I got a Bristlenose just because I love them and knew from the get go that I needed to care for it as any other fish. The bonus is that he has, in fact, been a magician for my glass, even with me feeding him lots too. Love that fish so much.
@@IanTheTurtleMan I adopted a convict cichlid and a bristenose last night, after putting them in the tank that I filled with a lot of big rocks with tons of hiding places, I was like…well…never gonna see that pleco again. He poked his head out of his cave the first time I went over to say hi after letting them settle in, I was so happy!
Thanks for this. I was wondering what this little pleco was maturing into. Caught him hand to tank out for tank cleaning and I was surprised to be poked and prodded by retractable horns popping in/out of the side of his head. Alien and Davey jones like indeed! Made me all the more fonder of him !
Balance is key. For relatively lightly stocked tanks adding a little this or that does have the possibility of solving "all your problems". Experience helps. And Bristlenose are pretty cool fish anyway. One of the highlights of the Bristlenose is that relative to other Plecos the clean to waste ratio is pretty good. Plants are a big part of the "balance" and some form of maintenance is generally going to be involved no matter what, even if it is plant maintenance. Don't be afraid, just don't rush it.
I have two adopted Bristlenose plecos. Got my girl, Mammon (seven inches), two weeks ago and my boy, Abaddon (four inches), two days ago. I love them so much!
Recently got a bristlenose about 3 inches long and he is so funny to watch. He comes out around 10 minutes before the lights turn off for the night. The only annoying thing is sometimes in the morning a plant is floating because he bumped one and the plants are pretty new, mostly small patches of hairgrass.
Just bought one a week ago.Took all the brown algae from my glass and gravels within two days!!!Now my tank looks PRISTINE! By the way, great and informative video,Blake.
I got one recommended to me for this. I now just love him. I named him Kit. He's my little kit kat fish. He's in there with my captain America coloured betta called Steve and currently 6 harlequin rasboras. It's a 65 litre planted tank.
@@dawnhepburn4218I just got two today, The male is named Cthuhlu & the female is Medusa. They clean the tank really good they even get in the corners at the bottom lol it’s awesome to watch.
Thanks for the video Blake. This is my experience with Bristlenose plecos. I got two for a planted tank. Totally agree with every point made in the video. I like them, but after they established in the tank, I never saw them. They are hardy and fun to watch when you can see them. But really, after 6 months, I never saw them. I like fish that I can see.
I’ve raised enough of these guys to do a couple of giveaways through Colorado Free Fish and Rehoming, where we either give them away or trade for other fish or shrimp or snails, etc. I love these guys! Thanks for the tidbits I hadn’t known. Have a great one (although I see I’m a bit late to the party. 😊
I love bristledozer plecos, they will vacuum the carpet and shine the windows (granted they shit on the floor when they are done). They are little bulldozers! One of mine is having alot of fun digging, tunnelling and rearranging my newly setup tank and I love watching that, it is having alot of fun 😂 The tunnels have just become big enough for my SAEs to swim through so they love it aswell!
i have an albino bristlenose that i inherited with my first tank 7 years ago. he's over 8 years old now, has been upgraded from his original 30g to a 40g, then 60g, and now finally to a 125G, and is doing fantastic, this year i decided to get him some buddies and picked up 2 standard bristlenose from my local LFS. Mr Janitor is only about 7 inches, im curious to see if the non-albinos will end up bigger! they are fantastic and have so much personality.
Got one a week ago no idea the gender but we are calling it a he . Hes so playful and friemdly took a day for him to acclimate to the tankmates and now hes out all the time cruising and cleaning . Super cool looking fish
Doing research on fish I potentially want in a 20g tall planted tank. This video was very helpful, and it told me two things: A) the Gender Dimorphism in Bristlenose is quite unique! B) I need a male for my tank so I can name it Lorax and it will speak from my weeds. XD In truth, I was looking at Bristlenose because my Spouse loves Plecos, but I know most pleco species get *way* too big for a 20 Gallon tank, but I also know our downstairs housemate has a Bristlenose in his tank and the introduction to 'Senor Bubbler' (who may actually be a Senorita, now that I've seen this video!) was honestly a window into how delightful these fish are!
Hi I've got a 105l tank with gold fish and 2 Zebra Nerite Snail. would some shrimp and 2 of these be ok in a tank, or 1? What would you recommend I'm a newb and doing my research
Great video Blake! I’m currently cycling a 20G long and want to have one of these little guys with some harlequin rasboras and a Bolivian ram. I really like Amazon swords and I’m sad to hear that he would eat them. Is it possible to still have a heavily planted tank with plecos?
@@BlakesAquatics What do you think that will be a good selection of plants that will survive bn pleco? I'm planning to set a planted tank soon, and I already have one bn pleco. 😁
Three sides of my 225 gal Tanganyikan Juvenile Tank was covered in algae. I dropped in six 2" Super Reds and all the algae was gone in three days including algae on filter intakes, algae on the anubias leaves, heater, air hose tubing, everything. Your right they will add to nitrates and my pothos loves it.
Do they eat the soft, new shoots? I have pink crypto that's doing wonderful. The otocinclus are keeping the plants pristine, but the rest of the tank has algae.
