I wouldn’t go by age, since so many factors can affect their maturity. I would go by size, and most bristlenose plecos will begin to breed when they are around 3-4 inches in length. Four inches seems to be the more common size though.
Hello, what a fabulous no-trivial-trimmings-article, thank you!
So, I now have a 4cm fit & healthy regular bristlenose pleco. Alone in his 110L tank, Juwel sophisticated filtration system, PH 7.5, Ammonia reading 0, 26 degrees C; I have decided to stick to this type of fish only and I do not want to overpopulate, but I think he needs at least one little friend.
My preference would be an albino pleco for variety, which I am finding difficult to source… I’m in the southwest of UK.
There are two things I really need to know:
1) Am I right to think I should only add one more fish? Or would three BN plecos be happy & healthy in 110L?
2) How old / what size does a BN pleco develop its bristles so it can be recognized as male or female?
I just want a couple of happy pet fish, no intention to breed them, definitely don’t want to see them fight…
Thanks in advance for any advice 🙂
I’m glad that you enjoyed the article. And bristlenose plecos are perfectly happy being solitary creatures. Males establish large territories, and will often fight with other males – especially in a smaller tank like the on that you have. You may be able to keep three adult bn plecos in your tank, but you have to be sure that the tank contains only one male. Also, when males are younger they are known to attack female plecos. It’s best to make sure that all of the fish are mature before keeping them together. While juvenile females are often attacked, the presence of an adult female seems to change their behaviour, and you generally only get some chasing.
Also, in my experience the bristles begin to show on males usually when they are between 4-6cm in length. They can take a while to grow in, and the females don’t develop much in the way of bristles.
I hope this helps.
Yes, it does help, thank you! Since loneliness is not an issue, I shall patiently wait till my pleco is mature to be sure of its gender. 🙂
I have a BN placo, a common Albino pleco and another smaller Placo and I just found out that the bristle nose and the common albino had babies
Why do you think it’s a common pleco? Common plecos almost never breed in aquariums, and they tend to be very large when they breed.
Hi Ed
My albino and bristlenose are have a population explosion over here. I am overwhelmed and need some help
Hi could i keep a bn along with a catfish in a community tank my tank is 3x2x2
What kind of catfish is it?
I’ve recently discovered that my bristlenose plecos have laid eggs inside of a piece of driftwood. I’m really excited to have the babies to care for. I was curious to know if keeping them inside the tank I currently have is ideal since they are weak and still new, or if setting up a 10 gallon tank with water and rocks from this one would be helpful to keep them isolated. They are currently in a 35 gallon with a couple other plecos and some angels. I’d like to hear your opinion on the matter. Thanks in advance
It’s a tough decision to make whether to keep them in a community tank, or to remove them to their own tank. The problem is that it is very easy to injure or kill fry when transporting them from one tank to the other. Not only is netting out of the question, but any change in their water chemistry is likely to kill them. But on the other hand, very few generally survive in a community tank, and you will likely see most of your bristlenose pleco fry get eaten over time.
If you do decide to move then, you will need to move them with something like a turkey baster. Using a net is just too danger with new born fry. And then the 10 gallon tank must be fully cycled – any spike in ammonia,nitrites or even nitrates will most likely wipe out the fry. Then before you place them in the tank, you will have to use the drip acclimatization method to ensure that they have plenty of time to get used to the new water chemistry. It’s difficult to do, but not impossible.
As a follow up, I did move all the eggs to a new tank. I took the whole piece of driftwood that they were in, father and all, kept it submerged for most of the transfer and they did just fine. They hatched 11/04 and I have over 80 healthy plecos. I’m going to be selling off nearly all to a local fish store but I’m having a lot of fun watching them grow and develop. Thanks for the help
That’s great news. Raising fry is probably one of the most fun aspects of keeping fish. I hope that they all do well.
I have a nice pair of BN and they have breed like crazy and if Plecos shouldnt be counted as a swimming fish more like an ornament then how many are ok to keep in a 40 gal tank i have well over a hundred that are a quarter inch 10mm long and everything seems ok the water is pristine and I have about 12 pieces of driftwood in it. they live on frozen fish food cubes and veggies
The problem that you run into with bn plecos, is that the males stake out large territories and defend them vigorously. This isn’t much of a problem while they are young, but as soon as they begin to grow you’ll have some major aggression issues on your hands. For a 40 gallon tank, you should be able to get away with two to three bristle nose pleco males, and about twice that number of females. Any more than that, and you’re just asking for trouble.
Hi what do baby bn feed on as think I may have some soon when do the male bn level them on their own very new breeder
You have a few options with bn pleco fry. You can provide rocks with lots of algae for them graze on, or you can provide powdered spirulina. They will also feed on vegetables, so you can drop a few at different places in your aquarium, but any uneaten pieces will have to be removed within 24 hours to prevent the water from fouling. Some people also provide them with baby brine shrimp, though in my experience they will be fine with some spirulina algae wafers broken up into their tank.
Thank you so much for your article. We have a 50 gallon tank with two adult bn plecos. We were quite surprised when they laid eggs. I read all I could find, but none were specific to bn plecos. Our first batch of babies were all eaten by our angels and swordtails. Two months later they hatched out more eggs and per info I found on the web we did almost 50% water changes and they all died in one day. Seven or eight weeks later we had another batch of babies. I built a divider with a frame and plastic canvas to keep the other fish from eating them. Some got past the barrier and were eaten, but we have about 24 that are 1/2″ to 3/4″ long. Now, six weeks later we have another batch of babies. Looks to be 40+.
You mentioned that young males will attack young females. Can they all be left together until they are ready to sell or do I need to separate them? How big might they be when I need to separate them? I had thought about moving the adult female to another tank to delay any more eggs being laid. If I understood you correctly, you said the presence of an adult female would help reduce the aggression.
That’s great that you were successful in raising some bristlenose pleco fry.
And most can be left together (assuming your aquarium can handle the waste load) until they reach about an inch in length. After that, you will start to experience some pretty serious aggression issues. A lot depends on the set up of your tank though. If you have a lot of plants, driftwoods, or ornaments that help to establish little territories, you should be able to get by without too many issues. If they’re all crammed together, you’ll end up with some fish with shredded fins.
The best thing to do is to keep an eyes of them. Most stores will only buy them once they reach 1.5 inches in length, so the challenge is to have enough grow out tanks to accommodate all of the bn pleco fry.
will to night I have just seen some baby b n just like to know if I can do a tank clean up or not what the right food for babies as new to fish keeping
I have a small clutch of baby bn and was just wondering how big before I can move them into anther tank?? There around an inch long at the moment
I usually move them when they’re about 1 1/2 half inches long. Though they should still be fine to move at their current size.
I have enjoyed reading this forum. It has been very informative. We have a 125G long and plenty of room for my very active breeding pair. I was curious to others results because I see fry #s in the 40+ range. We lost all of the first batch. I found that out beautiful blue lobster that we had was eating all of the fry. He was emediatly sold!!! Since then we have had 3 batches. 1st there are 6 left approx <1", 2nd there are about 10 left <.5" and a 3rd a new batch discovered yesterday that are quit small. Daddy is still guarding 10+ babies and about 15 have escaped his cave. With a a total count of 25/30. This is a fairly young pair of BN purchased 6 months ago at <2" each. We had one female and two males, one being an albino(that we lost :'( and will never say their full name again!!!). Present time Moma is <3.5" and daddy is <4". With that being said. Tank mates are 10 corydoras, 6 ottocinclus, and about 45 various types South American tetras. With a PH of 6.6. The only fish large enough to eat the fry is one of my bleeding hearts is quite large for its usual size. Its about 2.5"
With that the question is, as they start breeding is it normal for the counts to be that low or am I loosing that many fry and need to remove some other fish. I have a Malawi cichlid tank 55g, and a 16g "wide screen style" tank. That can be used. We have been so excited thus far and are okay with the few we have been successful with. However we already have a standing deal with two of our local aquatic stores for $/(trade) and wonder what the counts could be or should be. I have bought a new female albino that should be ready to start laying eggs b4 long she is <2" and growing really fast. Eventually may consider another male. There are two caves in the tank on opposite sides so should be okay. They are about 4" apart. We feel really good about where we are but wonder were we could be. More babies mean more excitement and fun for us but also means more free food…lol any suggestions?
Thanks again and best of luck to you all!
There’s no question that you’re losing fry to other fish. You will always have better results with a dedicated breeding tank. Not only will you be able to monitor the water quality much closer, but you can also ensure that no fry are picked off by hungry fish. With that being said, the minimum size for a bn pleco tank is really 20g, with larger being better.
However, you will end up with a lot more fry in that situation, so you may want to consider how many you can sell before you start to breed them regularly. I know I’ve run into the problem of having too many fry to sell in the past. I hope this helps.
Oh… I forgot to add I have Ehiem 600s on the bigger tanks and a Ehiem 2213 (250) for the 16 so filtration is definitely not a problem.
filtration doesn’t do anything for the bioload. if you keep them in the 16gal you will NEED to do very frequent water changes regardless of your filter size and flow rate. your filter doesn’t remove nitrates, water changes do.
Hi Robert, thank you for your informative article. It has me thinking that you may have hit on a possible reason for why we just recently lost our BN…we had him for two years and he was growing well and steadily. About two weeks ago we noticed his stomach had become enlarged and shortly after found him dead 🙁 is it possible that he was…constipated? You mention fiber is important in his diet particularly if not fed a lot of vegetables and that a piece of driftwood would help. We did not realize this for the entire two years! Could he have survived despite and eventually succumbed to two years without adequate fiber?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I miss him, he was my favorite in the tank.
It’s tough to tell. In many cases what you describe can signify constipation in plecos, but it can also be a sign of serious illness. Do you know if he was still pooping and what colour it was? Were any other fish sick in the tank? Many plecos can survive long periods without proper fiber in their diet, but they won’t be at their optimal health. If you do replace your pleco, just make sure to add driftwood to the tank, and feed it a steady supply of blanched vegetables. With that being said, I wouldn’t replace it until you can be sure there is no illness in your tank.
Hi, my male bristlenose is about 12cm and female about 10cm. When buying some D caves for them to breed in the shopkeeper suggested the smaller caves which are only about 10cm long, I bought the smaller caves but now have doubts about their size.. in your experience will this cave size be big enough or do you think it will require the larger caves (15cm) for successful breeding
I’ve had success in flowerpots on their sides which were a similar size. Of course the bristlenose plecos were quite small then, but they will make do will small caves if need be. In fact, based solely on my experience, it seems that most plecos prefer smaller caves. I don’t know if they feel more secure, or they are simply easier to defend, but if given a choice, my plecos usually choose the smaller of the available caves.
Well of course just after I ask the question my fish answer it for me anyway! I woke this morning to find the male in the cave and female sitting very close to it as well, hopefully this will mean spawning soon!
Thanks for your help
Isn’t that always the way? Good luck on your spawning though.
I have a pair of plecos and they breed every 6 weeks. I wanted to ask you what can I do to make them grow faster (if that’s even possible) so I can give them to someone or to a shop. I’ve got 400 already and just today another 100 have hatch. I tried to breed them in the beginning, now I can’t stop them 🙂 I do not want to split them, it’s nature, I’ll deal with it instead.. Thanks.
There’s not much you can do to speed the process along unfortunately. You can just do what is already recommended – feed the fry small amounts several times a day. Make sure to keep the water as clean as possible, and give them a spacious grow out tank. These three things will ensure that they grow as quickly as possible, but still won’t make them grow very fast. This is why it’s so difficult to make money breeding fish – it takes so long to get them to the size where stores will buy them (that and it’s hard to compete with the giant fish farms these days).
My pleco is not swimming well and looks like he is trying regurgitate something!! When I scooped him up to isolate him he was quite stiff?? What do I do??
I would start with feeding it some peas. To prepare the peas, you should boil them for a few minutes, allow them to cool, and the squeeze the pea out of its shell. If it’s a problem with its digestion, then the pea should clear it up quickly.
If it’s more seriously, you should consider medicating your bristlenose pleco. Does it poop still look normal? Or has it turned a whitish colour? Is it bloated at all?
i had a black pelco for 5 weeks and tank water all good but this morning he was dead am so sad.
What colour is there poop,he was in with neons and harlequins,looked so healthy has driftwood and bridges and all things they like ,they cost a bit to bye in nz so am not sure to try again? Would they live in bowl with no filter ?
How big was the tank that he was in? What were you feeding the pleco, and how often? Did he show any signs of illness, such as a bloated stomach before he died?
And they wouldn’t survive more than a few days in a bowl. Plecos produce a lot, and I mean a lot of waste. They would poison the water almost immediately, and either jump out to its death, or quickly die in the waste filled water.
Hi and thxs for a reply ,i did a water sample at pet shop yesterday and she did a extra test and found my water had lost its hardnest so have to keep small bag of oryster shell in back of filter,we live in the country and have rain water that goes trough 2 filters and a ultra violet light to make it pure for us to drink.The tank is a aqua one tank eco style 47.I will test again next week and if all ok may try another one as looks like that was my problem .Fingers crossed .I feed him nutrafin max one a day.His body was perfect no bloating at all.
It’s tough when you start messing around with the pH and hardness of the water. You need to take into account both the KH and the GH. I would recommend looking at buffering product, and you should pick up liquid tests to measure both the GH and KH. That will help you stabilize the water, but it also carries enormous risk that you can throw the whole aquarium out of whack.
Another thing adding to the complexity, is that driftwood lowers the pH after a while, so you also have that working against you. Is there no natural well water or anything like that that you can use? Rain water and distilled water are both very difficult to work with in aquariums, and require constant testing and balancing.
