Looking like the proverbial dog that just stuck its mouth in a porcupine, the Ancistrus or Bristle-nose Catfish are a very interesting and colorful member of the Loricariidae family of catfish.
yohseeme - 2011-12-17 I just got a male peppermint bristlenose today and it has been chased and harassed by female brown bristlenoses (2 of them) whole day.... The peppermint male looks a bit panicking and breathing heavily some time and not eating much...do you think this is not good environment?
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David Brough - 2012-01-17 Probably not a good environment. Harassment will cause stress and eventually kill the fish. Best to separate them or get a larger aquarium to keep harassment at a minimum.
yohseeme - 2011-10-18 Is a glass ball style tank not suitable to have a Bristlenose? I feed them wafer twice a day but just making cloudy water and Bristlenose is not eating much...hope to learn water change cycle and feeding for it, if I can get advise...thanks.
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Alex Burleson - 2011-10-18 The minimum recommended aquarium size for a Bristlenose Pleco, is 30 gallons. If your fish does not consume all of its wafers, it is advisable to remove the excess food from the aquarium. To keep the aquarium clean, a 25% water change per week, should suffice.
yohseeme - 2011-10-19 Thank you Alex so much! I'll get bigger tank and transfer them to make it more comfortable and follow your advise ^.^
ivor whitehouse - 2005-10-28 excellent and interesting fish. i bought four babys and they grew into two breeding pairs which have laid nine batches of eggs over the past twelve months. i've had over a hundred young which survived from the eggs and have given many away. they are easy to breed and seem to be quite hardy with only the very young ones dying now and again. i feed algae wafers as they clean the tanks of natural algae. they are crazy about cucumber and they will eat plants if you don't provide enough food. they will strip broad leaved plants in the aquarium by rasping at the leaves. so to say they leave plants alone is a little untrue as they only seem to ignore them when well fed. i use bog wood in my tanks which also keeps them happy and is supposed to help with digestion in some way. the information about them being nocturnal is not so accurate as the females and youngsters seem to be quite active when the lighting is on with only the adult males wanting to stay hidden. i love these fish along with clown loaches.
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Emma - 2011-09-15 Dear Ivor
I have a breeding pair of bristlenose plecos. About a week ago they had a bat of 50 eggs which all hatched into free swimmers. This morning I awoke to 45/50 fry dead on the bottom of the tank and am a bit confused as they were all very active last night before I went to bed. Do you have any ideas as to what I may be doing wrong as this also happened with the last batch aswell.
Sue - 2011-08-20 I have baby bristle nose about 3wks old and my tank is very cloudy. I went to clean it and found more eggs. How can I get rid of this cloudiness and will the eggs die from a water change
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Charlie Roche - 2011-08-20 If the water is effectively that stagnant (dirty) and you don't clean it, don't you run the risk of losing the fish - and also the eggs. I'd rather error on the side of safety and clean the tank.
Chris Norris - 2011-07-08 Hi guys. I have a long fin bristle nose who is doing well but i have noticed that his fins are not as big and as nice as they were when I got him. He's in a 90l comunity tank and has always been left alone never nibbled or chased by anything. I can use help me with my problem...???
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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-08 I included the article on Fish Disease and Treatment. It might be Fin & Tail rot which is a bacteial infection. He could have had it when you brought him home. He could have hurt himself somehow in the tank and it caused a bacterial infection. Another fish could have nipped him. It happens. Anyway, look at the article and find the symptoms and check out that disease and just look at symptoms in general. The recomended treatment is there.
Chris Norris - 2011-07-09 Thanks for your help cheryl. I will look into it.
Gwen - 2010-08-28 I am new too the whole fish thing. I have had 2 comet goldfish and 1 common goldfish for about a year. About a week ago I got a Bristle nose Catfish, and now one of my comets is bleeding and its tail is torn, and the Bristle nose is a little tattered too. My other goldfish appear to be fine. Do you think that the water quality is just bad, or that possibly those two were fighting? While I wait for a response, I am going to clean my tank and add some salt. By the way, thanks for the advice, I didn't know you needed wood or to add food for Bristle noses.
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Editor's Note - 2010-08-28 It sounds like the two of them were most likely fighting. Bad water quality most likely would not cause bleeding and torn fins. Are there any rocks or ornaments that have sharp edges? Those could also cause injury if the fish swam too close. If you observe either of the fish picking at each other in the future, consider adding plants or ornaments that would provide a place for the fish to hide in.
Shay - 2010-09-22 Catfish (bristle nose included) don't do well with salt. I would vote against that.
Anonymous - 2011-01-28 omg don't add salt plecos are freshwater fish....................
John - 2011-06-20 You need to have a special kind of salt for freshwater fish too. -_-
fishgal 1 - 2011-02-02 Hi I was thinking about getting a bristlenose, but I have a few questions:
1. How much do they cost? 2. How much does bogwood cost?
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Caleb - 2011-06-04 Usually, small bristlenose will cost anywhere between $6-$20 (AUD) medium to large will cost between $20-$40 (AUD) While bogwood costs $5-$40 (AUD) (Depends on how big it is). I hoped I helped :)
fernando lopez - 2011-04-01 This cat is hairy. This attachment to the nose is the most exiting thing. Almost all my favorite fish comes from this book: TOPHERO SON OF SMILODON by Wayne Ni.
