Bristlenose Or Albino Cory

[TarkMalbot]

Well hopefully he is just cleaning them but there are a few holes appearing in the leaves.  Once the tank fully matures I am sure he will have plenty to nibble on.

 

[greenmumma141]

I would be very surprised to hear if you two bns didn't clean the algae off of your leaves. My leaves were covered with diatom slime AND food dust and now there are more and more sparkling clean leaves every day, and i only have one bn.  I have an albino too  I wouldnt worry about them too much, Ive yet to put in any vegetables, as long as you have algae and stuff for them to eat on their own, they'll be fine. And if you do have to throw in some veggies, you can do it on a weekly basis, certainly not every day.

 

[Questions?]

I would be very surprised to hear if you two bns didn't clean the algae off of your leaves.

was that towards be? if so, my bn plecos do eat the algea, but i see them more often on the driftwood, substrate and glass

 

[TarkMalbot]

Mine lives on my leaves every time I look at the tank.  I must admit the leaves are looking clean.

 

[greenmumma141]

I would be very surprised to hear if you two bns didn't clean the algae off of your leaves.

was that towards be? if so, my bn plecos do eat the algea, but i see them more often on the driftwood, substrate and glass

 
nope, it was towards dazbud, he still seems unsure that his bns will get the job done . it's almost better that way though, bc it makes it even more surprising to find a sparkling clean tank one morning.

Mine lives on my leaves every time I look at the tank.  I must admit the leaves are looking clean.

 
mine loves my anubias leaves lol he cleaned his first plant from top to bottom, now it's his fav resting spot.

 

[dazbud]

thanks for all your comments ladies and gents. I am certainly pleased to hear that some of you don't feed vegetables and your BN's are happy.
 
I am loving them already. I feel that I absolutely chose the right fish for my tank now.
 
They took a day or so to feel safe and now both of them are all over the tank. I deliberatly didn't scrub the decor when I transferred it to my new tank about 10 days ago, cos I knew I was planning to get the BN and wanted them to have something to graze on. They have started to clean up one piece of decor in particular and I can see they have scrubbed little patches of it totally clean. I'm really hoping they start on my anubias soon cos they are filthy.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Add a bit of wood for the BNs, also put in some decor that will provide shelter for them... they are primarily nocturnal, especially as they age and will "hide" out in a cave for most of the day.  The wood is necessary for their digestion.  They will rasp the wood and it helps them.
 
 
My BN has never eaten my plants.  I feed him algae wafers in addition to other foods available from the other fish.  He also is a bit territorial about his food - he'll chase fish off his wafers or shrimp pellets (for the cories), but he doesn't harm them, just pushes them off the food.

 

[greenmumma141]

They'll get to the anubias soon, you'll be amazed at the difference lol
 
I can't believe how fast mine has grown, it hasn't even been a month and i think he has almost doubled in size. He also nudges the other fish away from food, but in a very polite "'scuse me 'scuse me" type of way

 

[BigFish01]

I have one bn in my 130gal, when i put him in it was getting pretty overrun with brown and green algae. All the brown is gone, he is working on the green now. Will have to say they are very very impressive cleaners. But like eagles said, wood is very important for them. good luck with your new little ones

 

[TallTree01]

2 weeks ago I had an Outburst of algae after left I left The curtains open all day. I got a bristlenose and it ate all the algae and grew 4 cm in 2 weekS.

 

[dazbud]

Gosh, it seems there are a lot of BN fans on here.
 
My two have only been in the main tank for 4 days. Already they have cleaned all my plants and made them look sparkling new. They are both only about an inch and half long at the moment. I think at this rate they are going to run out of algae and I will have to suppliment their diet. I did actually drop an algae wafer in last night which they showed interest in. However, so did the rest of the fish. There was a complete frenzy over it and I noticed that they received a couple of pecks from the other fish during the scuffle. I was a bit concerned about this as I'd read that fish can go for their eyes and blind them. I thought its probably not a good idea to repeat until they are bigger and can actually carry the wafer away and defend themselves. Anyone got experience of how to best feed algae wafers when other fish are present?
 
My new tank is actually positioned next to a window. Not ideal, but there was no other place in the room I could fit it. Blinds are tilted in such a way that direct sunlight does not fall straight onto it though. However, I'm thinking I might leave them a little more open just to encourage some algae growth for the BNs.
 
I've notced the larger of the two has a small cut in his tail. looks like someone has taken a little bite off it. Possibly this happened in the Pet shop as they were in a very ovecrowed tank with all kinds of other fish.  noticedt before last nights algae wafer incident. Will this grow back given their age? The missing bit is about 2mm square.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

More than likely it will grow back, but it may not have been there in the first place.  I have a small bit of my ear missing - looks like a small bite was taken out of it, but it was never there!  I've never missed it.  The pleco could be the same.
 
 
Feed the algae wafers at lights out...  the plecos are still active at night, while most of the fish are much less so.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Plecos need some sort of wood as well. 

 

[dazbud]

Yep, got two large pieces of wood, Redmoor root. Its was soaking for two weeks prior to adding to tank

 

[This Old Spouse]