Rob I have a well established 60 gallon tank. I have a run of the mill pleco and an albino bushy nose and had no real intention on breading. I was going to do a little rearranging and found a bunch of eggs being protected by the bushy nose. I looked on line to see if this is even possible but can’t find an answer. If it’s rare I certainly don’t want to lose any. I have mollies, guppies a bumble cat, a large albino rainbow shark and a reeves turtle. I do have three other tanks including a ghost shrimp and snail tank for feeding purposes. What should I do? Thank you for any information you can give.
That’s an interesting situation that you have. It’s not unheard of for a female to lay eggs, but only males will guard the eggs. Are you sure your regular pleco isn’t actually a female bristlenose pleco? They can look very similar to common plecos, since they have very small bristles. If there is only one bushynose pleco in the tank, then the eggs will even go moldy and rot. Without a male they won’t be cared for, or fertilized.
If you think there’s a chance that they could viable eggs, I would just leave them in the tank. If you want to breed them in a seperate tank, I would recommend moving the parents to a tank where they can breed. It’s a little complicated moving eggs, and you’ll likely have to treat them with a anti-fungal if the male isn’t there to care for them, and the tanks you mentioned likely wouldn’t be fully cycled for the load that fish fry would put on the tank.
It’s a male and female no question! Around 50 hatched some time last night. The female has no visible bristles and when I bought her she was in with a bunch of regular run of the mills completely separate from the bushy nose tank and cost next to nothing unlike the albino. If she is a black bushy nose with an albino father what can I expect from the babies? I’ve read that black is the dominant color in fish. Is this true? Also I’ve read that they can live in low to moderate salt. I have 5th tank that’s kept around .024… a soft coral, mushroom reef tank with a sailfin mollie, three chromis and a black and white clownfish. In your opinion what is moderate and is this true, can they actually thrive in saltwater? If by chance she is not a bushy nose, do I have something special and what should I expect or do I have something no one will want? Colors, size, pricing, rarity…lots of questions. Thank you for answering back. Your time, input and advice is much appreciated as I’m some what new to the hobby and can always learn more!
Black does tend to be the dominant colour, but you should still see some albinos in there. In my experience you should see about 25% albino, and the rest should be the natural colour. Of course that can fluctuate wildly, and I’ve had natural colour give birth to albinos, so a lot depends on their lineage.
As for the the salt, the numbers you provided sound like they’re slightly less than even brackish water. I’m no expert in salt water, but I’m pretty sure that coral can’t live in the numbers you provided – assuming they’re ppt (a normal salt water tank is kept at 1.025 ppt). And you definitely want to keep your bristlenose plecos in a low salt tank. Their habitat is is nearly salt free, unlike mollies which can live in both salt-water and freshwater tanks.
And I can almost guarantee that you have a bn pleco female. Common plecos almost never breed in captivity, and it would be far too small to breed right now.
I should have been more exact when asking for technical support. You are very correct, .024 would not support a reef tank. I have mine at 1.024 and it has done very well. But I now know what is a low salinity level. I’ve been in the hobby for less than a year. I had some issues due to a lack of knowledge and new tank syndrome in the beginning. By reading books and help from people like yourself has taken me a long way. How long have you been in the hobby and do you have knowledge in all things freshwater? If so I may have other questions in the future. Thanks again for your help I truly appreciate it.
That makes more sense then. lol
And feel free to ask questions about freshwater stuff anytime that you have them. I’ve kept and breed just about everything at one point or another, so I should be able to answer most of your questions.
Just about everything? I wonder, would a molly be a good comapnion for my bristlenose pleco? I understand from reading up that they have the same diet -is that right? But are their other needs similar too? It would be nice to have a fish that swims differently in the tank, bring a bit more life… Pleco is now 7cm and has six bristles only all on the line of the upper lip, nothing further up toward the forehead, I think it’s safe to assume female? 🙂
It’s been my experience with mollies that they are a great addition to the tank. If you have a large tank and love LOTS and LOTS of babies. They can give live birth about every 30 something days. It will make you pull your hair out just trying to think of what to do with them all. Also they are little waste factories and require regular water changes. If you get one or three female sailfins depending on tank size you will be very happy and not have baby drama. You will see a obvious pecking order but it’s fine its part of life. They also have very similar needs of the pleco , so buy up and enjoy!
The beginning of this week I noticed my first fry. Only 4-6. Thinking I sucked up the rest during water changes over past few weeks note aware. Yesterday found new batch of eggs! Two questions-
Sorry my screen took off-Dad is fanning very well and I fully expect this clutch to hatch although some of them, about 1/2 have been eaten by something. Three questions-I am feeding peas-cooked/deshelled, zuchinni, and daphnia in addition to wafers, flakes, bloodworm variety. is this enough for fry? How do I keep water parameters pristine? I realize I can do water exchange with panty hose over tube (I wont get debri but will at least refresh water) but an earlier post indicated any change in water can be deadly. Do I only do 10% at a time every day? Last question-I am using PVC pipe 6″ for caves, the batchof eggs is just outside cave edge. These are my standard BN in my 29G. My albino BN laid a clutch at the same place in my Discus tank. Is it the thinkness of the PVC pipe or are the caves not long enough?
Congratulations on getting your bristlenose plecos to spawn. The food that you’re providing them should be enough for the fry, though I would recommend cutting up the zucchini medallions and spacing them around the aquarium so they are easier to find. As for the water change, when I’m changing water in a fry tank I usually only suction near the top. Some waste will build while they’re tiny, but regular water changes will help this. And as long as you’re only doing around 10-15% per change you should be fine. If memory serves me, the other comment referred to introducing them into a whole new aquarium, which can be quite a shock.
As for the caves, they should be fine. Although in my experience they tend to prefer smaller caves to lay their eggs in. I often use 3 inch clays pots buried in the substrae on their side. I’ve have very good success with that in the past, though I don’t see how larger would be a problem. As long as they’re laying the eggs, you should be good.
Question. We just purchased a Bristlenose 4 days ago. The first day he was in a few different spots but not eating. For the past 3 days he has Ben on one of our cave rocks in the center of the tank and has not moved from what we can tell. I dropped a couple of alge waffers in and he was not interested at all. We have a large peice of driftwood in the tank and it has collected a significant amount of “fuzzy stuff” that we thought he’d go nuts for, but he has only touched it for a split second when we first put him in.
The second day I noticed a bunch of white spots on him that looked like ich to me. It’s hard to tell because he’s a white albino but the spots on his fins don’t seem to be real organized with their placement. I called the pet store and they said that ich was highly unlikely because they are not real prone to getting ich. However, we started to treat it Paragaurd anyway. We currently have 2 mollies in there that survived the cycling and they don’t have any white spots. All water levels and temp is as they should be too. Please help. What should we do? Or are we just paranoid?
Are you able to send me some pictures of the bristlenose pleco to me? brandwebpages@gmail.com
Otherwise, you need to be really careful with ich treatment in catfish. Since they don’t have any scales, they are very sensitive to any chemicals, and it should only be used at half strength with any catfish. You should also turn up the temp very slowly to about 86F for about a week. Make sure it is very slowly over the course of several hours or days. Combine this with daily small water changers, making sure to thoroughly suctions the bottom of the aquarium, and you should be able to treat the ich (assuming it is ich).
Salt is also handy in treating ich, but since you’ve already used the chemicals and you also have to be careful with catfish, I don’t know if it would be worth the trouble now.
The paraguard may also kill off some of the beneficial bacteria in the tank, so keep an eye on your ammonia levels. Though the small daily water changes should help keep that under control. I hope this helps.
Also, did you remove the carbon insert from your filter before adding the chemicals? If you didn’t, your filter may have removed all of the chemicals very quickly.
Thank you, I will try and send you a picture sometime today. He is REALLY white and is in a position that may be hard for you to tell. On top of that, we had added a little peat a while back to bring the PH down. So the water is a little yellow. The only thing we have done is the Paragaurd. No salt because I have heard that it can be very harmful to plecos. We also do not use carbon, we use media in the filter. Day 5 and he still hasn’t moved or eaten. I was thinking of trying to throw some zucchini in there to see if he latches to that but wasn’t sure if I should force anything. The 2 molly fish seem to be fine, still ornery and no white spots. We haven’t done any water changes since we got him. When you say small daily water changes do you mean 10%, 20%, 30%? We were using spring water which was why we battled with PH levels but we just picked up some OI water from the fish store (fingers crossed that is a good thing). Sorry to be so inquisitive but we struggled with all levels of the water while trying o get it cycled and have been down to a 7.6 PH with 0 ammonia. Nitrates and Nitrites for about 2 weeks now. Super excited about our BN and don’t’ want to lose him. Should we stop with the Paragaurd or continue? We really don’t want to use salt… it was a disaster with the last out break of ich a few months ago when cycling.
Hey Robert update on our BN Mr. Stash. I did email you some pics on Wednesday. But yesterday he moved around a bit, checked out a few more resting spots and even checked out the fuzzy driftwood for about 30 secs. He is still not interested in the zucchini (tried it again) but his whites spots are no longer there. We stopped the Paragaurd on Wednesday after you had said it could effect ammonia but we did keep the temp up to 85. Maybe it was just a matter of him getting comfortable.. we will see. However, today was sad morning, my Dalmatian Molly past away last night. Not sure what happened because he was eating, picking on the other molly as always and didn’t seem sick at all. It’s a bummer too because he and the other molly were the only 2 to survive the cycling of this tank and even an outbreak of ich we had 4 months ago.
Hi there, I left a message in October asking how old they’d have to be to order to breed. Thank you for your advise however I do have another question for you now. 5 days ago I noticed fry emerging from a cave in my tank and so far I’ve managed to count at least 9 fry (3 albinos). With the fry I have 4 adults, 2 male and 2 female. In the last few weeks I’ve noticed the males becoming very aggressive towards each other. I have a second tank with only a few loaches and 3 barbs in it, should I move one of the males to that tank to calm things down?
How large is your tank? Generally speaking, as males grow older, they grow more aggressive to both males and females. Though the aggression towards females generally doesn’t escalate until it becomes a problem.
If you tank is under 55 gallons, I would recommend removing one of the males. Also, what kind of loaches do you have? Most loaches are compatible with bristle nose plecos, though I have heard of rare issues with dojo loaches in the past.
Yeah my tank they’re currently in is about 35 UK gallons so looks like I’ll have to move some to the other tank. The loaches in the other tank are 3 khuli loaches. They seem to be quite unsocial in never coming out of their beloved little bush.
You’d be hard pressed to find any fish that really bother kuhli loaches. They’re great little fish, but it takes a lot to actually train them to even come out for feedings. I my opinion, a bristlenose pleco would be fine with them.
Hi
I have a female bristlenose, about 4 years old now. We refer to her as a bit of a tank as she barges her way everywhere and was one of only a few of our tank mates to survive a bad outbreak of ich a few years back.
Over the years she has gotten a mottling look on her scales, so she isn’t all black any more, she has tan patches. I thought this may be due to her bashing past the wood in the tank and generally charging around across the gravel like she is indestructible. Are tan patches normal?
Dans
They are normal, so you don’t need to worry about them. The colouration of bristlenose plecos change as they age, and mine developed similar patches as they grew larger. The only time you need to be concerned is if she starts to loss her colouration.
Hello I could really do with some advice. My boyfriend has 2 bn plecos, 10 months old and early January they had 12 babies. I’ve recently started my own tank and after a couple of weeks of it being set up, I tested the water and everything and the levels were good so I had 2 of the baby bn plecos from my boyfriends tank. At this point they were about 2cm long. They were living in my tank for 4 weeks however tonight I found one had died. I feel so sad. For the last two week my tank tank seemed to be building up a lot of slime and algae on the plants and ornaments and sides of the tank. I have to clean the filter out every couple of days cause it gets full of slime! I hadn’t been giving them algae wafers or anything as the tank was building up so much algae anyway. Twice in the last 3 weeks I have done a 30% water change to help combat the slime build up. I don’t know what to do now. I’m scared of losing my other bn pleco 🙁 any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I’m sorry to hear about you losing your bristlenose pleco. First things first – how large is the tank that you’re keeping them in? Also, are they alone in the tank?
As for the algae, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. It usually means one of two things – too much light, or too many nutrients. While it is unsightly, it doesn’t harm the fish at all. If the problems are as severe as you say, it’s likely either your water, or you have the tank in direct sunlight. If it’s in sunlight, you can simply reposition the tank.
And while plecos do eat algae, it’s a good idea to supplement their diet with regular food. Also, is there any driftwood in the aquarium? It’s important to bristlenose plecos health.
Was there anything wrong with your pleco prior to its death? Bloated stomach? Light patches? Any fuzz? Let me know, and hopefully I can pinpoint the problem. For now though, definitely start feeding your remaining pleco again.
Thanks for getting back to me. It’s a 19 litre tank and i only had the two baby plecos in there. I didn’t want to put any other fish in until they were a little bit bigger. The tank isn’t in direct sunlight but it is open top so not sure if that’s got something to do with the slime build up? Also the filter is at the top of the tank so maybe it’s not doing a very good job. The tank is a fluval chi tank, it’s probably best you Google it to see what I’m talking about. There appeared to be nothing wrong before he died. Id saw him thr day before and he was moving around just fine, that’s why I was quite shocked when I saw he had died. I need to concentrate now on ensuring i do the best for my remaining pleco. I’ve not got any driftwood in there so I’m definitely going to get some asap and i will start feeding my remaining pleco broken up algae wafers and hopefully he should be ok. Thanks for your advice 🙂
It’s strange you’re getting that level of slime with no direct sunlight. Until you get it under control, I would also reduce the amount of time that the lights are on in the tank to a maximum of about 8 hours a days. My bet would be that you have a high phosphates in your water. You may want to consider a phosphate control product from your local fish store.