My golden bristlenose Gimli is a goofy little thing, he's not thrilled about the lights (he's in my plant growing tank) but he's been getting better about not hiding when I come by
when i was a kid, i had my own 30 gallon tank that i pretty much had control over. i had to do the cleaning and care, feeding, and pay for my own fish. well, one day my grandmother bought a pleco for in it, and i really didnt want it because i knew they got big, and she didnt care. that fish ended up being over 2.5ft of attitude that i could not get rid of. that pleco ended up devastating my tank despite me overfeeding her, ate almost the entire siamese algae eater (that my grandmother had also got without asking), my most beloved betta that i had nursed back to health, my entire breeding population of platy fish, and my dwarf frogs. pretty sure there were other casualties but i cant really remember. it kind of scares me now when people say plecos are friendly, because even when that pleco was put in a huge 3000gl pond it continued to attack their koi and other fish. it wasnt even that it was a mass die off in my tank, i watched that fish go from eating the other algae eater to thrashing at and catching a platy against the glass (which it did to multiple of my fish while i was scooping out as many of my breeders as i could). it was certainly something to wake up to anyway. i know theyre really prone to kicking up substrate, but ive kind of been considering a bristlenose for my 25g long. im more scared to see my pretty aquascape tore up than i am for my fish now lol but theyve been growing on me again, i do like how weird they are and its helpful to just drop veggie scraps in my tank and let them or my snails deal with them
My Bristlenose is about two inches long and has no bristles. So a female? or do they need to be bigger and older for the bristles to develop? Just wondering.
My BN Pleco is very territorial and violent during feeding time. It will chase one of my Bolivian Rams all the way around the tank. Got a 30gal tank with 3 Bolivian Rams, 11 HQ Rasboras and one Clown Loach.
Was gifted a 60+ gallon tank with two bristle nose plecos.. six months later, I had about 40 of the little buggers everywhere! Have sent twenty to thirty at a time to the local pet store for their adoption tanks a couple times! They just won’t stop breeding!
Just got a small common bristlnose today..new to the hobby. I have red eye tetras and panda corys all under 1 inch right now. I noticed a film on my glass and a couple of brown spots on the glass. Did some research and decided to get 1 today. My question is dont have or want live plants right now...just trying to focus on the fish. I do have 2 small pieces if driftwood. What can i feed it once the algae is gone? I do have hikari algae wafers, regular flake, freeze dried blood worms, shrimp pellets, slowing sinking granuales, and bug bites for bottom feeders. I mainly do flake but like to do a variety. Will this be enough for the bristlenose? Oh i will try blanched zuchini but i havent yet. My tank is a 15g fluval flex and the pet store said it would be fine for my size tank. Any suggestions on the food?
I've got what was sold to me as bristle nose, had them for years and they have bread a few times. None of them have bristles so I'm assuming they are rubber lips plecos.
Honestly I wouldn’t recommend ANYTHING for a convict tank they get very aggressive and will attack anything even you when breeding and they will breed if there is a male and female I once had two breeding pairs in a large tank and the middle of the tank was a no cross line as both sides would defend the territory to the death is nessasary although neither side would cross so it was fine to keep them together. But if tank is too small one pair will decide 100% of the tank is theirs
Im new and wanted to ask that same question but was too embarrased to ask. I went with a synthetic sand which is good, but i should have gotten a heavier sand because it gets sucked up when vaccuming even if you dont touch the sand and it wont drop back down because its too light...so ive lost a lot of sand
I have a bunch breeding at the moment. Absolutely the dumbest I've ever owned. There's a breeding log but the big male decided his "cave" would be an indent in one of the large pieces of driftwood and now he's had three ladies come up, force their way in and lay eggs. It's out in the open and some eggs ended up on the gravel. I don't know how typical this. prior to this prolific breeding season (this is the second brood in about a month) I was planning to sell them and buy some nice L plecos that don't grow so big. Hopefully i can offload them somewhere capable of homing them, but art this point i don't even know how many there are because its a 128L 10yr old tank with alot of hiding spaces. 100% gonna tumble this batch so i don't loose them in the driftwood and plants.
I have BN. Its about 2 inches right now. Ive recently within the last week noticed him following directly behind my panda corys a LOT...i guess like birds follow a lawn mower thats kicking up insects. Has anyone seen this or is it normal?
@@BlakesAquatics not really done much just gave it plenty of space good food and good tank conditions. It loves to hide in the bogwood and has a favourite piece. 😀
Be me. Have a community tank with some guppies, cardinel tetra, and platys. "You should get a centerpiece fish. Maybe a beta or honey gourami." *Get to store, see a pleco. Know common Plecos get WAY to big for my tank. See name. Bristlenose Pleco. Look it up. Becomes my centerpiece fish, just because it's weird*
I got a question! So I'm making my own bioactive tank for my pet boa, and I want to do a flowing river feature... I'm also kinda tired of having to scrub poop scum outta his water dish every other week. Is a pleco a good candidate for the poop tank? To be clear I'm not trying to replace a filter with a pleco. Here's the project: I want a ~100-200L flowing water feature in my 5'×2' snake tank. I want the current to be strong enough to flush his waste down into an aquarium below, which will be dubbed to poop tank. The poop tank will be a 450L tank with a ridiculous amount planets growing in it to hopefully mitigate the nitrates (there will be a LOT of nitrates). The water next will go through filters/heaters/pumps and send it back top side. I'm hoping I can find a fish that will thrive in this environment, and yes any poop fish I get will supplemented with real food. I'm not a complete monster 😂 any suggestions?
