Bristlenose Plec + Red Tail Black Shark

[Prot0n]

Hi all, we currently have a 125 litre tank with a couple of mollies and a bristlenose “catfish”. It would be fair to say my partner has been slightly too keen and gone and picked up a red tail black shark & a bristlenose PLECO. As I’ve been in the hobby a bit longer than them, I’m a little bit horrified by this and feel like we’re now ridiculously overstocked and need to figure out how bad a situation we’re in. Can someone please tell me how it is and let me know frankly how bad a situation we are in.

All the best..

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Hi all, we currently have a 125 litre tank with a couple of mollies and a bristlenose “catfish”. It would be fair to say my partner has been slightly too keen and gone and picked up a red tail black shark & a bristlenose PLECO. As I’ve been in the hobby a bit longer than them, I’m a little bit horrified by this and feel like we’re now ridiculously overstocked and need to figure out how bad a situation we’re in. Can someone please tell me how it is and let me know frankly how bad a situation we are in.

All the best..

A Bristlenose catfish and pleco are the same thing. Make sure they are male or female or female and female as 2 males will fight. A red tail black shark are pretty aggressive but the stocking isn’t horrendous, depending on how many mollies you have I would say you are probably under stocked. Just be careful with the shark but you could probably get away with it and just monitor its behaviour. I would be tempted to add something else to the tank as well, something that can hold its own. What are the dimensions of the tank?

 

[Prot0n]

A Bristlenose catfish and pleco are the same thing. Make sure they are male or female or female and female as 2 males will fight. A red tail black shark are pretty aggressive but the stocking isn’t horrendous, depending on how many mollies you have I would say you are probably under stocked. Just be careful with the shark but you could probably get away with it and just monitor its behaviour. I would be tempted to add something else to the tank as well, something that can hold its own. What are the dimensions of the tank?

Interesting about the two bristlenose as we bought the first from Maidenhead who seemed to make a differentiation between it and a bristlenose plec.. (they knew we wanted a plec but warned against at the time due to the tank being new). The original seems much smaller than the beast we’ve had brought home today.. could there be something similar we were originally “missold” so to speak?

The tank is a Fluval Roma 125 with dimensions of - 80 x 35 x 50 cm

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Interesting about the two bristlenose as we bought the first from Maidenhead who seemed to make a differentiation between it and a bristlenose plec.. (they knew we wanted a plec but warned against at the time due to the tank being new). The original seems much smaller than the beast we’ve had brought home today.. could there be something similar we were originally “missold” so to speak?

The tank is a Fluval Roma 125 with dimensions of - 80 x 35 x 50 cm

I’m UK based and they are the same. Maidenhead just sometimes sell fish with different names, mines from my local Maidenhead. Maidenhead are unlikely to missell you something, they get the difference between the false Julis and Julis Cory and call them different things. Different fish stores will sell fish at different sizes the smaller will grow up to be same size. If you are concerned you can send a photo but I would say they are the same.
The shark would like to be in a 1m but 80cm isn’t the end of the world.

 

[Prot0n]

I’ll take that confidence! Neither of the plecos have whiskers which I believe makes them female.. so all good there I believe? My main worry was the RTBS, I had one previously which developed a taste for tetras and the like, thus I’m always worried my next will be another incarnation of Hannibal.

Do we reckon this tank will still work for these guys at full size? Or have we put a bit of a ticking timer on ourselves here?

All the best and thanks for your help!

I’m UK based and they are the same. Maidenhead just sometimes sell fish with different names, mines from my local Maidenhead. Maidenhead are unlikely to missell you something, they get the difference between the false Julis and Julis Cory and call them different things. Different fish stores will sell fish at different sizes the smaller will grow up to be same size. If you are concerned you can send a photo but I would say they are the same.
The shark would like to be in a 1m but 80cm isn’t the end of the world.