Beyond that, I can only wish you luck. I hope that your pleco makes it, but it sounds like you’re doing the right things to keep it healthy.
Hi Robert,
Love everything I have been reading. Ive had a 4ft tank for a while now and my Bristlenose Pleco has just had babies. My other Cichlids started racing around the tank so thats how I found out haha. I also found that my Cichlids have had babies but I have only managed to find 4 of them.
I’ve pulled all the babies I can out of the tank (in water from the tank). I was just wondering if I should put them all into a new tank (with the clay tube they hatched from in) or leave them in there or put them in a small breeding cage on the side of the tank.
Would really appreciate if you had the chance to reply!
Thanks a lot in advance! Cheers Ben.
Hello Ben,
It’s a tough decision – unless you have a fully cycled tank to put them in. On the one hand I’m not a big fan of the breeding cages, since a lot of detritus tends to build up in them, and they don’t always work that well. Depending on the make, some fry can get stuck in them, and I’ve had high mortality the few times that I’ve used them. They seem to work fine for very small numbers of fry, but anything more than a handful quickly become a problem.
On the other hand, unless you have a fully cycled tank, you may not have a very good survival rate in a new tank. Bristlenose pleco fry are very sensitive to water conditions, and if a tank isn’t cycled, you’re going to lose most of them in my experience.
However, there are ways around cycling a tank. The first and most effective way, is to heavily plant the tank with fast growing plants that will use up most of the waste produced by the fish. I recommend hornwort especially for this, though others like anacharis and cabomba also work well. In addition to this, I would recommend small, daily water changes of about 5-10% a day.
With all that being said, probably your best bet is the breeder box right now, though if you become interested in breeding them in the future, I would definitely recommend a dedicated nursery tank. I hope this helps.
Hi I got a new tank which is 125l and set it up 4 days ago and I have some questions
First how long will it take for the pleco to get to breeding size.
Second thing is how do I prepare the zucchini
Thanks
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Bristlenose plecos generally start to breed when they’re around 3 inches in length. It’s hard to pin down an exact age, since so much can influence how quickly they grow. That being said, they should normally be breeding at around one year in age, though they can sometimes breed before that.
As for the zucchini, just scrub it under cold water, then slice it into medallions. After you have sliced it up, you should boil it for a minute or two just to blanch it. Then it can be feed to your fish.
I have just purchased two BN Pecos and I believe my male isn’t acting right. He won’t stay stuck to the wall, he will get on the side of the aquarium for like 15 seconds lunge backwards then back to the wall… It doesn’t seem as though he is getting good suction. When the lady at the store went to put him in a bag for me he got stuck in the net and took about 10 min. To get him off of it. She had to cut the net then work if off his “spikes”.
He engaged them in fear but she did get him released after a while. Now I am not sure if he is just traumatized and will soon come to. But I just don’t know what to do or how I can help.
It sounds like he may have been slightly injured, but I can’t pinpoint anything specifically beyond that. The best thing that I can recommend is too keep the water clean, keep your pleco well fed and keep an eye on your bristlenose pleco. If anything changes though, take a picture and send it my way. Hopefully I’ll be able to diagnosis any problems then.
Hey,
I’ve recently notice for the past few days that my briselnose has been digging a cave under our skull and has been guarding it from the other fish we have in the tank (ghost knives, pictus and platys). If the female has laid her eggs and the male is guarding them what should I do when the fry hatch?
We have only ever had one set of babies from our platys which were eaten. Should I try to catch them with a net or something and put them in a breeding box?
Thank you in advance 🙂
It can be difficult to notice when the bristlenose fry are born, and catching fry with nets can sometimes injure them. I would recommend using a small cup if you’re planning to catch them, which often isn’t that hard because they’re not that mobile when they’re young.
A breeding box is probably the best option in this situation. Normally I would recommend having a dedicated tank for them, but there’s no way that you could set up and cycle a tank before the fry are born. Once they are put in a breeding box, make sure that you keep it very clean, and always keep an eye out for any fry that may have become tangled in it. Also, remove any food that isn’t eaten in the breeding box after 24 hours, since it it will start to foul your tank.
I hope this helps.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the article – it’s very well written and enjoyable to read.
I’m setting up a new tank, it’s currently cycling and growing plants. I have 3 young bristlenoses – at this stage they’re too small to tell what gender they are, but I’m hoping once in the new tank they’ll grow well, and I can then move them around between my other tank (and friend’s tanks) to have just a male and a female BN in there. (From different sources of course, to avoid mating siblings.) The purpose of this new tank of mine is not only going to be breeding BN, but I’ve made a tereracotta cave and I’m hoping maybe in a year or two for BN breeding to be a possibility.
My question is about what other fish you think I can keep with them. My first tank has only a betta with the 3 little BNs (2 – 4cm). He and the BNs leave each other alone nicely, but I know bettas are meat-eaters who will happily snack on baby BN fry.
Ideally in my new tank I’d love to have clown loaches, but I’ve heard they will eat BN fry. How about a school of neon tetras? And/or glass catfish, would they be a good match? Are there any gentle species of fish you know of that will happily live alongside breeding BN without snacking on the fry? I know it’ll be a year at least before I have any BN fry to worry about, but I’m reluctant to add fish to my tank if I’m only going to have to re-house them down the track.
Thanks!
Cheers, Vanessa
(Melbourne, Australia)
Hello Vanessa,
Unfortunately most fish will eat anything that they can fit into their mouths, and few fish aren’t able to fit fry into their mouth. There are a few possible options for bristlenose plecos tanks though. I have found that the number of fry casualties are lower in a tank with corydoras catfish, though it doesn’t make for a very exciting tank with all bottom dwellers. However, they do love eggs, so if the bristlenoe male slacks off, you’re going to lose most of the eggs to them.
If you don’t mind losing a large number of the fry, then your next best bet would probably be smaller fish. Like you mentioned, neons would probably be a good choice, and guppies or white cloud mountain minnows might also work. These fish seem to have less of a hunting instinct than most other fish, and if you keep large amount of live plants and other hiding places in your tank, you may have a handful of fry reach maturity. Definitely stay away from tetras, danios and most other minnows though.
But the only real way to go if you want to breed them, is a bristlenose pleco tank only. If you decide to go with other fish in the tank, let me know how it goes.
Thanks for that Robert,
Yes, I had suspected that most fish would probably nibble on the fry if given a chance. I think my plan will be to go about everything as normal and get some smaller fish in, until I have bristlenoses that look interested in breeding, when I’ll move the other fish out of the tank. Might be a good excuse to set up a third aquarium… *grins*. Thanks for your advice!
Hey there, I’m not a pro like Robert but I’ve got plecos breeding comfortably and the fry not being harmed at all in a community tank with Neon tetras, Guppies and even Danios. Rob
Hello Robert,
I’m curious how large your tank is, and what kind of danios do you have? I’ve rarely had any fry survive in a tank with any of the more common danios in it. I find zebra danios are especially voracious eaters. Do you have any kind of special setup, or is it all just happening naturally?
Hi Rob, that’s very interesting, thanks! Maybe I’ll try with tiny fish too, and see what happens. Cheers!
Is there a specific way to tell if they are male or female? I have an albino bristlenose and I’m not sure if it’s a male or female.
You can’t sex bristlenose plecos until they’re mature. Adult males will have prominent bristles that extend to the middle of their head. The females will only grow small bristles around their mouth. I hope this helps.
That helps a lot, thank you!
Unaware that the 3 BNP’s i put in my tank would breed, i had quite surprise when i cleaned out one of the two canister filters i have on my 175 gallon tank. i took it to the tub in my spare bathroom emptied it and started cleaning the components, that’s when i noticed 8 baby fish swimming around my tub! not sure how many I lost to the drain but a managed to save the 8 and get them back in the tank. They were thriving inside my filter! since then i take cleaning a little more carefully and i have noticed more smaller fish also coming out meaning that they are breeding continuously. weird thing is that the breeders are still really small (2″) and have yet to develop significant bristles. Ever run into breeders that are not adults yet?
BTW, great page, lots of good info.
Thanks,
Alex
I’m glad you enjoy the page. Bristlenose plecos can breed relatively young, though I’m never had them breed that small before. Usually mine are almost three inches in length before they start breeding. You must be doing something right. And I used to always discover baby bristlenose plecos in my filter. I eventually switched to a sponge filter, since I was worried about how many I might be losing to the propellers of the hang on back filter.
Hi there,
Was wondering if you know anything about dominant genes in BN plecs? I have 2 BN’s that I purchased a month ago. We now have at least 23 fry in our 79 gallon tank, however both our BNs are dark, yet 70% of the fry seem to be albino. Just wondering whether albino tends to come out as a dominant color?
They have all stayed in our community tank, and much to my surprise, none of the catfish or swordtails seem to have gained interest in them, so I am hopeful we will get a good few to sell from this batch.
Thanks 🙂
Many of the fish you purchase at the fish store are related, and both of the fish you bought likely had the recessive albino gene. It’s quite rare to have that many albino fry from two parents with natural colouration, but it can happen. It’s like the bristlenose plecos in that tank were normal coloured fish from albino parents.
You actually see this quite a lot, and I’ve had convicts, corys and bristlenose plecos that appear normal, only to have large quantities of albino fry. At some point they must have been rejects from attempts to breed albinos, and when I’ve breed albino plecos in the past, you usually end up with a normal looking bn plecos.
And bn plecos always sell really well. I sold them for years before the big local chains started selling them (it’s hard to compete with stores that sell them for one dollar on sale).
Hey Robert! My 2ft tank has two goldfish (starter fish who lived), a jack Dempsey (rescue) and two bn plecos, we recently discovered the male guarding eggs in one of the caves, would you recommend moving both BNs with the cave into a breeding tank so the fry will not become food for the jack Dempsey? What size would this have to be?
I read above the water is very important so if we took water from the original tank and made this breeding tank would this be the best way to set it up.
Any help would be appreciated as my parents are excited to be grandparents! 😉
Thanks, Kate.
Hello Kate,
It’s always easier to raise bristlenose pleco fry in their own tank, but unfortunately it takes a few weeks to setup a tank for them to live in. The problem is that a new tank has to be cycled. It can take weeks for the beneficial bacteria to build to process the fish’s waste. And if you put any fish into an uncycled tank, they’re most likely go to die. And this is even more true for fry, who are extremely sensitive to poor water conditions. You may want to do this in the future, but probably the best course of action is to just hope they survive in the tank for now.
Babies are easy to move to another tank if you have them spawn in a cave. A few days after they hatch, when yolk sac is getting small, just remove the whole cave dad and all. Once he lets them out, just net him and remove the cave.
Hello Robert!
I have a 240l community tank, I want to add a Pleco to control my Algae, especially the brown one. I just want to know if the Bristlenose Pleco is a dirty fish, I read that si one of the dirtest. Thanks.
I have Angel Fish, Corydora, Dojo
They really are a dirty fish, but as long as you don’t overstock your tank they should be fine. Just keep on top of the water changes and they won’t overly affect your tank. Though it is true that is seems plecos only live to eat and poop, and then poop some more. They’re in close to the same league as goldfish for a messy fish.
Can plecos eat to much? Bellies pop? Or mabey im seeing bloat unresolved??
I have a 160 L tank, which is kept at 70F, two filters, a Fluval 4, and an Eheim, and about only 1cm. of gravel – no plants, because the plecos ate them instead of the algae, and I change 30L of the water every seven days. In the tank I have three fancy goldfish, each 10 cms body length, one adult male BN pleco and an adult female. All have been together in the tank for two years now, and (I cross my fingers when I say this) all the goldfish and the female BN are healthy – I never get to see the male – but presume he must be okay as they bred a couple of months ago. I have to be honest and say that my only interest in the plecos is as algae eaters, and supplement their diet with a few sinking spirulina flakes a couple of times a week. However, they don’t do a very good job at all of cleaning the algae off the glass, nor are they at all interested in any of the suggested veggies, although they do scrape away at the bogwood I provided for them. At this point I’m wondering if they are actually getting their fill by feeding on all the soft, sinking goldfish pellets that end up in places where the goldfish can’t get at them, such as in their separate ‘caves’. Is that possible, and is that sufficient for them, long term, as I naturally want to treat them properly? Thank you.
They will eat any of the missed the goldfish food, but it’s also important to provide them with their own herbivore food. But depending on the goldfish pellets you’re offering them, they may already be getting exactly what they need from them since goldfish are also mainly herbivores. One of the issues you may be having is that the water may be too cold for them. Goldfish are a cold water fish, and bristlenose plecos are a tropical fish. They may be sluggish and hiding if the water is too cold for them. In the future, it would be best to give them separate tanks with their own preferred temperatures in them.
As for the algae, bristlenose plecos only help with the maintenance, and they will never keep a tank clear of algae on their own. If you want a really effective algae eater, I would pick up some Malaysian trumpet snails. Though many people don’t like the look of snails in their tank, so they’re not for everyone.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for your help, Robert. I have obviously been expecting too much of my plecos by way of scavenging the algae, so it’s good to know that there is nothing wrong with them from that point of view. Oddly enough, right after posting my question to you, and saying I’d not seen him, both he and the female appeared at the entrance to his ‘cave’, and since then he’s been darting out quite aggressively if either the female or any of the goldfish poke their noses into his lair, which makes me think that perhaps they’ve mated again. I’m pleased to say he did look very healthy and robust. I’d thought of snails, but had read somewhere that goldfish have a tendency to bite off their eyes… Unfortunately, I don’t have room for any more tanks, so think I’ll take on board your comment re the temperature for the time being, and raise it a couple of degrees to 72F to see if that livens them up a bit — the goldfish won’t mind. Re the goldfish food, I use the New Era sinking goldfish pellets, which are soft and keep the digestive systems of my deep-bodied fish in fine shape. Thanks again.