I think a couple of bristlenose and a colony of cherry shrimp will be great to further break down the poop and if they grow and breed you can even sell them to shops to make some money for frozen rodents and what not
@@BlakesAquatics Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! And even better with approval for my plan! I do plan on making a video on this project. Been a dream of mine to start a business making custom vivariums... but baby steps! Anyways I'm still in the planning/material gathering phase so we're a few months out from having the tank, let alone populating it... is it cool if I reach out from time to time and ask a few of my million questions?
Be aware that your commitment is a lot longer than 5 years. My boy is 19 years old and around 8". I got 4 of them in 2004. In 2016 I downsized my tank and sold the other 3, who were all still thiving at 12 years old
How badly/quickly will a single Bristlenose do a number on your sword plants? I have a heavily planted 10 gallon tank with 2 mature swords. One Amazon/one ozelot sword. I would like to get one bristlenose, but I also love my sword plants! I have lots of wood in the tank and I do a 30-50% water change once a week. In the tank currently: 4 rummynose tetras 1 lone neon tetra 1 panda Cory catfish 1 sparkling gourami (always hiding) I feed flakes, and a shrimp wafer for the corycat, would add in veggie wafers for the bristlenose. Let me know your thoughts! 🥰
I would get a bigger tank to add in the pleco. I have mine in a 20 gallon tank with a betta, 2 mollies, a gourami, a chiclid an African dwarf frog and 3 snails and they’re all very happy 😊
Blake do you recommend a ich medicine easily accessible in Aust? Most of the reputable guys keep raving on about Ich-x but I find it only comes from the U.S (ebay) with slow delivery and crazy delivery fees. Ideally need something that's safe for plants also.. TIA for any info
Kinda sounds like gatekeeping to say that wanting a bristlenose to lower your maintenance should reconsider the hobby. A bristlenose absolutely can lower your maintenance need. (WITH THE CORRECT STYLE OF TANK) I have a darkwater tank with Crayfish, a pleco, dannios, and mollies. The pleco keeps the the algae cleaned up and converts the waste into a form readily consumed by plants and bacteria. I just need to refill the tank as it evaporates about once a month and my levels stay great. Without a bristlenose, Id need to do something different to remove stubborn algae. Otherwise my tank is environmentally stable.
Gatekeeping 🤣 i have made 500+ videos promoting the hobby to beginners. If you know anything about me at all it is that I want the hobby to be enjoyable for all. There are niche circumstances for everything but you have to realise I have to put things into a context meant for most people.
I just purchased a 3" bristolnose pleco for my 75 gallon he/she shares with silver dollars. It looks like he's munching on my driftwood and I have been giving him veggie wafers but the silver dollars chomp them up so I have to figure out how to feed him better
BNs require wood in their diet, so it munching on driftwood is natural and isn't a problem with their diet. You can try breaking up algae wafers into pieces and spreading them along the aquarium floor as well.
Just saying I have 3 of them in a 80 gallon tank and if you feed them enough pellets instead of just feeding them the algae there will be less stringy poop across your tank
So my bristle nose ate my angle fish I wasn't sure that was possible and am still confused As my bristle nose did eat one fish prior that I saw, that fish the bristle ate was kind of bullying all the other fish so I thought that was why and left it at that But I'm wondering why my bristle is eating my fish I am thinking of separating him
Unrelated to plecos. Reminded me of finding out that comet fish do not get along when they get bigger. Started finding dead or injured comet fish and blamed the cichlid.
We just discovered that our bristlenose mated under a decorative cave in our goldfish tank. Was not planned or expected. Now we have a heap of fry we weren't prepared for. Oops.
If you want little/no water changes, y'all need to look up Father Fish on RUclips. I've been running his method for 6 years now and it's legit. Low algae, great plant growth, and better fish health than any of the other methods by FAR. I run a 6 inch sand bed with lots of plants and Malaysian trumpet snails(MTS). MTS are the best invert for your tanks, let me sell them to you real quick. These guys explode in population like any other snail, but, here's the kicker, they bury themselves in the sand during the day. I only ever see less than 10 during the day but at night I go in with a flashlight and there's at least a hundred of the little doods in there. When they bury themselves in the sand, they take a good amount of detritus with them and the top layers of sand are aerobic in which the bacteria concerts the detritus and ammonia into nitrite and nitrate. The plants use the nitrite and then the lower inches of soil are anaerobic and convert all the remaining nitrate into nitrogen gas that seeps its way back up through the soil and then bubbles up to the surface. It's a complete nitrogen cycle that allows for a more complete ecosystem with microfauna like worms thriving in the soil. Search Father Fish on RUclips. He's the wise old wizard of the hobby. Fishtory! is doing this very well too, often in collaboration with Father Fish
I have a female Albino Bristle-Nose along with a regular Pleco (10 inches) in a 150 tank and they're pretty lazy neither of them is doing their job the front glass remains almost opaque with green algae despite me having to scrub it twice a week.
