Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus)

My newest pleco (common color) has started fanning outside of his cave, trying to lure the female in to breed. She likes him, for sure, as I always see her coming in and out of the cave. I'm just not sure why she hasn't laid yet, though I'm certain its just a matter of time. Going to do a cool water change soon to encourage them!

These fish have been in a 10gal for maybe two weeks tops, and have already begun to court each other. Sadly, my other 10gal with a male/female bristlenose pair, the male shows no interest in the female. And now comes the possibility of moving the female from that tank in with the others. Would this be a bad idea in a 10gal? I remember reading people keeping two females and a male together, and just having ungodly amounts of eggs.

I also have a 28gal bowfront with about 10 1.5" juveniles that are just now starting to show bristles. These guys are getting close to being 6months already, they take forever to grow! I'll let them begin pairing off before moving them (or selling).

And then I have 11 common BN in a 5gal that I got for free in Renton that are about .25". PLUS another 10gal community tank with a super red and a calico both at .5".

I am thinking these are positively my favorite fish! I only have a few tanks that don't have them, and that's because that's cichlid territory! Anyone else want to share? I will post pics of all these guys and gals at a later time.

im looking to get something interesting to graze my algae...i could provide some of them a spacious home..

and, no, i dont want mating pairs....so if youre interested in thinning the herd, so to speak, pm me

When I am ready to sell again I will post here on the forum a week or two before putting them on Craigslist.

I have a pair of Green Dragon Long fin Bristlenose with 3 fry growing out. A very beautiful pleco. I also have 3 Long fin Albino about 1". And 2 male blue-eyed albino males and 2 blue-eyed albino grow outs that I hope are both females. Very underrated pleco.

I love the bristlenose. sadly, i only have one left as my cichlids weren't too kind to them. i now have a common, and two of the high finned plecos with my cichlids and my bristlenose is with my little growouts! I'd love to venture into the more sought after plecos, but am worried that my stock list wont treat them right.

madness,

where did you get blue eyed plecos from? I heard that they cost upwards of 800 dollars a piece. is this true?

lloyd378 wrote:I love the bristlenose. sadly, i only have one left as my cichlids weren't too kind to them. i now have a common, and two of the high finned plecos with my cichlids and my bristlenose is with my little growouts! I'd love to venture into the more sought after plecos, but am worried that my stock list wont treat them right.

madness,

where did you get blue eyed plecos from? I heard that they cost upwards of 800 dollars a piece. is this true?

Thats the blue eye Panaque, what I have are the blue eyed albino Ancistrus. They usually go for $15ea at about 1"-1.5".

thanks for the info! i will have to track some of those down!

lloyd378 wrote:I love the bristlenose. sadly, i only have one left as my cichlids weren't too kind to them

I had a nice little albino but it just got stressed out by my cichlids esp. the bifa and it passed a while back now. Ive had a few over the years and they have the hardware to defend themselves but the cichlids were always relentless at attacking them and starving them out. Its one of coolest plecos out there even though it is pretty common now.

I love my bristlenose. I have tons of them!

I remember reading people keeping two females and a male together, and just having ungodly amounts of eggs.

In my 10 gallon, I have albinos -- two females and four males and an ungodly amount of fry/juvies! I don't know how those two females can be so prolific.

Two of my favorite males.
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Crazedace, mine do spawn after cool water changes and I've also noticed that my males prefer smaller caves. They were fighting over the small cichlid stones, so I had to add more so they could each claim their own. Also, I added a smaller log-shaped cave into the tank with my big common colored male and he almost immediately moved into it from his big roomy cave. Two days later he was guarding eggs. I didn't even think he would fit in that log!

dang betty, more amazing pics! that black ones' bristles look like mini dread locks

Betty wrote:I love my bristlenose. I have tons of them!

I remember reading people keeping two females and a male together, and just having ungodly amounts of eggs.

In my 10 gallon, I have albinos -- two females and four males and an ungodly amount of fry/juvies! I don't know how those two females can be so prolific.

Two of my favorite males.
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Crazedace, mine do spawn after cool water changes and I've also noticed that my males prefer smaller caves. They were fighting over the small cichlid stones, so I had to add more so they could each claim their own. Also, I added a smaller log-shaped cave into the tank with my big common colored male and he almost immediately moved into it from his big roomy cave. Two days later he was guarding eggs. I didn't even think he would fit in that log!

Six adults in one 10gal tank? Damn! Lol
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This is what the active male is currently displaying in. I tried to push sand at the entrance to make it smaller, thus harder for the female to escape him, but he just fans it all away. I also bought a pleco specific cave, the half moon ones, but obviously its in the wrong tank. Do you use those odd-shaped cichlid stones? I wouldn't mind adding more of a variety of caves to my tanks eventually.

