bristlenose bristles

[-cAtFiSh-]

how big or how old do male bristlenoses need to be before they start to grow bristles?

 

[corrosive]

Well, if its 2-3" when they reach maturity, i would guess there bristles would start appearing then and just a bit before...

at the moment i dont know if my bristlenose is a Male or Female... its about 1" and has no visable bristles i dont think...

Is there anyway other than bristles which determins if its male or female?

 

[smithrc]

the body shapes are very similar untill they get to 2"+ when the males nose gest longer and the females get 'wider'

but by the time that haqppens the bristles will be very apparent.

Our male started to get stubble when he was about 1.5"

they were the same size when we got him. now hes got to be nearly 2x the size of her!

 

[yhbae]

I've got 4 of them at 1 inch, and one of them started to grow at much faster rate than the others. I thought this must be the male... wrong!

As it turned out, the fastest growing one was female and the second largest one was the male. He showed the bristle at about 2 inch, although I have to admit it wasn't obvious. My largest female is still larger than my male, but now only barely. Even couple of months ago, that female dwarfed every other bristlenoses in the tank!

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

i am thinking now that my bristlenose might be a female cos he/she is pretty wide and about 2" with no bristles. dammit! i wanted it to be a dude! o well. shes still my favourite fish

 

[samthefishman]

it all depends mate. It could be a female, Altho sometimes it may take time for bristles to grow, some grow sooner then others.
My friends male is breeding and has bristle's like a female lol! but they will grow in time.

expect the unexpected