Mine does that too sometimes, and it's probably fine. If however he is ALWAYS hiding behind something and almost never moves about in the tank, there could be aggression that you are not aware of. I had this happen with 3 small Bristlenose last summer. I had a lone male Demasoni who was living in a 10 Gallon as he had been harassing the females too much. Not a mean fish, just a normal male cichlid, but I wanted a break from the agro. Anyway one of the 3 died, I didn't worry too much. Then we noticed a 2nd one dead and realized that the 3rd one, while still alive was missing pieces from his fins! Bottom line - the cichlid had obviously been bullying them, but I had just figured that constant hiding behind heater etc was normal, so lost 2 and had my daughter not noticed the issue (my eyesight is poor), I could have lost them all! The survivor now lives in a safe and happy tank with another BN, a couple of clown plecos, 7 albino corys, and 8 Rio Tetras. He moves about all the time, and feels safe. So just keep an eye on the behind the heater thing, as while it may be no problem, if it's constant something is wrong.
@@janetwebster5099 Yeah I've had him for a while and the only agression he shows ins when the fish eat his food and he just moves quickly and scares them off so he can eat
Our pleco has a white spot on the e think it ich unfortunately one of 2 cory catfish died We have 12 neon tetra 8 glofish tetra 2 black skirt tetra 2 shrimp 1 snail 1 pleco and 1 catfish inside of a 90 gallon tank We have no idea what happen to other one all we know it died and had a missing tail
Ironically enough I want plecos to give me more waste. My plants are draining nutrients way too fast and start dying if I do not add liquid fertilizer. I hope the plecos will eat some algae and feed enough fish food to turn it into plant nutrients 🙏🏽
I've had one for a couple years it turned out to be a female it has no bristles.It chases anything on the bottom tank and uproots plants I personally wouldn't get another one.
I got a Bristlenose just because I love them and knew from the get go that I needed to care for it as any other fish. The bonus is that he has, in fact, been a magician for my glass, even with me feeding him lots too. Love that fish so much.
Princess Pleco said it best, "Never expect a super model to do the house cleaning."
🤣🤣
I’ve had my large 5 inch male bristle nose pleco for 6 years now, amazing fish never see him much but when I do it’s a treat!
@@IanTheTurtleMan I adopted a convict cichlid and a bristenose last night, after putting them in the tank that I filled with a lot of big rocks with tons of hiding places, I was like…well…never gonna see that pleco again. He poked his head out of his cave the first time I went over to say hi after letting them settle in, I was so happy!
Thanks for this. I was wondering what this little pleco was maturing into. Caught him hand to tank out for tank cleaning and I was surprised to be poked and prodded by retractable horns popping in/out of the side of his head. Alien and Davey jones like indeed! Made me all the more fonder of him !
Glad I could help!
Balance is key. For relatively lightly stocked tanks adding a little this or that does have the possibility of solving "all your problems". Experience helps. And Bristlenose are pretty cool fish anyway. One of the highlights of the Bristlenose is that relative to other Plecos the clean to waste ratio is pretty good. Plants are a big part of the "balance" and some form of maintenance is generally going to be involved no matter what, even if it is plant maintenance. Don't be afraid, just don't rush it.
I just got a bristlenose for my tank. He/she is SUPER tiny but adorable. Can't wait for it to grow larger
Doesn't take long I got mine when it was really small and it grew a couple inches with in months 👍
I have two adopted Bristlenose plecos. Got my girl, Mammon (seven inches), two weeks ago and my boy, Abaddon (four inches), two days ago. I love them so much!
How are they doing?
Recently got a bristlenose about 3 inches long and he is so funny to watch. He comes out around 10 minutes before the lights turn off for the night. The only annoying thing is sometimes in the morning a plant is floating because he bumped one and the plants are pretty new, mostly small patches of hairgrass.
Dudee facts- my pleco thrashes through my plants like godzilla. My betta digs it tho cause she'll sleep in the floating cluster if it gets big enough
Just bought one a week ago.Took all the brown algae from my glass and gravels within two days!!!Now my tank looks PRISTINE! By the way, great and informative video,Blake.
They are awesome at removing brown diatoms that form in new tanks
I got one recommended to me for this. I now just love him. I named him Kit. He's my little kit kat fish. He's in there with my captain America coloured betta called Steve and currently 6 harlequin rasboras. It's a 65 litre planted tank.
@@dawnhepburn4218I just got two today, The male is named Cthuhlu & the female is Medusa. They clean the tank really good they even get in the corners at the bottom lol it’s awesome to watch.
The great thing is they'll turn those diatoms into nutrients that the plants can use!
Thanks for the video Blake. This is my experience with Bristlenose plecos. I got two for a planted tank. Totally agree with every point made in the video. I like them, but after they established in the tank, I never saw them. They are hardy and fun to watch when you can see them. But really, after 6 months, I never saw them. I like fish that I can see.
Totally agree!