Your males are pretty gnarly looking! How did you go about keeping four males in the same tank? Usually there is a dominance factor in play and only one develops bristles at a regular pace. Did they grow up together?

Yes, six adults and an uncountable number of young! Plus about a million shrimp; all in a 10 gallon. They came from different sources, but are pretty close in age and have grown up together. They normally get along well, but they do have some conflict over caves. Even though they each have their own, one particular male tries to take over the others' from time to time.

I think offering a variety is good so they can choose what they like. Mine like those small "cichlid" stone caves. (I don't know what brand mine are. I picked them up a Walmart a few years ago. My cichlids like them as well and use them to spawn in.) The big dark pleco is now using a small pleco cave that I picked up from Aquarium Co-op. I don't think his big head would fit into a cichlid stone.

These are the stones. The plecos somehow cram themselves in there.
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That's awesome! I might have to get some of those stones. I have a shrimp population in my 10gal as well. I figure it helps condition the plecos, and I haven't seen the slightest impact on the shrimp numbers, though if they try to go in the male's cave, he charges them. Your tank is bare bottom still? I guess it makes sense to give them more surface area to suck onto/clean. How often do you remove he fry, or do you?

I don't think my plecos mess with the shrimp at all.

I have had sand in there before, but with the numbers of plecos and shrimp I have in the tank, it's much easier to clean the poop out with a bare bottom. I do at least one 50 - 60% water change each day -- usually twice a day. With that many fish in one small tank, I have to stay on top of it.

I do remove the fry periodically and have given away tons of them. I should probably start selling them since I spend so much time on that darn little tank! Trying not to siphon out the shrimp and baby plecos is a huge pain!

Daily water changes get hard to do over time for me, so I've been doing about 50% weekly, though I do suck the bottom with airline tubing every few days or so, or when it gets pretty bad looking. I swear though, within an hour it looks just as dirty in some areas!

Do you have Java moss in your tank? I know red cherry shrimp and Java moss go together like peanut butter and jelly, though I find it challenging to not suck up bits of the moss. I put in a divider I had in my 5gal that gives just enough room for them to squeeze past. I layered it with Java moss, guppy grass, and hornwort but it is a pain to clean with that stuff in there.

As for sucking up the shrimplets, I usually give up trying to catch them out of the bucket and they end up in the gravel outside.

Well like I've said before. I will take any surplus of shrimp from anyone. LOL =P

I've found that putting a lot of that filter floss/batting into a huge gravel filter really helps a lot. It's strong enough to still siphon out water and any poop/uneaten food, but weak enough to keep it from sucking up any fish or shrimp

I have some java moss and they do seem to like it. But I'm not a shrimp keeper! It was all an accident -- a couple got in with some plants and then they became hundreds.

PokeSephiroth, the next time we're at the same place at the same time, you can have more...
I know they must love being in your beautifully planted tanks!

Thanks Betty! Yes, they're all living pretty happy lives in my tanks, it's so fun seeing them scurry around the tank whenever I pop in some of Ken'sFish veggie sticks with calcium.

So I rearranged my tank the other day, removed my Java wall and tied all that to some clay pots. Well I swear I looked in the male's cave and there was nothing there, but today I shined a flashlight in there while he was out getting a bit to eat and what do ya know, a bunch of little wigglers are in there. I'm pretty sure he bred with the older of the two females as the other still has a large abdomen.

On the darker side, I believe both my super red and calico fry became food for the white clouds. I know, they are supposed to be peaceful! But there were no other fish in the tank! I found the spine of one, no flesh left on it. The other is nowhere to be found.

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Daddy next to his babies. Three weeks old now.

 Looks awesome. Proud Daddy!!!

Congrats! Was mom an albino?

Yup! Her name is Dotty, on the account that she has dots on her body. Lol

Spawned again. Once a month spawn it looks like.
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He is the best breeder I've had. He threw out some bad eggs this morning and knows how to eat and fan at the same time. Perfect father, if only he was albino...

Now a question; has anyone raised bristlenose fry and cichlids together?

I'm thinking of adding some to my Jack Dempsey tank, but I'm not sure if they will survive or not. I may add the remaining of the larger ones that I picked up for free in Tacoma a month or two ago, as they are months older than my first batch from this male.
My plan is to make all my cichlid fry friendly to bristlenose at a young age, so they don't eat the bristles off their face at an older age, which I wouldn't put it past the Victorians to do...