 

[Fishkeeper123]

I’ll take that confidence! Neither of the plecos have whiskers which I believe makes them female.. so all good there I believe? My main worry was the RTBS, I had one previously which developed a taste for tetras and the like, thus I’m always worried my next will be another incarnation of Hannibal.

Do we reckon this tank will still work for these guys at full size? Or have we put a bit of a ticking timer on ourselves here?

All the best and thanks for your help!

You won’t be able to sex the pleco for quite a while mine is probably 8cm, thinking female but still not for sure.
I’ve never kept RTBS because they sound like real menaces. However he’ll grow to 13-15 cm. Everyone has different opinions on fish in certain tank sizes. If your asking can I he live in that tank yes. However he would like a bigger tank and I would rehome him. However, you don’t have to. I think I would add some zebra danios to your tank and leave it at that if you were to keep him. However you would have more options if you did.Make sure you don’t get too many mollies if they breed, I wouldn’t do more than 6. 2 males 4 females.
Here’s a photo of my Bristlenose Bruce who might end up being a Brucette.

 

[GaryE]

Bristlenoses are Ancistrus cats, and there are a lot of different ones in the hobby, including some hybrids between species. So they can be different, in markings, colour and size.

The affordable ones tend to all be easy going tank inhabitants.

I've never met a red tailed shark I didn't intensely dislike, but I have been told that sometimes, they aren't murderers under the cover of darkness. Some individuals aren't awful...

 

[Prot0n]

Bristlenoses are Ancistrus cats, and there are a lot of different ones in the hobby, including some hybrids between species. So they can be different, in markings, colour and size.

The affordable ones tend to all be easy going tank inhabitants.

I've never met a red tailed shark I didn't intensely dislike, but I have been told that sometimes, they aren't murderers under the cover of darkness. Some individuals aren't awful...

You won’t be able to sex the pleco for quite a while mine is probably 8cm, thinking female but still not for sure.
I’ve never kept RTBS because they sound like real menaces. However he’ll grow to 13-15 cm. Everyone has different opinions on fish in certain tank sizes. If your asking can I he live in that tank yes. However he would like a bigger tank and I would rehome him. However, you don’t have to. I think I would add some zebra danios to your tank and leave it at that if you were to keep him. However you would have more options if you did.Make sure you don’t get too many mollies if they breed, I wouldn’t do more than 6. 2 males 4 females.
Here’s a photo of my Bristlenose Bruce who might end up being a Brucette.

Thanks both! Calmed my nerves a bit on this.. I see you’ve mentioned Danios, are there any other fish/types of fish it’d be worth us looking into to “finish” out this tank, wanting to make sure everything is big enough and bad enough to survive the onslaught of a RTBS if we do decide to keep him!

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Thanks both! Calmed my nerves a bit on this.. I see you’ve mentioned Danios, are there any other fish/types of fish it’d be worth us looking into to “finish” out this tank, wanting to make sure everything is big enough and bad enough to survive the onslaught of a RTBS if we do decide to keep him!

I would go for a shoal of fish that are big but not too big and not shy. I would say look at shoaling fish and come back with which ones you like. I wouldn’t go for any bottom dwellers as 2 plecos could breed and would hate other bottom dwellers(and you already have the shark). You could consider a gourami, but a honey would be to shy I think. I would say a thick lipped or dwarf gourami may be okay but I would just do a shoaling fish.

 

[Darby T]

A note on Red Tail Black Sharks. The ones available in Australia grow to 4 -6 inches and when added to an established tank settle in very well. Just never add another shark though, they will fight to the death. Hope it all goes well.

 

[Naughts]

What is the GH of your source water? Mollies need very hard water, whereas bristlenose are soft water fish. We should not look at other fish options without this information. If you look on your water providers website you should be able to find it in the water quality report.

Post photos of your catfish and bristlenose so we can see what you have. What gender are the mollies? They could quickly over run the tank.

I had a red tailed shark once, no major issues and it was beautiful but I wouldn't get one again after hearing how antisocial they can be.