I’ve raised enough of these guys to do a couple of giveaways through Colorado Free Fish and Rehoming, where we either give them away or trade for other fish or shrimp or snails, etc. I love these guys! Thanks for the tidbits I hadn’t known. Have a great one (although I see I’m a bit late to the party. 😊
@@wendymcdowell2341 Can you please take my pleco off my hands? 😭
I love bristledozer plecos, they will vacuum the carpet and shine the windows (granted they shit on the floor when they are done).
They are little bulldozers! One of mine is having alot of fun digging, tunnelling and rearranging my newly setup tank and I love watching that, it is having alot of fun 😂 The tunnels have just become big enough for my SAEs to swim through so they love it aswell!
Thanks! Spot on with my experience over the past 5 years with them.
Good to know that they're sensitive to medication. Thanks Blake
i have an albino bristlenose that i inherited with my first tank 7 years ago. he's over 8 years old now, has been upgraded from his original 30g to a 40g, then 60g, and now finally to a 125G, and is doing fantastic, this year i decided to get him some buddies and picked up 2 standard bristlenose from my local LFS. Mr Janitor is only about 7 inches, im curious to see if the non-albinos will end up bigger! they are fantastic and have so much personality.
lol, totally spot on with your descriptions. Ps want the pleco vacuum 😳😳
Brilliant video!
Bristlenose are the most abuse fish ! Same with mystery snails.
They all need care and feeding!
Got one a week ago no idea the gender but we are calling it a he . Hes so playful and friemdly took a day for him to acclimate to the tankmates and now hes out all the time cruising and cleaning . Super cool looking fish
Doing research on fish I potentially want in a 20g tall planted tank. This video was very helpful, and it told me two things:
A) the Gender Dimorphism in Bristlenose is quite unique!
B) I need a male for my tank so I can name it Lorax and it will speak from my weeds. XD
In truth, I was looking at Bristlenose because my Spouse loves Plecos, but I know most pleco species get *way* too big for a 20 Gallon tank, but I also know our downstairs housemate has a Bristlenose in his tank and the introduction to 'Senor Bubbler' (who may actually be a Senorita, now that I've seen this video!) was honestly a window into how delightful these fish are!
🤣🤣
Hi I've got a 105l tank with gold fish and 2 Zebra Nerite Snail. would some shrimp and 2 of these be ok in a tank, or 1? What would you recommend I'm a newb and doing my research
Great video Blake! I’m currently cycling a 20G long and want to have one of these little guys with some harlequin rasboras and a Bolivian ram. I really like Amazon swords and I’m sad to hear that he would eat them. Is it possible to still have a heavily planted tank with plecos?
It is just have to make the right selections. Need healthy, strong stalked plants and plenty of food for the plecos so they arent tempted
@@BlakesAquatics What do you think that will be a good selection of plants that will survive bn pleco? I'm planning to set a planted tank soon, and I already have one bn pleco. 😁
Thanks for sharing.Great info.Have a great day/night.
Three sides of my 225 gal Tanganyikan Juvenile Tank was covered in algae. I dropped in six 2" Super Reds and all the algae was gone in three days including algae on filter intakes, algae on the anubias leaves, heater, air hose tubing, everything. Your right they will add to nitrates and my pothos loves it.
Do they eat the soft, new shoots? I have pink crypto that's doing wonderful. The otocinclus are keeping the plants pristine, but the rest of the tank has algae.
My golden bristlenose Gimli is a goofy little thing, he's not thrilled about the lights (he's in my plant growing tank) but he's been getting better about not hiding when I come by
The edits made me sub.
Thanks for the video brother, I Love the shirt ❤️🤩🙏🏽✌🏽
No problem 👍
my bristlenose plecos are one of my fav catfish. i saved two fry from my 72 gallon larger fish community tank and put them in my 7 gallon shrimp tank
when i was a kid, i had my own 30 gallon tank that i pretty much had control over. i had to do the cleaning and care, feeding, and pay for my own fish. well, one day my grandmother bought a pleco for in it, and i really didnt want it because i knew they got big, and she didnt care. that fish ended up being over 2.5ft of attitude that i could not get rid of. that pleco ended up devastating my tank despite me overfeeding her, ate almost the entire siamese algae eater (that my grandmother had also got without asking), my most beloved betta that i had nursed back to health, my entire breeding population of platy fish, and my dwarf frogs. pretty sure there were other casualties but i cant really remember. it kind of scares me now when people say plecos are friendly, because even when that pleco was put in a huge 3000gl pond it continued to attack their koi and other fish. it wasnt even that it was a mass die off in my tank, i watched that fish go from eating the other algae eater to thrashing at and catching a platy against the glass (which it did to multiple of my fish while i was scooping out as many of my breeders as i could). it was certainly something to wake up to anyway.
i know theyre really prone to kicking up substrate, but ive kind of been considering a bristlenose for my 25g long. im more scared to see my pretty aquascape tore up than i am for my fish now lol but theyve been growing on me again, i do like how weird they are and its helpful to just drop veggie scraps in my tank and let them or my snails deal with them
Bristlenose are definitely more friendly than regular plecos, and they don't bother my aquascape, I'd say get one if you're interested
Where did You get Your T-shirt from? Love The Rainbow Fish design 🐟
Its one of my own 😄 there should be a merch shop banner under the video or in the description
My Bristlenose is about two inches long and has no bristles. So a female? or do they need to be bigger and older for the bristles to develop? Just wondering.