Some species of fish prey on the larger snail eyes, but that really only applies to apple snails. The snails I mentioned are quite small, and burrow into the substrate during the day. Still, they can be slightly unsightly at times, so they’re not for everyone.
And I’m glad I could help.
Hello, I have a quick question – I have not been able to find info with confidence online. I have 3 x 3.5cm bristlenose and have been feeding then 2 zucchini slices about 5mm thick and 1 algae disc each week. The also have plenty of wood in the tank, plants and places to hide. My question is am I feeding them enough? They just seem to keep eating and i have been told if i over feed the fish they will die. Or is it not enough? I have found plenty of info on what to feed just nothing on how often. I am amateur at this and your help would be much appreciated!
I would definitely feed them more than that. While a fish can go several days between feedings, it is optimal to feed them everyday. I would give an algae disc every day, and give the zucchini as a treat now and then. Make sure to remove any uneaten zucchini after 24 hours or it will foul the water.
And the main concern with overfeeding is that you will foul the water. Any uneaten food breaks down and affects the water quality. As long as your fish are finishing off the wafers and the uneaten vegetables are removed, you should be fine. Make sure to keep up with your water changes though.
Thanks Robert! I will give this a go and see how they respond 🙂
Cheers
Carly
It has been over a month since I posted about our bristlenose catfish. I have three bristlenose in with an apple snail and a small school of 6 white clouds in a 38L tank. The tank is kept at 26C degrees and is planted with a piece of driftwood in the middle. Since having it suggested to me to feed them every day, I have split an algae disc and dropped both pieces in there for the little guys to fight over with the snail. Every weekend I throw in a disc of zucchini halved and held in place on vege clips and if I am out of zucchini they love a thawed pea as a treat! I have to say, they are doing better being fed a small amount every single day rather than every second or third day. They are also more relaxed, they don’t go as mental as they used to which makes me think the poor mites were hungry! Even our snail has calmed right down and he doesn’t make a quick grab for food, giving the catfish plenty of time to get a feed before he moves in. The catfish are now around 4.5cm in length and doing well. Thanks for the advice!
Cheers, Carly
Hi I have a 65l tank with an albino pleco about 9cm assuming a bn even though there is no bristles and a common pleco bout 16cm I also have 2 Bala sharks, a red tail shark an angel fish 2 silver tetra and 3 red wild tetra(I think). I done a 50% water change in sat n all fish seemed to breath very fast after so I used some conditioner n they calmed down except the albino so iv done a 60-70% water change and cleaned ornaments etc today and that has sorted out the albino but I’ve noticed he is gone quite pink in colour on his tail and belly also my common keeps going to top for gulps of air. Is this something to worry about?
I hate to say it, but your tank is massively overstocked. But first things first. When you do a water change, make sure to turn off the filter first. Any chlorine in the water will kill the beneficial bacteria on the filter. Once the water has been added, immediately add the water conditioner afterwards. Then once the filter has been cleaned (not using tap water) you can turn it back on.
Also, it’s best to do small, regular water changes. Maybe stick to 10-20% a week. Unless you’re testing your water and there is ammonia or nitrites in it. Then you need to do the huge emergency water changes you’ve been doing.
As for the fish, for what you’ve described, you would need something in the range of 416 litres or so to make the fish happy in the long run. The pleco along needs a minimum of 208 litres, and even that would be too small in the long run. The bala sharks grow absolutely massive too, and you’re going to have a lot of problems with your stocking. The best thing to do would be to upgrade your tank, or return some of the fish if you can. The tetras would probably be fine with just the bristlenose pleco. But the angels, bala sharks, red tail shark and common pleco are way too big for your tank.
I have 35 bn pleco I have raised. They are from 3 to 6 inches long now. My question is how often do you feed them? I have been feeding them on Sunday,Wensday,Friday
After I thought they were teen to adults but I don’t know if it’s often enough someone at Petsmart told me not to feed them everyday so I feed every other day.
I would like to know your opinion.
Thanks
Irene
I would definitely feed them everyday. Bristlenose plecos are mainly herbivores and in the wild they graze nearly continuously. While other fish you can probably get away with feeding every other day, I would definitely offer your fish food everyday. Just make sure they eat it all within a few minutes, or with vegetables, remove them after about 12 hours or so.
We got a Pleco 8 days ago. For the first 5 days it was constantly stuck on the sides & ornaments in our aquarium, constantly feeding on the algae and moving nearly all the time, day and night.
For the last 3 days it has been just sat on the gravel, moving only very occasionally. When it has tried to suck on the tank it seems to not be able to balance properly as if it doesn’t have enough suction. We have been feeding it an algae flake every other day but it has never touched it, instead the other fish in our tank have been eating the algae flake.
I did notice one of the other fish giving the Pleco a peck the other day to keep him away from the algae flake so wondering if they have hurt it? We have tried putting the algae flake in at night time when the other fish are resting but they still manage to find it straight away & end up eating it. We have even put it right in front of his nose & he still won’t touch it.
We are worried that it isn’t well with it being very inactive compared to when we first got it but there are no obvious signs of anything, all the other fish in the tank are ok & all the levels in the tank are ok too.
Any suggestions?
I would keep a close eye on your pleco. Is there any swelling at all in the abdomen? Or any change in the skin? I would continue on with trying to feed him at night. It’s also important to to provide caves for it to hide in during the day. Not having a place to hide in can increase its stress. Also, make sure it has some driftwood to rasp on, as it needs the fiber in its diet.
Let me know if anything changes in its appearance.
Thanks for the reply.
There doesn’t appear to be any swelling or changes to the skin.
We fed him yesterday morning at the same time as the other fish (so they were busy eating their own food) and he was eating a bit of the algae flake. We also fed him some smaller pellets in the evening and he seemed to be eating a couple of those too so hopefully he is getting something in him now.
He seems a bit more lively but still only moving on the gravel not sucking on to the sides etc.
We have plenty of plants he can hide in as well as driftwood but he doesn’t seem interested in it.
I’ve been given 4 pleco fry, and the owner of the parents won’t take them back, I already have a Cory catfish, a male betta and 2 tetras already (all full grown) I can place the betta In a bowl overnight, but it’s way to late for me to go to the pet store to get help, I currently still have them in the bag floating, will they survive the night in the bag until I can get to the pet store? And would it be better for me to get them a small tank to live in, or just get a tank divider? I’m nervous as I don’t want them to die and the store doesn’t ope. For another 7.5 hours!!!
They will mostly likely die if they are kept in the bag that long – especially if the bag is tied closed so they can’t get any air. And put them in the largest environment you can find for them. If it’s a small tank use that, or use a tank divider if that’s easier. Are you planning on giving them to the pet store?
I was planning on keeping 1 and my sister was going to take the other three this weekend but seeing as they are so tiny we can’t put them in our tanks alone, can I put them in a betta bowl for the next couple of hours while we wait for the pet store to open?
Thank you for your informative article. I have a 40 litre tank with live plants, lots of bog wood and 3 male guppies so far. It has a hang on back filter and is about 25 degrees. I would love a brittlenose pleco… would it be ok in this tank…just one, with a view to moving to a bigger tank in future? Only plan on having 4 guppies and 1 BN pleco, don’t want to over crowd. Thanks. Sam, UK 🙂
It would probably be alright for a short while if you have a view for upgrading in the near future, and you purchase a small juvenile. Otherwise the tank will be too small for it. They are a very messy fish, and they grow quite large for a 40 litre tank. As they grow, it would become increasing difficult to keep the water quality up, and it may become aggressive in the cramped quarters. I would recommend a minimum of 110 litres for an adult bristlenose pleco.
Anyone know how much a breeding pair goes for?
It all depends on where you live. I know in Canada you can get a breeding pair for as little as five dollars. In some areas they are more rare though, but you can often find breeders online, as well as pet stores that sell them cheap (though it generally won’t be a confirmed breeding pair).
I paid £35 for a red bn male and female. Not even proven either, the brown bn a pair goes for around £15 but this is England.
Hello Robert,
Thank you so much for the informative article. we resently got a bn pleco, about 3″ albino. we have a sailfin pleco, about 6″ and little knowledge of how to care for them. I have a question regaurding the poop. the sailfin produces long strings of poop that very in color from white to clear.Is this apropriate waste production for pleco?
Thank you , crystal
First off, I’m sorry about the delay in getting back to you. But what is your fishes diet like? White poop from a sailfin pleco could mean several things, and it could be related to the food it’s eating, lack of food, or perhaps internal parasites. Let me know what it’s been eating first, and then we’ll go from there.
We resently added some drift wood to the tank and now it’s poop is brown. we feed him tetra veggie tropical algae wafers. and he will some times snag wardley shrimp pellets formula from the other fish if it reaches the bottom of the tank. In researching the species i found that they need fiber and haven;t been giving him any thing other then the waffers and shimp pellets. haven;t seen any clear poop or segmented poop since adding the drift wood. is there anything else you would recommed beyond adding blanched veggtables.
Hi there,
Its summer and our tank is heating up fast. We often see the tank temperature fluctuate to almost 30 Degrees Celsius while in winter it sits at a steady 26 Degrees Celsius. Is this ok or should I attempt to get the temp lower? They are swimming around the tank like headless chooks in the warmer water.
Cheers, Carly
Hi Carly, I’ve been having the same issue – Melbourne was roasting over the Christmas/New Years period! I have no air con, so we had a few days where our tank was in a room that was at 40 degrees C. The first super hot day caught me unawares and sadly I lost one of my BN and all my neon tetras. When I found the tank mid afternoon, the water was in the high 30s. Of course I was devastated and very cross at myself, but I learned my lesson, and for every hot day now I do the following, and my other two BN, my apple snails and my guppies are all doing well, even in up to 31 degree water:
1. I remove the lid for the day and adjust the filter/ airflow for maximum air circulation and agitation at the surface
2. I turn lights off on the tank
3. Frequent 5 or 10% water changes throughout the day with colder water (but be careful to add it a bit at a time so the temp doesn’t drop quickly).
The biggest problem seems to be oxygen, as at warmer temps there is less oxygen dissolved in the water.
Hope this helps! I also tried freezing fish-tank-safe water (ie dechlorinated) then adding the cubes to the hot tank, but I found it less effective and more risky (too big a temp change) than water changes.
Good luck! Cheers, Vanessa
Ps. If you have apple/golden mystery snails like me, with the lid off they will go exploring around the room and you’ll have to retrieve them. 😉
Great idea! Thanks Vanessa!
I was wondering if ice cubes would work so glad to hear feedback on that. I have been changing water once a week with slightly cooler water to keep it slightly lower. I also have an apple snail so I keep the lid on at all times :). I have tetras as well but the fish that suffer the most are our clouds. We started our tank with cold-water and have 2 clouds left when decided to go tropical. All fish have survived up to 31 degrees though the clouds spent a lot of time just floating at the surface. As the temp has dropped back to 28 they are swimming around much better (not ideal for white clouds either but they are little troopers).
Cheers Carly
I typed and said the full name last night whilst googling the breeding info and this morning my lovely “suckatash” is dead 🙁
I try not to be superstitious, but even I won’t say the full name. Sorry to hear about your fish.
How do i post a picture i wanna show you guys mt bristlenose ??
You have to post it on another site like imgur, and then you can link the location here. Unfortunately, it’s the only way to do it with this commenting system.
Great Article!! I’ve had my 6cm Bn for around 4months now, he normally keeps himself to himself n comes out mainly at night. The last 2 days he’s bin swimming really fast up and down the tank Asif he’s trying to jump out. Is there any reason for this?? Many thanks, Ash
There could be a few reasons for this behavior. The first is the water might be off, and he might be trying to escape it. Does he gulp for air at the surface? That, along with swimming rapidly around the tank are one of the biggest signs something is wrong.
If your water turns out to be fine, I would look at his tankmates. Are there any aggressive fish he might be trying to escape? Are any of them getting close to him on the bottom when this happens? If that’s the reason, then you can try adding more caves for your pleco to hide in, and some new decorations to break the line of sight.
Let me know if it’s either of these, and if it’s not, I’ll try to think of some other possible causes.
I am not sure whether I am dealing with parasites or just constipation. Tank 110ltr. Ph 7.4 nitrate 5 am/ni 0. We have 3x bn pleco 5.5cm in size. I have noticed two of them are looking a little bloated, one is especially big and his poo is stringy white and segmented. I stopped algae discs a day ago, started them on zucchini discs and peas. Plenty of wood in tank. The bloated pleco is eating the zucchini however haven’t see him touch the peas. Does this sound like parasites or constipation or should I monitor behaviour more before considering medication?
Are they having problems with buoyancy at all? Does it just appear plump? Are they eating what appears to be a regular amount of food? If they have these symptoms too, it usually signifies parasites or an internal bacterial infection. However, scaleless fish are very sensitive to medication, so I’d be wary of treating them if they aren’t showing the other symptoms. I would personally watch them a bit longer, but if they develop any of the problems I mention, isolate the fish immediately and treat it aggressively with antiobiotics to start with. The food kind is usually best, but since fish with bloat often won’t eat, usually you’ll have to treat the water. Make sure you remove the carbon from your filter, or it will remove the medication from the water.