Daniel Ian Simons - 2011-02-24 I have two in a 25 gal tank amongst bronze corys and bala's , and I often feed tubifex and as soon as it touches the water the plecos pick up the scent and eat it, have I got the only 2 meat eating bristlenoses? Or are they gaining a protein source as my local pet shop is under a refurb and bogwood is out of the picture at the moment.
Looking like the proverbial dog that just stuck its mouth in a porcupine, the Ancistrus or Bristle-nose Catfish are a very interesting and colorful member of the Loricariidae family of catfish.
I just got a male peppermint bristlenose today and it has been chased and harassed by female brown bristlenoses (2 of them) whole day.... The peppermint male looks a bit panicking and breathing heavily some time and not eating much...do you think this is not good environment?
Probably not a good environment. Harassment will cause stress and eventually kill the fish. Best to separate them or get a larger aquarium to keep harassment at a minimum.
Is a glass ball style tank not suitable to have a Bristlenose? I feed them wafer twice a day but just making cloudy water and Bristlenose is not eating much...hope to learn water change cycle and feeding for it, if I can get advise...thanks.
The minimum recommended aquarium size for a Bristlenose Pleco, is 30 gallons. If your fish does not consume all of its wafers, it is advisable to remove the excess food from the aquarium. To keep the aquarium clean, a 25% water change per week, should suffice.
Thank you Alex so much! I'll get bigger tank and transfer them to make it more comfortable and follow your advise ^.^
excellent and interesting fish. i bought four babys and they grew into two breeding pairs which have laid nine batches of eggs over the past twelve months. i've had over a hundred young which survived from the eggs and have given many away. they are easy to breed and seem to be quite hardy with only the very young ones dying now and again. i feed algae wafers as they clean the tanks of natural algae. they are crazy about cucumber and they will eat plants if you don't provide enough food. they will strip broad leaved plants in the aquarium by rasping at the leaves. so to say they leave plants alone is a little untrue as they only seem to ignore them when well fed. i use bog wood in my tanks which also keeps them happy and is supposed to help with digestion in some way. the information about them being nocturnal is not so accurate as the females and youngsters seem to be quite active when the lighting is on with only the adult males wanting to stay hidden. i love these fish along with clown loaches.
Dear Ivor
I have a breeding pair of bristlenose plecos. About a week ago they had a bat of 50 eggs which all hatched into free swimmers. This morning I awoke to 45/50 fry dead on the bottom of the tank and am a bit confused as they were all very active last night before I went to bed. Do you have any ideas as to what I may be doing wrong as this also happened with the last batch aswell.
I have baby bristle nose about 3wks old and my tank is very cloudy. I went to clean it and found more eggs. How can I get rid of this cloudiness and will the eggs die from a water change
If the water is effectively that stagnant (dirty) and you don't clean it, don't you run the risk of losing the fish - and also the eggs. I'd rather error on the side of safety and clean the tank.
Hi guys. I have a long fin bristle nose who is doing well but i have noticed that his fins are not as big and as nice as they were when I got him. He's in a 90l comunity tank and has always been left alone never nibbled or chased by anything. I can use help me with my problem...???
I included the article on Fish Disease and Treatment. It might be Fin & Tail rot which is a bacteial infection. He could have had it when you brought him home. He could have hurt himself somehow in the tank and it caused a bacterial infection. Another fish could have nipped him. It happens. Anyway, look at the article and find the symptoms and check out that disease and just look at symptoms in general. The recomended treatment is there.
Thanks for your help cheryl. I will look into it.
I am new too the whole fish thing. I have had 2 comet goldfish and 1 common goldfish for about a year. About a week ago I got a Bristle nose Catfish, and now one of my comets is bleeding and its tail is torn, and the Bristle nose is a little tattered too. My other goldfish appear to be fine. Do you think that the water quality is just bad, or that possibly those two were fighting? While I wait for a response, I am going to clean my tank and add some salt. By the way, thanks for the advice, I didn't know you needed wood or to add food for Bristle noses.
It sounds like the two of them were most likely fighting. Bad water quality most likely would not cause bleeding and torn fins. Are there any rocks or ornaments that have sharp edges? Those could also cause injury if the fish swam too close. If you observe either of the fish picking at each other in the future, consider adding plants or ornaments that would provide a place for the fish to hide in.
Catfish (bristle nose included) don't do well with salt.
I would vote against that.
omg don't add salt plecos are freshwater fish....................
You need to have a special kind of salt for freshwater fish too. -_-
Hi I was wondering what can you feed an ancistrus to eat and where can you get the food?
You can buy algae wafers from a pet store/aquarium.
Hi I was thinking about getting a bristlenose, but I have a few questions:
1. How much do they cost?
2. How much does bogwood cost?
Usually, small bristlenose will cost anywhere between $6-$20 (AUD) medium to large will cost between $20-$40 (AUD)
While bogwood costs $5-$40 (AUD) (Depends on how big it is).
I hoped I helped :)
This cat is hairy. This attachment to the nose is the most exiting thing. Almost all my favorite fish comes from this book:
TOPHERO SON OF SMILODON by Wayne Ni.
I have two in a 25 gal tank amongst bronze corys and bala's , and I often feed tubifex and as soon as it touches the water the plecos pick up the scent and eat it, have I got the only 2 meat eating bristlenoses? Or are they gaining a protein source as my local pet shop is under a refurb and bogwood is out of the picture at the moment.