My BN Pleco is very territorial and violent during feeding time. It will chase one of my Bolivian Rams all the way around the tank. Got a 30gal tank with 3 Bolivian Rams, 11 HQ Rasboras and one Clown Loach.
I just found a baby pleco in my tank. I only have one large one in there. How?!
Was gifted a 60+ gallon tank with two bristle nose plecos.. six months later, I had about 40 of the little buggers everywhere! Have sent twenty to thirty at a time to the local pet store for their adoption tanks a couple times! They just won’t stop breeding!
Oh jesus I am literally looking to buy a few !!
To eat all your free shrimp food?!?
Great advice Blake 👍
I love common bristlenose plecos and the long-fin. I have both and they breed like rabbits!! LOL The fry are adorable.
Just got a small common bristlnose today..new to the hobby. I have red eye tetras and panda corys all under 1 inch right now. I noticed a film on my glass and a couple of brown spots on the glass. Did some research and decided to get 1 today. My question is dont have or want live plants right now...just trying to focus on the fish. I do have 2 small pieces if driftwood. What can i feed it once the algae is gone? I do have hikari algae wafers, regular flake, freeze dried blood worms, shrimp pellets, slowing sinking granuales, and bug bites for bottom feeders. I mainly do flake but like to do a variety. Will this be enough for the bristlenose? Oh i will try blanched zuchini but i havent yet. My tank is a 15g fluval flex and the pet store said it would be fine for my size tank. Any suggestions on the food?
Yep algae wafers are fine, a piece of washed zucchini or cucumber will make a good treat also.
I've got what was sold to me as bristle nose, had them for years and they have bread a few times. None of them have bristles so I'm assuming they are rubber lips plecos.
1 out of my 11 aquariums doesn't have a BN pleco....its the only one with alage issues.
Thank you for this!
What is the best thing to clean the glass inside the tank and outside the tank
Razor blade inside rubber squeegee outside
I got an albino one in my guppy tank that has thick algae and it practically scrapes everything clean
Hi Blake. Do you recommend bristlenose plecos for a convict cichlids tank? My convicts are relatively small right now.
Yeah works fine 👍
Honestly I wouldn’t recommend ANYTHING for a convict tank they get very aggressive and will attack anything even you when breeding and they will breed if there is a male and female I once had two breeding pairs in a large tank and the middle of the tank was a no cross line as both sides would defend the territory to the death is nessasary although neither side would cross so it was fine to keep them together. But if tank is too small one pair will decide 100% of the tank is theirs
Off-topic but I need to know... When choosing sand for your tank is fine or course better? Thanks.
Coarse is best. Fine gets too gunked up and compacted
@@BlakesAquatics Thanks mate you just helped me heaps.
Im new and wanted to ask that same question but was too embarrased to ask. I went with a synthetic sand which is good, but i should have gotten a heavier sand because it gets sucked up when vaccuming even if you dont touch the sand and it wont drop back down because its too light...so ive lost a lot of sand
@@fishkeepingfreak Better for me to ask and feel a little embarrassed than my fish to suffer... 🙂
I have a bunch breeding at the moment.
Absolutely the dumbest I've ever owned. There's a breeding log but the big male decided his "cave" would be an indent in one of the large pieces of driftwood and now he's had three ladies come up, force their way in and lay eggs. It's out in the open and some eggs ended up on the gravel.
I don't know how typical this.
prior to this prolific breeding season (this is the second brood in about a month) I was planning to sell them and buy some nice L plecos that don't grow so big. Hopefully i can offload them somewhere capable of homing them, but art this point i don't even know how many there are because its a 128L 10yr old tank with alot of hiding spaces.
100% gonna tumble this batch so i don't loose them in the driftwood and plants.
🤣🤣
I have BN. Its about 2 inches right now. Ive recently within the last week noticed him following directly behind my panda corys a LOT...i guess like birds follow a lawn mower thats kicking up insects. Has anyone seen this or is it normal?
This all seemed fairly accurate but live up to 5 years mine is about 15 years old and still doing fine 😀
Averages can have outliers. Well done
@@BlakesAquatics not really done much just gave it plenty of space good food and good tank conditions. It loves to hide in the bogwood and has a favourite piece. 😀
Between bristlenose and snails, for cleaning the glass, wich would you choose ?
Bristlenoses hands down
@@BlakesAquatics I put a bristlenose in.
Allready sign of things getting better.
Be me. Have a community tank with some guppies, cardinel tetra, and platys. "You should get a centerpiece fish. Maybe a beta or honey gourami."
*Get to store, see a pleco. Know common Plecos get WAY to big for my tank. See name. Bristlenose Pleco. Look it up. Becomes my centerpiece fish, just because it's weird*
I got a question! So I'm making my own bioactive tank for my pet boa, and I want to do a flowing river feature... I'm also kinda tired of having to scrub poop scum outta his water dish every other week. Is a pleco a good candidate for the poop tank?