Hi my pleco seams to be doing the toilet a lot is this normal?
It’s completely normal. Plecos are herbivores, so they tend to produce a lot more waste than other fish. Like goldfish, their entire life seems to revolve around eating and then pooping. You only need to be concerned if the waste becomes white and mucousy.
No buoyancy issues. Just appears plump. I have noticed the really bloated one eating zucchini (I smeared it in garlic to entice) however they are not as ravenous as usual. They have become much more shy since adding a large piece of driftwood a few months ago. I don’t want to treat with meds as I enjoy keeping a well balanced chemical free tank. I will keep monitoring, feeding them peas once a day to see if there is any change.
Its been a few more days and the little guys are much the same. Barely eating, bloated (plump), not pooing. Still only dropping in a few peas each evening but they aren’t rasping on wood like they usually do. I have heard people use epsom salts as a laxative. Is this safe for Bristlenose Plecos (and do you know if it works)?
I’d try a variety of other vegetables first. Maybe try cucumber medallions, pumpkin, and a few others things first to see if you can get it to work. And I apologize for asking if the scales were flared out on my last post -especially since they don’t have any scales. I was answering too many comments at once, without my morning coffee. lol
As for epson salt, you can add a VERY small amount to try and help. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/4tsp per ten gallons, and it’s recommended to never continue this for much longer than a week.
I’d be leaning more towards treating them with antibiotics soon, but hopefully new foods and epson salts will help first.
Very interesting article, I have three BN’s in a 125l tank. Against all advice I have 2 males & 1 female, they have bred recently & I have quite a few young swimming about getting into filters etc. Check the filter weekly & find about 5-7 every time, can’t believe some of the small gaps they get into. I also have Siamese Algae Eaters & Zebra Loaches.
I used to always find fry in my filter. In fact, those were the ones who usually survived, since my recent bristlenose plecos were all kept in a community tank.
Sorry to ask again, this feels a little never ending. Two of my BN plecos appear fine. They do look a little plump but they are pooing ok. I have one lone ranger that is still having a hard time. I am really worried for it. It is just today that I have noticed white swelling around the abdominal area as well. Here is a photo: http://carlyspicer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160212_180342-cat.jpg . This is the first I have dealt with issues like this and I am too cautious to medicate the tank without absolutely needing it. Also, I am not sure what to medicate the catfish with as most melafix/pimafix etc all have warnings for bottom feeders. I have posted more info regarding tank set up in the previous thread. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Is he eating any food? Having trouble swimming? Are you still trying to feed him peas? I would stay away from the anti fungals, and if you want to treat it, I’d go with an antibiotic. But first I’d try the epsom salt method (about half a teaspoon of salt per 5 gallons), and raise the temp to about 82 degrees for a few days. Then do a really big water change after three days are over. Also, make sure to increase aeration since oxygen levels will go down during the increased temp.
You don’t have any coldwater species in the tank, do you? Like goldfish, white cloud mountain minnows or anything like that? The temperature can be dangerous for fish like that.
Just a quick update to my situation (that may help others). All three of my BN plecos are still alive, by some miracle. Even the poor little guy we started to nickname ‘bloaty’. They have also all lost their bloated bellies and appear to be pooping normally (I cannot be 100% sure if bloaty is pooping but he certainly lost his belly along with the others). What I did was completely starve them for 5 days straight. I didn’t notice the change until day 5. At day 6, I fed them garlic coated peas (for two days). I have since fed them a spinach leaf and left a portion of honeydew melon which I left in the tank for a short amount of time – 4 hrs (they loved, I think we are friends again). I read on a forum somewhere that if you overfeed them the algae discs it can be a major cause of bloat. apparently there is a bit of protein in them. I have a suspicion I unknowingly did this, as about a week before this happened I didn’t have any zucchini or other veg so I only fed them algae discs each day. I’m going to keep them on a veg-only diet for a couple more days before giving algae discs another go.
That’s great news, and good information to know for the future. I hope they keep doing well.
wow…just noticed ;ots of baby plecos in my tank, cant believe it…well chuffed !
That’s awesome. These are one of my favorite fish to breed, and it’s a lot of fun raising them into full grown fish. There’s something very fulfilling about knowing you bred and raised all of the fish in your tank.
Hi any tips on getting food to my 2 adult bbc. I would like to breed them but they really don’t seem interested in each other she just stays under some wood,he is really active and is always bimbling about I assume she comes out at night.I’ve got terracotta pots for cave and plenty of bog wood.is it worth trying to hand feed them with tweezers.
Thanks john
I wouldn’t worry too much about food right now – that’s unlikely to be the cause. First of all, how old are they? Have the bristles fully come in on the male yet? Is the female close to the same size as the male? It may be that they’re just not mature enough yet, or one of them isn’t ready yet.
If they’re well into adulthood, then you can start by doing a large water change (20% plus), which may trigger them. Some people try adding rain water instead of treated tap water, but usually a large regular water change will be enough to get them going.
And finally, if none of that works, you can try adding another female to the tank. Sometimes certain fish just aren’t interested in breeding with one another.
Hi
We have had them around 4 months but he is about 4/4.5 inches long she is a bit shorter,he has a full head of bristles on so I think he is fully adult and she looks about right from what I’ve read,when we got them they said she was already pregnant but I think the move didn’t help and looks like she aborted if that’s what they do. I do regular water changes of at least 20%.what about water temp should that be a certain temp to encourage them at all?.
Many thanks
John
Hi, I read a scientific blog recently and it was specifically on starting the breeding cycle of plecos. According to their research when you do the water changes the temperature of the new water needs to be cooler so it will bring the acquarium down a couple of degrees cooler. Then the aquarium heater will gradually bring it back up to the normal temperature. You will want to make certain that your aquarium temperature does not fall below the recommended temperatures for your fish. I do not know anything about ciclids, but it is likely that they will attempt to eat the eggs and/or the fry after they hatch. Even my swordtails and danios ate them when they could. They are very tiny when they leave the cave. Hope this helps.
I’ve just bought 2super red bn’s a male n female about 7cm and noticed a black belly, is this normal.
Hmmm..that’s strange. I’ve never see that myself before, though I have heard of it a few times. The few people I know who have encountered it, believed it either had to do with constipation, or feeding them too much protein. What are you feeding them? I would try to cut back on any protein rich food, and try feeding them shelled peas and other vegetables for a while.
However, I’ve never encountered this directly before, so I can’t be sure of the cause, or if my solution will work. It’s the best I can think of though, but I will ask around to see if anyone else I know in the hobby has dealt with it successfully.
Thanks for the reply, after a few days it cleared up, I feed them on algi wafers, shelled peas , cucumber and butter nut squash and courgette and plenty of bog wood, I put it down to constipation as all there do now is poop a lot.
By the way, this is a great thread and altogether a great read. Thank you for your time and help.
That’s great it cleared up, and it’s funny how many problems usually turn out to be constipation. And I’m glad this thread was able to help you.
I have a 120 litre tank with 2 small cichlids and 3 sydnotis petricols I just bought 2 bristlenose sand they are to small to figure out sexes but I’m worried that the food is not reaching them as my cichlids are eating it all
That’s one of the biggest problems with bottom dwellers and hungry cichlids. There are two solutions. The first is to feed two types of food. You should feed something like flakes on one side of the aquarium, and feed the plecos sinking pellets on the other side of the aquarium at the same time. Also, a signal that its’ feeding time like lightly tapping on the glass helps the bring them out.
The second solution, is to feed the cichlids during the day, and then drop some food in after the lights go out at night for the plecos. The plecos will be more active after the lights go out, and should find the food while the ciclids are going into sleep mode.
I hope this helps.
how many bn pleco would it be ok to have in a 10 gallon tank and what other fish can they be around
You might be able to get away with one bristlenose pleco in a 10 gallon tank, but it’s really too small for them. Especially since as it grows, it will quickly grow over-sized for the tank, and may try to jump out. And any small, top dwelling fish should be fine to share the tank with the bristlenose pleco. You’ll want to keep it small though, since with a bristlenose pleco in there the water will get dirty very quickly. So maybe a school of harlequin rasboras, or some tetras like cardinal tetras. As long as they’re small and like mildly soft and acidic waters, they should be fine.
We bought 3 very small baby bristlenose plecos about 6 months ago! they were barely 2 cm long.
even still the largest (male) is only 4-5cm. He has lots of bristles. The other two (im pressuming females) have not grown as fast and are around 2-3cm. They all seem quite small to me still!
We have a 200 gallon Tank with a great filtration system. We have 4 Large gold fish and one small rainbow shark (4cm) they all live in harmony!
Recently our male vanished. today we discovered the reason… BABIES.
So my concerns are… Will my filter suck them up?
Will my shark eat them?
Will they Lay again?
And am i crazy but do my plecos seem young to be reproducing?
I guess there will likely be more to come!
Neat!
They seem incredibly young – and small – to be reproducing. I don’t think I’ve ever had any have babies until they were at least double the size.
And yes, certain filters will suck up the babies. If it’s a hang on back filter, you could try covering the intake with plain nylon, or a sponge to prevent them from being sucked up. I’ve actually found live babies in my filter before, so it is a real threat. Also, the shark, and even the goldfish will likely attempt to eat the babies. If you had another tank to move them to, I would recommend it, but any new tank wouldn’t have time to a cycle, and the poor water quality would probably kill all the babies anyways. If your tank wasn’t so large, I would recommend a tank divider.
Do you have a lot of plants? I find Java moss is great for allowing fry to hide in, as are other dense plants. You may want to add some of those plants to see if it helps.
Babies having babies
Fun.
We thought about a nursery tank with water from this tank. But I’m still nervous about the transition. I think we will pray for survival of the fittest. We plan to keep whoever makes it.
The nylon is a superb idea. I will start there.
We do have plants. But I will add some java moss.
They have bred and are hiding amongst a large collections of seashells from all over the world. There’s a big pile of small med and large ones at the base of the heater. That’s where they are staying. Under and in all the shells and around the warmth of the heater.
Fun times with fish fry
Hopefully some of them make it. Breeding and raising fry is one of the most rewarding aspects of fish keeping.
Thank you for the excellent article. We are novices and have two bns. Could you tell me how I can tell their genders? Thanks
How old/larger are they right now? The absolute easiest way for someone new to bristlenose plecos it to look at the bristles that ring their mouths. The female will have very small bristles, with less variance to them. The males will have very large bristles, and they will branch out a lot more. This only becomes noticeable as they age though, and it can be difficult to sex them when they’re very young.
Só what is the way to breed them
The easiest way is to place a few cave like structures in the tank, and then have at least one male and two females. They will usually do the rest on their own. The article is quite detailed about how to breed them if you need more information.
Hello, I think i have a shy fussy pleco on my hands. The only time I see him eat is when he is cleaning the walls of the tank from algae. He is doing such a good job, his food source is diminishing and he is starting to look thin. When i put algae wafers in the tank, he is interested but wont compete with the gourami and tetras who also like it. I have tried zucchini, peas, even threw in a piece of melon! He didn’t touch the fruit. I tried hiding an algae pellet inside a zucchini and my apple snail mauled it! I have tried adding garlic to the veges and he is still not interested. Any suggestions?
It can be tough feeding a bristlenose pleco when there is competition. The best bet is to feed a little while after the lights go out, since plecos are more active in the dark. Also, you can try feeding two places in the aquarium at once; you can feed flakes on one side, and pellets on the other side. Another good thing to do is tap lightly on the glass when you feed them, so they become accustomed to knowing it’s feeding time.
Also, keep trying with the veggies – especially the zucchini. It may take some time, but eventually it will learn to eat it. It does help if you boil it a bit first too, as that softens it up for it.
These are all tricks I use to feed my plecos, so hopefully this works for you.
Hi Robert. We have had two bristolnose for a while now. Got them when they were about an inch long and are both now about 2.5 to 3 inches and tonight I noticed we have babies. We have three guppies in the same tank and I’m worried they will eat the babies. Is it a good idea to move the guppies to another tank. My kids are so excited about the babies I don’t want anything to happen to them. Mind you, I only counted ten or eleven which could mean some have already been eaten or it was just a small bunch of eggs. I’m not good with fish language. I’d appreciate any advice. Thanks, Lynda
That’s awesome you did such a good taking care of them that you have babies now. Guppies aren’t a major threat to bristlenose plecoes babies, and only large guppies will likely be able to consume the fry. But with that being said, if they get the chance, they will eat them, so I always recommend tanks with babies only have the parents – and even the parents can sometimes eat the fry (though it’s not terribly common with bristlenose plecos).
And with plecoes that size, you probably won’t get a lot of eggs. Some will have been lost to fungus, some will probably have been eaten, so 11 babies isn’t too bad a number. Just make sure you really keep on top of water changes, and provide crushed up food for them, and they should do well.
Hi Rob,
Really enjoyed reading your article on BN Plecos 🙂 We have 2 BN plecos that we bought together last year and I believe they are male and female due to “Tom” having lots and lots of bushy bristles and “Jerry” only having small ones around the mouth, she is also a little smaller. They are in a 240 litre community tank with driftwood and we currently feed the fish a mixture of Flakes, Algae wafers, Brine shrimp (maybe once a week/fortnight) and Hikari pellets rotating them around. I just tried putting some blanched peeled peas in yesterday and they seemed to go down a treat! What I really wanted to know is what is a good weekly veggie plan to incorporate with the food the fish already have? My concern is I don’t want to over feed but at the same time I really want to start regularly giving Tom and Jerry veggies. Many thanks in advance 🙂
Probably the best thing to do is to offer peas and zucchini each once a week. All fish tend to love these, so you’re not at much risk of them going uneaten. And they’re among the best vegetables to feed to bristlenose plecos. And as long as you remove any leftovers after 24 hours, you shouldn’t have any problems.
