Before And After

[kribensis12]

Okay, I have 7 Albino Bristlenose Pleco's in a 20g flat hexagon. They are in there for pairing off. Well, they recently matured and there are about 5 males, and 2 females . I have a 30g tank that I keep Yellow Lab's in, and the tank is absolutely covered with algae. It's disgusting, it really is. So, I am going to pop in one of the female tonight and leave her in there for about a week or so to take care of the algae. My hope is that all the food (there is ALOT of algae) will get her into breeding condition. I am going to take a picture of the tank tonight and post it tomorrow, and then when I take the pleco back out, a picture of the tank after wards, to see how good pleco's are at cleaning. This fish will think it's gone to heaven. AND, it's brown algae, which I've been told Pleco's like better.

 

[JenCliBee]

A 20g isn't big enough for 7 BN's, your wasting your time waiting for them to pair off, they don't do that. The male female ratio is better at 1 male to 2-3 females, having more males will definitely lead to aggression and in that size tank probably some serious damage in the end, the males will spawn with which ever female that he manages to trap in a cave, ive had a male bristlenose trap 3 different females on 3 different days in the save cave giving 3 different batches of eggs in one go.

Moving the plec from tank to tank is just going to stress the fish, specially if the conditions are different within each tank, hasn't the lab tank got a much higher PH?.

I would probably move whichever males over into another tank and just keep a single male and the 2 females permanently in the 20g and either keep the rest of the males removed or rehome.

Your asking for trouble keeping 7 plec in a 20g and not to mention 5 males.

 

[kribensis12]

It's big enough at the moment. They have just reached maturity (as in they are about 2 inches in length). They have a 30g filter running the tank. I do weekly water changes (that includes a gravel vacum as well). I have been closely monitoring the nitrate levels in the tank (there is no need to check for ammonia and nitrIte considering the tank is cycled). I am aware that having that many males can be a problem. I am intending to switch them out for females once I find someone who has them. The tank pH is the same in all 3 of my tanks. It's at about 8.4, and I can't reduce it. I've tried EVERYTHING. When I say pair off, I meant start breeding. So I knew that they were compatible. I've bred bristlenoses before, and the last female was extremely picky and only bred one time with the male (I sold all of the fry). The female has already cleared 3/4th's the tank and is still going at it. She hasn't shown a sign of stress. I also used some stress coat when I added her.

 

[kribensis12]

Here are some pic's of the algae issue:

I'll have new pic's of the cleaned tank up when I do their water change next monday,

 

[JenCliBee]

Ahh rite i sort of see where your coming from.

I still think monitoring the tank levels ..ammonia and nitrite would be a good idea, in theory your still very overstocked and even with a 30g filter on a 20g tank it wouldn't be sufficient to overstock that much.

As you know the older they get, the more waste produced. As they do get older and produce more waste it really doesn't matter weather the tank/filter is cycled or not, the filter still may not be able to handle the bio load of all them plecs.

Sorry about the PH levels, i just presumed been labs needing much higher ph (i think) than plecs usually do i thought the ph would have been high due to having say..ocean rock etc in the tank but if the levels are the same within all the tanks as long as the plec isn't been moved around constantly he/she should be fine.

Glad to see the plecs doing what you require in the lab tank, they are superb algae cleaner while there growing up

 

[kribensis12]

I do occasionally check ammonia and nitrItes, but I view nitrAte as being the most probable cause for issues. So, I check it more often. I do not intend to keep all these bristlenose. I would like to narrow it down to 1m/2f eventually. As for capacity for bio-load, I have a AquaClear filter, which has an extremely large sponge in it. Also, there are "Bio-Balls" that house extra space for the bacteria.

 

[kribensis12]

I just did a water change today. The tank is sparkling clean. I will take a picture tomorrow. The tank needs to settle down. I moved the female and a female and male from the 20g into a 30g in hopes of them breeding. I did re-arrange the lab tank when I took out the pleco, as the female refused to be caught!

 

[kribensis12]

Here are some pic's!

I personally think it looks a ton better!

 

[snowflake311]

A hungry bn is a great little cleaner. But a well fed one gets lazy. You have to find that balance of not feeding too much. I was feeding mine everyday. She stopped eatting any algea. But I cut back the waffers and she cleans.

 

[kribensis12]

I have found that mine are not that keen on wafers, even if there is no algae in the tank.

 

[kiriyama]

Your Plec. sure did a good job, you can really see the difference. I have 2 small ones and they really keep the rocks and glass clean, finally saw one eating a slice of potato I put in, they only rasped there way past it several times and one actually bumped it out of the way to allow to clean the rock.... daft

 

[Haych]

wow amazing!

my plecs are way too lazy. Kev spoils them too much lol. He will give them a wafer each every day