To be clear I'm not trying to replace a filter with a pleco. Here's the project: I want a ~100-200L flowing water feature in my 5'×2' snake tank. I want the current to be strong enough to flush his waste down into an aquarium below, which will be dubbed to poop tank.
The poop tank will be a 450L tank with a ridiculous amount planets growing in it to hopefully mitigate the nitrates (there will be a LOT of nitrates). The water next will go through filters/heaters/pumps and send it back top side.
I'm hoping I can find a fish that will thrive in this environment, and yes any poop fish I get will supplemented with real food. I'm not a complete monster 😂 any suggestions?
I think a couple of bristlenose and a colony of cherry shrimp will be great to further break down the poop and if they grow and breed you can even sell them to shops to make some money for frozen rodents and what not
@@BlakesAquatics Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! And even better with approval for my plan! I do plan on making a video on this project. Been a dream of mine to start a business making custom vivariums... but baby steps!
Anyways I'm still in the planning/material gathering phase so we're a few months out from having the tank, let alone populating it... is it cool if I reach out from time to time and ask a few of my million questions?
@@ltsgobrando i dont mind but if you join the discord they are really good in there for solving any questions and frees up my inbox a bit 😄
Be aware that your commitment is a lot longer than 5 years. My boy is 19 years old and around 8". I got 4 of them in 2004. In 2016 I downsized my tank and sold the other 3, who were all still thiving at 12 years old
Thats a huge innings! Well done
Love these fish!! Very easy to breed
my bristle noses love green beans
How badly/quickly will a single Bristlenose do a number on your sword plants?
I have a heavily planted 10 gallon tank with 2 mature swords. One Amazon/one ozelot sword. I would like to get one bristlenose, but I also love my sword plants! I have lots of wood in the tank and I do a 30-50% water change once a week.
In the tank currently:
4 rummynose tetras
1 lone neon tetra
1 panda Cory catfish
1 sparkling gourami (always hiding)
I feed flakes, and a shrimp wafer for the corycat, would add in veggie wafers for the bristlenose.
Let me know your thoughts! 🥰
Please dont do it! Get some otocinclus instead or something 🙏
I would get a bigger tank to add in the pleco. I have mine in a 20 gallon tank with a betta, 2 mollies, a gourami, a chiclid an African dwarf frog and 3 snails and they’re all very happy 😊
i wanted to get a bristlenose because they look cool
Blake do you recommend a ich medicine easily accessible in Aust? Most of the reputable guys keep raving on about Ich-x but I find it only comes from the U.S (ebay) with slow delivery and crazy delivery fees. Ideally need something that's safe for plants also.. TIA for any info
Hi mate Ive always just used blue planet multi cure and found with to be effective
Not very plant safe though, blue planet white spot might be safer in that regard
Thanks mate. You're a legend.
Kinda sounds like gatekeeping to say that wanting a bristlenose to lower your maintenance should reconsider the hobby.
A bristlenose absolutely can lower your maintenance need. (WITH THE CORRECT STYLE OF TANK)
I have a darkwater tank with Crayfish, a pleco, dannios, and mollies. The pleco keeps the the algae cleaned up and converts the waste into a form readily consumed by plants and bacteria.
I just need to refill the tank as it evaporates about once a month and my levels stay great.
Without a bristlenose, Id need to do something different to remove stubborn algae. Otherwise my tank is environmentally stable.
Gatekeeping 🤣 i have made 500+ videos promoting the hobby to beginners.
If you know anything about me at all it is that I want the hobby to be enjoyable for all.
There are niche circumstances for everything but you have to realise I have to put things into a context meant for most people.
Just wondering what is your electrical bill like mate?
200 bucks a month or so mate in winter when the solar isnt helping as much
Are u sure about the kife span of 5 years? I got 2 bristle nose who are 7+ years old now.
Always going to be outliers. Must be well cared for.
Hahah yeah Amazon swords. The buggers destroyed my swords.
I just purchased a 3" bristolnose pleco for my 75 gallon he/she shares with silver dollars. It looks like he's munching on my driftwood and I have been giving him veggie wafers but the silver dollars chomp them up so I have to figure out how to feed him better
BNs require wood in their diet, so it munching on driftwood is natural and isn't a problem with their diet. You can try breaking up algae wafers into pieces and spreading them along the aquarium floor as well.
My BN absolutely LOVES Zucchini, I purchased a “pleco feeder” which you attach the zucchini to and feed him every 2/3 days and it’s worked great!
@@icedemon1515 thanks
@@nnahler thank you
I drop some algae wafers in late at night while the rest of the fish are asleep. The bristlenose will find them.
Just saying I have 3 of them in a 80 gallon tank and if you feed them enough pellets instead of just feeding them the algae there will be less stringy poop across your tank
Which pellets do you recommend?
can I keep it with 1 dkh??
is cactus plecos to big or to slow?
Is 16 gallon possible?
So my bristle nose ate my angle fish I wasn't sure that was possible and am still confused
As my bristle nose did eat one fish prior that I saw, that fish the bristle ate was kind of bullying all the other fish so I thought that was why and left it at that
But I'm wondering why my bristle is eating my fish I am thinking of separating him
If your fish die then bristlenose will eat their body and slime coat. Are you sure it killed the fish or just made use of the remains?