You could also experiment with other veggies and fruit, and I find they really only need veggies once or twice a week. Especially, when they have a good base diet like what you’re providing.
My grandmother’s pleco pair have eggs. I found them today while looking at the tank, a cluster on the bottom of a tank decoration, with the male hiding behind it. The tank’s super quiet (4 rasboras and 2 plecos), so I’m not surprised it happened. She’s had them maybe 4-6 months? One’s for the smaller tank, but that one just got redone, so they’re sharing the 28 gallon.
We’re all excited to see what will happen when they hatch.
That’s great news. If just a short while you may have a horde of tiny bristlenose plecos. Let me know how it goes.
Hi does anyone know if 2 brittlenose catfish and 2 balloon molly’s are good together in the same tank? I am also getting a few guppies…
Assuming you don’t add any salt to your water, the bristlenose plecos should be fine with the balloon mollies. However, you need to be careful with the guppies. The males can nip sometimes, and the balloon mollies can have a lot of trouble swimming normally. It’s something to consider at least, and you would want to make sure you have a lot of space.
okay thank you!!
i have a question i have a new 55 gallon fish tank im upgrading from a 36 gallon bow front im going to make it a hospital tank now i wanted to get two ablino long fine bristle nose plecos is there a fish that
get along with and another thing will they eat fish smaller than them
Virtually all fish are safe from getting eaten by bristlenose plecos, though they will occasionally eat fry.
And with a tank that large, you’re pretty open to what fish you can get. I would try and tailor the fish to your water type, and what you want. You could try some of the larger livebearers, some of the dwarf cichlids, or even create some amazing schools of tetras. Do you know the hardness and pH of you water? I could give you a few more ideas if I knew that.
amonia 0 ph 7.0 nitrite 0 nitrate 40 ppm
I would try some of the relatively larger tetras like black skirt tetras, or you could get some really nice schools of cardinal tetras or something like that. Also, you could get a school of corydoras catfish, which are always nice in a tank like that. As long as you don’t have more than one or two bristlenose plecos, the corydoras catfish would be fine.
Beyond that, you could even try some of the smaller cichlids if you feel ready for that. Though I’m not sure if you’d be ready to tackle that or not.
yea ithought about anglefish and bolivan rams but i have 8 corys now
and fry im not worried about im not looking to breed any of my fish
im sorry i meant to put dont get along with
Hello Mathew,
I have learned much from your info! Great resource.
How long do couples procreate? What could cause my pair to stop successful spanning? Parameters/conditions/foods are the same. They are BN plecos that are about 2yrs old. Many successful spans.
Now a significant change. The eggs are laid in the clay tube cave male tends to them then they disappear. I presume he eats them. Is he culling? or just in the mood for caviar? Only their young off spring and a few guppies are in the 12 gallon tank with them.
Insights very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Susan
How long before they disappear? Are you sure they’re aren’t hatching and then the fry are getting eaten? That’s a real risk when you don’t have a species only bristlenose pleco fish tank. Although guppies aren’t a huge threat, they may be consuming a fair number of the fry. Also, when you see the eggs, do they appear healthy? Is there any fungus on them? And finally, what sort of filter do you have on the tank?
I’ve got a breeding pair of Bristlenose the male has been guarding the fry in his cave which are now free swimming but not left the cave, my question is will they leave of their own accord or should I release them?? This is the first time I’ve ever bred plecos.
They’ll leave on their own accord once they’re ready. And most of the time, they will be safe with the parents in the tank, so you probably won’t lose many once they’re out swimming in the tank – assuming they’re not with other fish of course.
Good luck.
hello,
i have a pair of L400
male is about 9cm and female is about 9cm and she already gravid
i put them in a 60x30x40 tank
and give them a cave
the female always stay in the cave but the male always stay outside because when the male want to enter the cave the female seems angry i dont know why he scare the male so the male cant enter it.i already change the water by 25% eachday and drop the ph to 6
what should i do next?
thanks!
It seems like the female has claimed the cave to live in. Probably the best thing to do is to add a few more caves. That way, the male should be able to claim a cave for himself.
I have a breeding pair of bristlenose catfish, some eggs have come out of his cave, will he collect them, or can I put them into another smaller tank or will they be ok on the bottom of the tank in the pebbles?
They’re pretty well lost right now. Without the male fanning the eggs with his tale, they will often go bad. I wouldn’t go to trouble of trying to save them, as they would probably just grow fungus on them.
I have really enjoyed learning all about the bristlenose plecos. I recently changed my 165litre coldwater into a tropical tank and moved some mollies from my small tank in the kitchen and added a few dwarf gouramis, pentazona barbs, neons and some sailfin platies. I then got 2 bristlenose plecos to aid on tank cleaning. Mine are not at all shy and very busy all day long. I got some ‘stick’ on food which they happily hog in a very ocd manner so now I have to put 3 on to give the other fish a chance to eat. My query is what is the ‘bristley’ things which seem to come out of the side of their faces and attach to the food? Also would the driftwood alter the acidity of the tank water and affect the other fish? I have got pleco wafers with wood fibre but its a free for all at feeding time in my tank so I am never sure if they get any or not
From what I understand about the tentacles, is that they are like odontodes. They are found in many animals, and they are similar to teeth in many ways, though they aren’t used like teeth. As far as I know, they don’t play any significant role in the catfish that have them.
And driftwood does lower the pH of the tank, but it shouldn’t lower it to the point where it’s a problem – especially if you keep on top of water changes.
Also, a good trick to feeding catfish, is to feed them sinking food after you turn the lights out. They tend to be mainly nocturnal, so they will find the food in the dark, and the other fish won’t pay much attention to it.
Thank you for the reply and info. Its such a learning curve and I want to make sure that all my tank buddies are as healthy as possible, so I will pop some driftwood in there to make sure they do have the fibre they need and after lights out drop some tasty food in there for them
Hi Robert! Thank you for the wonderful article and knowledge. I’m looking to be a first time aquarium owner, and I was hoping you could answer some questions for me before I start purchasing stuff.
1) Are there any major advantages to buying an Acrylic tank as opposed to glass? I know the acrylic ones, like SeaClear, are much lighter than glass, but are there other pros (considering they are twice as much)? I don’t mind spending the extra money as long as there are some reasons for it.
2) I’m looking to buy a 36 gallon tank (15″L x 30″W x 21″H) since that’s the biggest I can get for the area I want. I’m interested in getting glofish and was thinking about getting approximately 4 danios, 2 barbs and 5 tetras. Using the whole 1 gallon by 2 inch rule, this would put me under that. Do you think I should stop there, or could I add a few more fish? I don’t want to overstock, but I also want as many as I can get! Also, I heard that the blue light might be harmful to the fish. Is this true? Seeing as the entire point is the glow part, I don’t want to do anything harmful to the fish. What other fish would go well with the glofish (assuming there is room)?
3) I’m also thinking about getting some of the smaller kinds of plecos for the tank. With only 36 gallons, should I only get 1 or can I get away with 2? I’ve been looking at the blue eyed albino BN pleco, the clown pleco, and the butterfly pleco. Would it be okay to get two different species? Will two different species breed? I’m not sure yet if I want to try to breed. On one hand that seems so amazing and really cool, on the other it feels a bit overwhelming for a first timer. If I get two, I would want a male and female to try and reduce aggression, but then breeding could occur.
Thank you so much for your time and help!
Heather
Hi Heather,
It’s always great to to add another enthusiastic person to the aquarium hobby. I’ll do my best to answer your questions for you.
1. I would always choose glass over acrylic tanks. Acrylic tanks may cheaper, but they scratch very easily, and because they scratch so easily, they tend to be harder to clean. Of course, the are clearer and lighter, and they don’t break as easily as glass, but for a first time fish keeper, I would definitely recommend glass.
2. While the number of fish may be alright, all of the ones you mention should be in a school of at least six. I would change it up to have at least six of each, and then you can see how well you do with those. Also, it’s very important that you don’t add them all at once. A maximum of three fish should be added at once, and then you need to give the beneficial bacteria a chance to adjust before adding new fish. It takes a few weeks for the bacteria to reproduce when the bio-load (waste) increases in an aquarium, and if you add too many fish at once, you’ll have a dangerous spike in ammonia and nitrites.
If you’re not familiar with cycling, you should read this article – http://aquariumtidings.com/aquarium-cycling-the-complete-guide-to-cycling-a-fish-tank/
And before I recommend tankmates, I need to know the exact species you’re picking up. Once you let me know that, I can recommend some good tankmates. As for the blue light, I’ve never heard it can be harmful to fish, though some people believe it harms plants (though I’ve never seen any research to back this up).
3. I would stick with the bristlenose plecos, as they are smaller and with a proper tank setup, you could pretty easily have one male and two females. I’m not sure how the separate species would get along, as I don’t know many people who have tried to keep them together. But as for the clown pleco, I know they are rarely seen in a tank, so they’re not great if you like seeing the fish. And the butterfly pleco tends to need larger aquariums, so they aren’t a great choice either.
If you do get the bristlenose plecos, they will most likely breed, though most of the fry will usually get eaten by tankmates.
I hope all of this helps.
hi my names brent, just a quick question. i have 14bristlenose in a tank and obviously i have some breeders. i had eggs on the gravel but no bn caring for them. is there any chance putting bristlenose eggs in a breeding box still in the same water and tank but safer box so they wont get eaten. my big albino male looked like a few times tried to eat them
I doubt a breeding box would work. These fish tend to need their space, and I don’t think things would end well with a male and female kept in such a small space.
The best chance of success is to use a fish tank with one male and one female, and a clay pot on it’s side for them to breed in. I’ve have tremendous success using this layout, and you almost have too many fish to get rid of sometimes.
Hi, I got 2 spotted bristlenose plecos from a nursery about 10mths ago turned out to be a male and a female and I now have some babies, spotted and albinos. Unfortunately today I’ve seen 2 of the babies seem to be distressed possibly dying, swimming erratically upside down and sinking belly up 🙁 could it be just poor genetics as the parents are likely “brother & sister”, disease? Or a parasite?
It’s unlikely to be genetics, though that would be difficult to rule out. The first thing to check in a situation like this is the water quality. Fish fry are very susceptible to poor water conditions. If you don’t have anything to test the water with, most pet stores will test it for free for you.
Then I would look at their diet. Are you feeding them enough food? What are you feeding them right now?
Beyond that, I would closely inspect them for signs of illness. Are their bellies bloated? Is there any fungus like stuff on them?
Once you let me know, I’ll see if I can help you further.
I lost all but 4, they seem healthy now. I suspect they weren’t getting enough food competing with hundreds of cherry shrimp and baby apple snails. I also saw some hydra and treated that with planaria zero (which I forgot wasn’t safe for apple snails and killed most of them sadly). I have a new batch of babies in the cave probably due to emerge soon so hopefully better luck with this lot!
Went to clean my tank and saw 6 baby albino bristlenose plecos! Do I just let them swim freely or do I need to move them? I’m afraid they might get eaten.
Probably the best thing to do would be to add a divider to your existing tank. The problem with fry is that they are very sensitive to water changes, and unless you have another mature, cycled tank ready to go, then you would probably lose the majority of them if you move them.
And if they’re just in a tank with their parents, then the odds are pretty low of them being eaten. Bristlenose plecos don’t prey on their young very often, and most of the time if they’re well fed, their fry will be safe.
Hi. About ten years ago I had an albino bristlenose that lived happily in my community tank for several years. He did a great job of taking care of the algae on my plants without hurting the plants. He eventually died so I got another one from the aquarium store. That one died within a couple days. Then the next one died in a couple days. And so on. I have never been able to get another one to live more than a couple days and I finally gave up.
A month or so ago, I got a brand new 38 gallon tank, got it all set up, and started it running. I added fish slowly. All the fish are doing fine. So I got an albino bristlenose. It died. I got another one, and it died. I have tested my water, and had the aquarium store test my water. The water is good and all the other fish are fine. I have hiding places, rocks, driftwood, etc. Lots of plants that are growing a nice crop of algae, which needs eating. (I do need to confess that I introduced the very first one to friends using the full name. I didn’t know that was bad, way back then.)
I’d be grateful for any suggestions you might have on how I can get one to live in my new aquarium. Thanks.
Are they all coming from the same pet store? They can be somewhat delicate at times, and if you’re picking them up while they’re already sick, then the transition to the tank can quickly kill them. Also, how are you acclimating them to the tank?
But beyond that, what are the parameters of your tank? Water hardness, etc? Do they appear healthy with plump bellies when you pick them up?
Robert, thanks for your reply. Yes, they are all coming from the same store where I get all my fish. I acclimate them to the tank in the same way I do all my fish-they float in the bag at least 1/2 hour, then I start slowly mixing aquarium water into the bag for awhile, and then I let them swim out.
The water here in Chicago is pretty hard. Other than than everything else (ph, nitrates, nitrites, chlorine, ammonia, etc.) are safe or normal. They appear healthy when I buy them, usually hanging on the side of the bag. They appear healthy briefly in the aquarium, and jump from one surface to another, but then end up dead within two to three days.
Thanks for any suggestions. I’m stumped. I have had aquariums for 40 years, so I’m pretty experienced with them.
You should try drip acclimating them to the tank. Since everything else seems fine, and you say they appear healthy in the store, the only thing I can think of is that there are vast differences between the store water and your home water. I would trip the drip acclimation method, and see if it helps. I’ve known some very responsible and experienced aquarists like yourself, who lost bristlenose plecos using the bag method to acclimatize the fish to the tank. But once they used the drip method, they were able to get the fish to survive the initial shock.
If I remember correctly, I think they tested the stores water they were getting the fish from, and it had incredibly high nitrates and they fish couldn’t adapt fast enough when added to a well maintained tank.
I hope this helps, and I’ll try to think of other possible causes.
Thanks for your reply, Robert. I will try the drip method for the next one. Funny, that never even occurred to me. I appreciate the suggestion. Take care, and happy holiday.
Hi Robert. I wanted to let you know that my new bristlenose appears to be fine after a week in my aquarium. I wasn’t able to find a drip system at either of my pet stores, so I introduced my aquarium water very very slowly without the drip system. I did this much slower than I normally do to add new fish, maybe 1/4 cup every 15 minutes for about 3 hours. Anyway, it seems to have worked. I appreciate your suggestion. I even got some peas (which s/he is ignoring at the moment.) But I’m encouraged. Thanks again for your help.
That’s great news. I’m glad my idea helped.
I have a male bristle nose that has taken to lying upside down and not holding onto anything. He moves quite quickly when the tank lid is opened so I am assuming he is okay. I was wondering if this behaviour was normal or should I be worried? Ness
That is definitely not normal behavior, and it means something is wrong. Do you have driftwood in the tank? Is the belly bloated, or does the fish seem very skinny? I would try feeding it lightly boiled, shelled peas to start with. That usually clears up many of the possible issues with bristlenose plecos. But let me know if anything else looks wrong, and we can go from there for treatment.
I have a male BN. We bought him 8months ago at a decent juvenile size from the local aquarium and he is rapidly growing into a full adult. We feed him zucchini, algae discs, peas and his absolute favourite (special occasion) food is watermelon. He was a bit bloated on and off in the beginning but now that he is bigger he looks normal. We regularly see him upsidedown ‘playing dead’ sitting just under the driftwood. He has had this behaviour since juvenile. His poo looks normal and he is quite active. As he has gotten older he has become shy just like our gourami but if you catch him on food he will let you get up close. So, it appears our BN likes to sleep upside down but I haven’t ‘tested’ him on certain foods etc to see if there is a specific cause. We keep feeding a variety and changing the water each fortnight and haven’t had an major issues so far.
My husband started with two Plecos, purchased a year apart. Last year they surprised us with 56 babies. The tank is only a 10 gal tank. The pair, which we were surprised they were, is now about 6″ long [we have had them for 3 years now] and continue to give us babies. My husband’s plecos are albinos, bristle nose plecos. All he has ever fed them is the regular fish food, flaked that keeps the water clear. He treats the water each time he ads to their tank water. Other small fish have also thrived in the same tank.
Great article .great info .I am finally in a position to set up a fishroom and have been reading articles on a lot of different fish that I have never kept before .this article is the best I’ve read .thanks mate .well done .
Thanks, I always appreciate the feedback.
Hi and Thank you for the article and clear info! You’ve given me the courage to ask my “million and one” questions. I just brought home 2 baby (3-4 cm) BN sex unknown; 1 being albino and the other blackish brown. They are presently in a 15G with 1 betta, 6 rasbora espei, 5 rainbow furcatus, 3 nerite snails, 1 red lip snail and 2 tiny horn snails.
The BN, red lip and nerites were to be moved to my 90G which houses 2 bosemani males/3 females, 3 red rainbow males/2 females, congo tetra male/4 females, 1 opaline gourami male and 6 botia loaches sex unknown (2 dario and 4 kubotai) All fishes and loaches are juveniles and are presently around the 3″ mark. My dilema is getting a clean up crew that wont be a tempting snack for the rainbows or the loaches! With a lot of limited information online it has been hard to determine 1) At what size could the 2 BN be introduced without fear of death? and what is the best way to transfer them without harming them? 2) Is 2 BN enough for 90G or should I get more? 3) Could amano shrimp survive my tank mates and if so, at what size should they be introduced? Water parameters are approx the same in both tanks ph 7.6, temp 80, amonia 0, nitrites 0 and tanks are both established and well planted – 15G is a Fluval Flex with Seachem Purigen added to filter and the 90G has an Eheim 2217 and bio ball with air in tank and double length (40″) spray bar aimed just at waters edge for oxygen and downwards for current. 90G has 2 huge pieces of Mopani and 1 med. sized driftwood as well as rocks and pea size river rock gravel. Oh and finally a separate question on set up, do I need or should I add a circulating pump to move more water in the 90G? Wow, thank you again for any and all help provided 🙂
The bristlenose size you have now should be fine and they’re tough enough to survive with the fish you describe. And I like to use a cup to transfer them, as they are notorious for getting stuck in nets. Also, I would use the drip method to acclimate them to the new water, as they tend to be sensitive to pH changes.
And while bristlenose plecos are good for a cleanup crew, two will barely make a dent in a 90G. You could probably add another female without too many problems, but most of the cleaning will still be on you. Another good addition are Malaysian trumpet snails – assuming you don’t mind snails in your aquarium. Also, they hide in the substrate and have operculum that protects them from snails.
As for Amano shimp, it’s a bit of a gamble with the tankmates you have. I’ve seen some get predated, while others are fine. I might get some cheap ghost shrimp first to test it out.
I think you’ll be fine with the filter, though I like to add a sponger filter for extra aeration and a backup to the main filter. But it wouldn’t hurt having extra current, as long as you don’t overdo.
Hopefully, I caught all of your questions there.
Thank you so much for the reassurance, Robert 🙂 I will indeed be using hands and container for their capture and transfer as well as drip acclimation and adding a super-red longfin BN ancistrus shortly. Although I look forward to seeing my 3 BN moving about in my 90G, I am not as trilled cleaning out this tank bi-weekly lol But I am Resolute! A final note on Malaisan trumpet snails, I was considering adding a few as well but thought my loaches would “sniff” them out. I was also under the impression they needed a fine substrate. Mine being pea size river rocks about 4″ deep, I thought it too big/too heavy for them to move around and turn over. Will be talking to you soon and thx again 🙂
Malaysian trumpet snails can burrow into gravel, so river rocks would likely be alright. And while the loaches will sniff them out, they are usually smart enough to hide, and the covering to their shell will protect them. I’ve even kept them with puffers before, and while some are lost, the majority survive.
Then alright! It sounds like a plan. Will pick some up as soon as possible. Thanks again and have yourself a great day 🙂
Hello there!
This may have already been asked/answered.. but how do I make sure my baby BN pleco is getting to the wafer/food I drop in.
I have a 10gallon tank with some tetras, a platty and a Molly. I was going to get a snail for a small bottom feeder, but the aquatics guy at Petco recommended a BN pleco instead, and also said it should be fine as it grows in my size tank.(I’ve read a few articles to compare and some said a minimum size tank for a BN pleco is like 29gallons? If so, I’m screwed..) before reading more about them, could be a mistake on my part, I got it and introduced it to the community tank today and haven’t seen it in hours after it’s initial roam around the tank. I know they hide and are nocturnal; is it best to feed with tank lights off? Do lights really matter? When is the best time to feed for my community. It’s too young and small to tell if male/female. I caught my platty eating the wafer before pleco could get to it. I have a fake log and ship with holes in there, so it has a cave of sorts.
Anywho, I guess I’m just looking for any helpful advice about feeding/keeping comfy/making as close to sure as possible that I don’t kill it!! I lost a pleco and a Cory catfish in a different tank around a year and a half ago.. don’t want to go through the same, specially if I could learn how to better care for my fish as I am an intermediate-ish fish hobbyist!!
Thanks : )
There a two ways to make sure the bristlenose pleco gets enough to eat. The first is to train it recognize when it’s feeding time. If you lightly tap the glass each time you feed your fish, it will come to recognize it, and will come out to eat. Another way is to feed in two places at once. Feed some food on side, and then put the pleco food on the far side of the aquarium. Most of the fish will eat the first food you offer, so the sinking food for the bristlenose pleco will be left mostly untouched.
I hope this helps.
hello, i got my bristle nose mixed with cichlid, how do i get this bristle nose eat? cichlid always gobbled the food even before the bristle nose lay their nose to the food?
There are two methods to feed them in this sort of tank: You can either feed them after the lights are turned out, since they’re more active at night, or you can feed the cichlids with floating pellets on one side, and then sinking pellets for the bristlenose plecos on the other side of the tank.
I hope this helps.
Quick question. We just moved about a month ago, so we had to break down our aquarium and set it back up recently. I have an albino bristle nose pleco, that’s about 3inches in size and a black bristle nose pleco that’s smaller about 2inches in size. There is only one hiding place a large fake tree trunk that is hollow at the top. I have a large 72 gallon bow front aquarium with random fish in it as well. Black skirt Tetras, red skirt tetras, black red fined sharks and a variety of mollies. This morning I wake up and see three tiny baby plecos. I’ve owned bristle nose plecos all my life growing up and have never had any breed nor was I trying to this time either. It just happened. How common is it to cross the two and how often do I need to watch for this to happen? I want to make sure and provide these surprise babies with the best opportunity to survive as well. What should I feed them? They are so tiny.
It’s pretty common for the crossbreed if you give them a good setup. As for the babies, the best thing to feed them is infusoria, but that takes a few days to culture. Alternatively, you can feed them boiled vegetables like zucchini slices. Just make sure to replace the uneaten portions every day, or the water will start to foul.
Had bristlenose in my tank for bout a year or more now on its own with swordtails and a black moor. Just noticed today that I have about10 new baby bristlenoses. What the???? I can’t work this out does anyone have any ideas?
That is definitely odd. Honestly, I’ve never head of this before. Are you sure you don’t have another one hiding somewhere in the tank? lol
Hi all
I just wanted to say I have 1 male & 1 female Bristle nose placo they have been together and we have about 3 loads of diffent sizes.
30 baby’s of Bristle nose placo plus we have 3 Albino and just found out the other day we all so found 2 clear ones
I just wanted to know when is it time to sell them and what size.
Soon he tank will be taken over by baby’s.as there are more eggs I found today.
Usually you want to sell them when they’re around 2.5 cm (1 inch) long, though you could probably get away with half that if you’re selling them privately. Generally speaking, they take a fair bit of time before they’re large enough to sell.
The curse of the P word: I had an albino bristle nose placo that lived in my tank for five or more years and kept everything spotless. Since it died I have not been able to get one to live more than 2-3 weeks. I’ve had at least 10 new bristle nose placos now and they all have died. My water tests are just fine, though the water is a little hard. The pet store finds nothing wrong with my water either. There are plenty of hiding places. I’m introducing the new placos correctly and they seem just fine for 2-3 weeks and then they just die. All my other fish are happy and live long lives. The only explanation is that, way back when, I spoke the P word when describing my tank. That was before I knew that it was a curse to say placo…… So, my question is, how do I break this curse?
Well, first light a few candles to the great pleco in the sky, then make a sacrifice of a neon tetra, and you should be good to go.
But more seriously, what’s killing your plecos is most likely pH shock. It’s pretty common with bristlenose plecos and you need to slow down the acclimation in the new tank. The drip method is probably the best, and you need to slowly introduce them to the new water. Many people have the same problem, but by using a lengthy acclimation process, it can usually be beaten.
Robert, thanks for your reply. Actually I do introduce them very slowly to my tank using the drip method. The odd thing is that the plecos usually seem fine, and live 2-3 weeks or even a month. And then they just die. My aquarium store has been wrestling with this with me for a long time. Their latest thought is that they are starving to death by not having enough algae to eat. (That’s a very sad thought.) I feed them some dripping food, but I’ve never actually seen one find it. Yesterday at the store, I got some larger algae pellets on the recommendation of the clerk. We’ll see if that works and I’ll post again in a month or so. Other than the drip suggestions, I’m happy to hear your thoughts on the starving theory. Thanks again.
Darn, I really thought I had it with the drip method there.
Additional food might be the way to go, though, and hopefully the algae wafers do the trick. You might want to also add some zucchini slices, as they will let them feed at their leisure.
Hi. Thanks for your reply. I’ll try the zucchini idea. I had heard about peas, and tried that a couple times, but they never seemed to find the peas. I am curious about your theory of Ph shock, though. Isn’t 2-3 weeks of living in the tank long enough to get over any shock, if that was what was causing it? Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts.
In most cases, pH shock kills within a few days. It can weaken them and cause them to shed their slim coat, but it seems odd they would hang on as long as yours. It should kill them pretty quickly. And you have no metal in your tank? No medication use lately?
That’s kind of what I thought (about pH shock) which is why I really didn’t think that was the issue. I have no metal in the tank (what metal would go in an aquarium anyway?), and no medications needed. I’ve had my latest albino pleco six days now, and it seems to be doing ok. I have seen it at least once a day and I’m putting in one algae wafer a day, which is disappearing quickly. I have lots of plants in my tank so I often can’t find the pleco. I really want to solve this so I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks again for your comments and help.
The metal was really just a shot in the dark. I’ve encountered some people who had old vegetable clips, cheap ornaments, or other metal stuff in the aquarium that was oxidizing and giving off toxins.
Let me know how it goes, and I’ve got my fingers crossed it will work well this time for you.
Hi Robert. Well, it’s been two weeks now since I put buy new albino pleco in the tank. He seems fine so far, but this is the critical time. In the past, they’ve lived for 2-3 weeks and a couple made it a month before dying. I’m hopeful this time. If this works, I hate to think that I’ve been starving them to death. Who would have thought there wasn’t enough algae in my tank to keep a pleco happy? We’ll see how it goes from now on, and I’ll let you know. Thanks, as always, for your thoughts, suggestions, and support.