Unrelated to plecos. Reminded me of finding out that comet fish do not get along when they get bigger. Started finding dead or injured comet fish and blamed the cichlid.
How would they interact with anubias and vallisneria?
Both are usually ok
I love your jokes :)
My bristlenose is now twelve years old 🎉
I have bristlenose and I almost never have to clean the glass.
We just discovered that our bristlenose mated under a decorative cave in our goldfish tank. Was not planned or expected. Now we have a heap of fry we weren't prepared for. Oops.
If you want little/no water changes, y'all need to look up Father Fish on RUclips. I've been running his method for 6 years now and it's legit. Low algae, great plant growth, and better fish health than any of the other methods by FAR.
I run a 6 inch sand bed with lots of plants and Malaysian trumpet snails(MTS). MTS are the best invert for your tanks, let me sell them to you real quick. These guys explode in population like any other snail, but, here's the kicker, they bury themselves in the sand during the day. I only ever see less than 10 during the day but at night I go in with a flashlight and there's at least a hundred of the little doods in there. When they bury themselves in the sand, they take a good amount of detritus with them and the top layers of sand are aerobic in which the bacteria concerts the detritus and ammonia into nitrite and nitrate. The plants use the nitrite and then the lower inches of soil are anaerobic and convert all the remaining nitrate into nitrogen gas that seeps its way back up through the soil and then bubbles up to the surface. It's a complete nitrogen cycle that allows for a more complete ecosystem with microfauna like worms thriving in the soil.
Search Father Fish on RUclips. He's the wise old wizard of the hobby. Fishtory! is doing this very well too, often in collaboration with Father Fish
Sorry, I was only half paying attention to the video. Where can I get this magical unicorn fish? 🐠
😄
I got 1 today just at my local pet store...it was like 4 bucks and its about an inch long
I have a female Albino Bristle-Nose along with a regular Pleco (10 inches) in a 150 tank and they're pretty lazy neither of them is doing their job the front glass remains almost opaque with green algae despite me having to scrub it twice a week.
I got my bristlenose yesterday , it's very young so I don't have any ideas on it's gender. He loves hiding by the heater
Got 1 today. My heater is in my back filter chamber so i hope it cant get back there...lol
Mine does that too sometimes, and it's probably fine. If however he is ALWAYS hiding behind something and almost never moves about in the tank, there could be aggression that you are not aware of. I had this happen with 3 small Bristlenose last summer. I had a lone male Demasoni who was living in a 10 Gallon as he had been harassing the females too much. Not a mean fish, just a normal male cichlid, but I wanted a break from the agro. Anyway one of the 3 died, I didn't worry too much. Then we noticed a 2nd one dead and realized that the 3rd one, while still alive was missing pieces from his fins! Bottom line - the cichlid had obviously been bullying them, but I had just figured that constant hiding behind heater etc was normal, so lost 2 and had my daughter not noticed the issue (my eyesight is poor), I could have lost them all! The survivor now lives in a safe and happy tank with another BN, a couple of clown plecos, 7 albino corys, and 8 Rio Tetras. He moves about all the time, and feels safe. So just keep an eye on the behind the heater thing, as while it may be no problem, if it's constant something is wrong.
@@janetwebster5099 Yeah I've had him for a while and the only agression he shows ins when the fish eat his food and he just moves quickly and scares them off so he can eat
Our pleco has a white spot on the e think it ich unfortunately one of 2 cory catfish died
We have 12 neon tetra 8 glofish tetra 2 black skirt tetra 2 shrimp 1 snail 1 pleco and 1 catfish inside of a 90 gallon tank
We have no idea what happen to other one all we know it died and had a missing tail
No idea what speices of pleco we have it cute and getting bigger then the other fish
We have a castle like decoration in the tank it's goes inside it all the time with the cory and snail has 2 ways in and out
Ironically enough I want plecos to give me more waste.
My plants are draining nutrients way too fast and start dying if I do not add liquid fertilizer.
I hope the plecos will eat some algae and feed enough fish food to turn it into plant nutrients 🙏🏽
My bristlenose got huge and now hes bullying my discuss...
I would definitely remove him from the tank.
I started with 2 last year in a 29gal... now I have at least 40 in a 75 gal😭😭
They are cool fish but I think snails are the big algae and old dead leaf eaters
Why not both 🤣
I cannot be summoned by some Mongrel pup #fishiemon64 great video i got green dragons bristlenosepleco
I've had one for a couple years it turned out to be a female it has no bristles.It chases anything on the bottom tank and uproots plants I personally wouldn't get another one.
Just curious, did anyone else name their bristlenose Mr Whiskers?? Seemed like such an obvious name to me lol
🤣
❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊
🤣 The vacuum pleco
🤣 i laughed out loud when making it
They are great for cleaning the glass,but they create alot of waste
True
How to prevent pleco from going too big?
Mine will eat watermelon and kiwi
✋, 🔨⌚🎶
there such characters
I suspect our pleco may be female
Hasn't try measuring with ruler
Lol just bought 2 males
The phrase " cleaner fish" should be banned! 🤣👍