Let’s hope this one makes it past the dreaded two weeks. Keep me updated on the little guy.
Hi Rob. Saturday will be five weeks since I put in Toby, my new albino. He’s still going. It seems that the algae pellets finally did the trick. I’m sick to think that I killed about 10 of them over the past year by not feeding them enough. Who would have thought that my tank is so clean there wouldn’t be enough to eat. I’m optimistic that this time will do the trick. And I will never say the p word again. Thanks for your suggestions. Steve
That’s great news that this one is finally doing well. And I wouldn’t beat yourself up. I’ve been breeding and keeping fish for many years now, and I still make mistakes like that. The key is just not to repeat it going forward. And don’t say the p word! The last time I did, my 12 inch pleco jumped out of my tank and I came home to find it in my dogs mouth. Coincidence? Probably not.
Greetings, Robert. It has been 15 weeks today since I introduced my albino into my tank. S/he (I still don’t know the sex) is about 3 inches long and getting fat. So, I think the problem that has been plaguing me for the past year (and about 10 pleco deaths) is finally solved. S/he gets an algae wafer every 2-3 days and seems to find in within a few minutes while the rest of the fish are eating. Thanks so much for your support and I’ll never say the p word again. I’ll let you know how it goes after a few more months.
That’s awesome news and stay away from the ‘P’ word! lol
Good luck going forward.
I think I have two BN in my 20 gallon tank. I started my fish tank obsession last November (i now have 3 small tanks and one 20g). In my 20 gallon – I’ve had a total of three angel fish and two panda cats (not all at the same time) with my Plecos…all have perished after living in my tank about 2-3 months or so. My water quality has been normal…and the longest I go between 1/3 changes is about 2 weeks. The last beautiful Angel fish had been alone with the BNs for about 2 months and just died yesterday. I have seen them “interact” in the past and I saw one Pleco sucking on him several days before; In both cases I wasn’t sure that was happening as when I approach the tank …the Pleco swam away. Is it possible that my BN’s killing my other fish?
I know the fish tank addiction well. I started with one, and then pretty soon had a fish tank in every room of my house (I’ve since scaled back a bit to keep my significant other happy).
As for the plecos, they are probably sucking the slime coat off the fish. While it won’t kill them, it may weaken them – though if they’re doing that to an angel fish, it’s already probably ill.
When they perish, does anything look wrong with the fish? Whispy white strands? Bumps? White specs? Any injuries?
Hi Robert,
Thank you for your response. Nothing looked that abnormal – no fins missing or frayed, no bumps, no specs. The only thing I did notice about the panda cats was they went from being bright and happy to dull and inactive. I forgot that I did also have an African Dwarf frog that likely died from Chyrid Fungus; but that was several months ago. The Pleco’s mess with all my fish at some point – the frogs, the cats, and the angels.
When you say your water quality has been normal, what are the readings?
My PH is 7.6; Ammonia is 0; Nitrite is 0; and Nitrate is 40ppm. These are the same readings I get in all my tanks. I use the “freshwater master test kit” to test my water . The only other change I recently made maybe about 3 to 4 months ago I added a “liquid additive containing deep sea water rich in minerals” [iron and potassium] for my plants at the recommendation of the aquarium store that I go to. I also added small amounts of salt on their recommendation.
Im also very interested in the discussion you are having about using zucchini for food. I am not sure what my little guys have to eat now that all the fish are gone. I don’t want to get any more fish until I understand what is happening! I do feed them pellets.
Thank you so much for your time in responding.
Bristlenose plecos really don’t like salt, and it’s a bad idea for most catfish. At high enough concentrations (levels still acceptable for most fish) it can be harmful to catfish. Also, are you using Mironekuton for the minerals? That can raise the pH relatively quickly, which could be part of the problem as well. Any changes to the pH can put the fish into pH shock.
As for feedings, algae pellets and regular feedings of blanched vegetables are more than enough for a happy pleco. Just make sure to remove the leftovers since there won’t be many eating the vegetables.
I’m pretty sure that I’m not over-salting. I was a little afraid to introduce so many chemicals into the tank so I’ve only been putting about a teaspoon in for a 1/3 water change in my 20 gallon??
So, to go back to my original question; you don’t think that BN’s are aggressive and would be aggressive with my other fish unless they were already sick?
Bristlenoses tend to be somewhat aggressive, but usually only to fish that dwell near the bottom and nothing usually comes of it. It usually just involves a little bit of a chase. Most of the time when you find a pleco feeding on a fish, it’s usually very ill or dying.
Hi, not really a question or reply, but i thought it would be of interest to others if i shared the by-law in south africa regarding plecos. A good few years ago, about 3, it was made illegal to trade with regular plecos due to people dumping them when they get “too big”. For those who already have their regular plecos they could keep them, if they breed the babies may not be sold to pet shops and pet shops may not accept them. So small species of pleco are fast becoming popular here in SA. What are your by-laws ??
I live in Canada, so they would never survive the harsh winters. But we do have major problems with goldfish being released into the wild. I know Texas and some other states have major problems with plecos. It’s really unfortunate people release their fish into the wild, as they can cause enormous damage and even wipe out native species.
Hello Rob
is bristlenose all season spawner fish? or is it like koi, only spawn in late spring/early summer?
question 2: is sexing other exotic expensive pleco same as common or albino or peppermint bristlenose? Male will have bristle whilst female not?
Bristlenose plecos will spawn throughout the year in a tank, though sometimes you need to trigger their breeding with a fairly large water change.
As for the second question, female peppermint bristlenose plecos will still have bristles – they will just be more limited than the males, similar to bristlenose plecos. It’s generally the easiest way to sex them.
hi Rob, thanks for your expertise. Now, what about sexing more expensive pleco like L204 or L114 and others, is that also from bristles on the nose? I never found article about this. All i found is people talking about sexing commonly available pleco such as the albino, the peppermint, the common one .
Those two plecos are a little harder to sex. In both cases, the male grow larger odontodes than the females (they almost look like hairs on their backs, near their tails), with the females being broader and plumper. Also, for the L114, the males will have a broader head. It’s very difficult to sex them as juveniles, and they usually need to be about 2-3 inches before the sexes are discernible. Neither of these plecos will grow bristles.
I hope this helps.
I have had my juvenile bristle nose pleco for about 2 weeks in a 4 month old tank with cichlids. A couple of questions:he shows no inclination to be nocturnal. Is that normal?,also, how do I stop the cichlids from stealing his food. One of them is the same size and just goes into what ever I’very tried.
Many are active during daylight in their tanks, so that’s nothing to worry about.
As for the feeding, there are a few things you can try. First of all, try feeding them different foods. Use floating fish food for the cichlids and sinking algae pellets for the bristlenose. Also, train it to know when it’s feeding time by lightly tapping on the glass – it will quickly learn when the food is there.
The second thing you can do is feed lightly blanched vegetables. Vegetables like zucchini are mostly ignored by cichlids and the bristlenose will be able to eat their fill.
And finally, try a feeding after you turn out the lights. As they tend to be more active then, they may get more of the food that way.
I hope this helps.
Hi Rob/Barbara
can i share my experience……..i use 2 steps methods, first, throw pellet, let the cichlids have mouthfull first, then you can throw algae wafers. Cichlids will still try to eat that wafer but will have so much difficulties since their mouth already full. But best way is throw veggie flakes , put your hands very deep in water and spread the flakes. That way flakes will flying all over the place around the bottom tank and your bristlenose have a chance to snap it
normally, bristlenose mix with cichlid is less complicated. I used to have koi mixed with cichlids with bristlenose, that was quite hard, you know why, because when i throw algae wafer at 1 AM early morning, when lights already off for several hour, koi seems never sleep and they always scavenge around the bottom of the tank and somehow always know i was throing food, and koi start doing mouth vacuum only since they can not see at night and they snap the wafers before the bristlenose lay their nose to the wafers
I have a problem, i bought a 1 inch albino pleco and 1 inch bristlenose 12 months ago ….. now i have about 100 plecos in my tank, i just caught about 20 all different sizes and colors and gave them to another tank but now i see about 30 more babies on the glass. What can i do , is there any fish that will eat them. I have not tried to breed them they just did in my tank
please help
Most fish that are large enough will eat they fry. But albino plecos are always in high demand. You can probably sell them locally without issues or at least give them away. I know albino plecos sell very well in my area.
Hello and thank you for all of the information. I have just had my first batch of fry. I bought a new male BN and had eggs in 12 hours. The babies hatched last Sunday 5/12. I removed the dad from the tank yesterday because the egg sacks seemed to be gone and he wouldn’t let them out to feed. They are still not coming out of the breeding tube and i am wondering if this is ok? I want to make sure to keep as many as i can and the kids are loving watching them grow. Do you have any advise? Also, i have them in a 5 gallon bow front right now, there appears to be 40-60. Should i have them in a 10 gallon or is that something i can wait a few weeks for?
Thanks again for all the information!!
Whatever you do, don’t move them to an uncycled tank. They are incredibly sensitive to water changes. But in the future, it’s much easier to raise them in larger tanks, as the water stays more stable.
As for staying put, that’s pretty common when they’re first born. They should start to venture out for food soon though. The best thing to do is to use a turkey baster to get the food right to them. That way, even if they don’t move, they’ll still have plentiful food.
Hello I have mollies in my tank will the plecos still breed and will the mollies eat the Pleco eggs or the Pleco fry
Hi Robert
For the 2019 Christmas and new year holiday period, I set up the automatic feeder for my 5 red Bristle noses. I notice that they had laid eggs and one of my two mail was inside the cave while the other was hovering near the entrance. Unfortunately, my feeder jammed and also my apparent holiday was extended to 5 weeks instead of 2 weeks. The 5 plecos are alive as well as the three Corydoras. Unfortunately, there are no baby plecos to be seen but there are two new baby Corydoras. Also, the plecos who loved to eat zucchinis are not eating them anymore. Normally they would be onto the vegetable and devour one in two days, now I can’t any signs of the vegetable being eaten.
Please advise what I can do?
I would try something more nutriet dense like spirulina wafers for them until they recover. They’re probably extremely hungry after that period of time and need something a bit more filling than zucchini. Also, check them for any signs of disease, as fish going without food lowers their immune system. It may also be that they’re sick and why they’re refusing the food.
Hi Robert
Thank you. From what I can see in torchlight in the dark they don’t seem to be diseased, the two males and three females.
After the zucchini, I’ve put in wafers and they have not been touched. What I have been doing is changing a quarter of the water daily, for the past 7 days, to reduce the intensity of the nitrates. The three Corys are responding well to the water change. Currently, the plecos and corys are all hiding when previously they did not.
If the fish are sick would a treatment of Melafix work?
Thank you for all the assistance.
Cheers
Ashwin
I’d probably hold off on treatment for now. Once the water quality has been returned to normal and they’ve had a chance to destress, I still believe they will start to eat. Medication like Melafix is harsh on an aquarium and should be avoided unless really needed.
i have a fairy young BN and i just had to do a emergancy water change ( one of my cichlids died and it caused the nitrite to spike massivly
after doing the change and an abit of an algie wipe down i can not locate him anyware i have a gravel substrate and im super worried he got buried under some of the substrate … as i cant locate him anyware have compleatly empties the tank of decrorations and cafully inpected each of them to make sure he is not hiding in there
the filter i have he cant fit in ( theres a mesh preventing small fish for getting sucked in .. im wondering if i should start carfully digging through the substrate at this point
Depending on his size, I would check the filter. I’ve found very young bristlenose plecos in there in the past.
But beyond that, I think your only option is to sift through the gravel. Are you sure we wasn’t stuck in one of the ornaments you removed? They will sometimes cling to the top and make it difficult to find them in there.
Hi Robert,
Your blog is amazing. I am facing some insomnia and to pass the time I read most of the postings from 2014 to 2020.
I have a 480 liters aquarium and I have 7 Corydoras Panda, 2 Bristlenoses Plecos (a couple), 2 Bristlenoses Albino Plecos (a couple), 10 guppies and 30 Amber Tetras (very small fishes). Ah, and I have 4 cherry shrimps.
For my big surprise my Bristlenose Plecos had babies. Papa Fish is guarding them in the entrance of the cave in a rock.
I am concerned about the fry. They have not been fed properly but they are already half a centimeter long. (I recently found them. I counted 4).
I put a cucumber close to the cave today, hoping that they can access it.
Whatever I put in the water is quickly eaten by the guppies… how am I supposed to feed the baby Plecos?
Also, how often should I change partially the water? I have a very good filter. It is one of these hugeeee professional ones with different layers of substract. Many thanks in advance for your help.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog. If you want to feed the plecos, do two feedings at once right before the lights are turned off. Do one feeding at one side of the tank away from the plecos, then immediately do another feeding for the plecos. The plecos are more active after dark and should be able to eat while the guppies are busy on the other side of the aquarium.
As for the water changes, you should do around a 15% water change each week. This is mainly to remove nitrates which can’t be removed by a filter and irritates fish at high levels.
Baby bristlenose’s can fend for themselves in a well planted and well wooded tank I can’t stop my pair breeding I must have 6 different spawnings granted you lose some but a lot will survive
Ive bin breeding bristlenose plecs for years never used anything i have rocks n a boat in my tank there really easy to breed but be careful u can get over run i always move the babies to another tank soley for them u will find u dont need caves if they want to breed they will make it a home i love watching them hatch & grow nature is so nice
Thank you for the useful article and heaps of information. So I have a couple, and now the male has been occupying the cave for a long time, definitely over 2 weeks, never coming out. Is this normal timeframe for tending the eggs and babies?