Bristlenose pleco - male or female?

[Dephea]

I was looking for a female BNP. I already have a boy so when I went to LFS I specifically asked for a girl. We found a BNP wit no whiskers on the head so I assumed it was a girl and the guy in the shop assured me it was indeed a female. I have her/him for roughly a month now living with my other BNP quite okay but they seem to chill on opposite ends of the tank. Didn't see them fight yet, Zoltan is definitely much bigger than Jaskier but he is just minding his own business. He is 100% a boy, lovely bristles etc so it was easy for me to sex him. Jaskier however.... when I bought 'her' she only had a little sweet moustache, now there are 3 short bristles growing on her face and I am unsure about her sex now.

I don't want to rehome her, I can just set up another tank and have her there if she is a boy but I don't want to spend hundreds of £££ on another tank if she is a girl. I am in the process of getting a 750L custom tank for my living room so I will have space for 2 BNP but not sure if it's okay for two boys? Will they fight in a big tank?

 

[betta fish]

I'm afraid that's a boy

 

[Dephea]

I guess it's time for another tank then thank you

 

[betta fish]

No problem I find the boys nicer to look at than the girls, love their bristly faces! whenever I get them I always end up with females! I have never tried to keep two boys together but it may be possible in a 750L tank with caves for them on either end, I would love a tank that big

 

[Dephea]

I need lots of caves because of my clown loaches so that shouldn't be a problem, really. Hopefully there will be no drama before the upgrade, I started to like 'her' so I'm not too happy about rehoming 'her'. I will if I must but I'd rather avoid it. Feel free to come over to clean mine, happy to share some tasks haha

 

[Slaphppy7]

It may be a good thing that's it's another male, BNP's breed readily and often, so you'd have many fry to deal with...

 

[Dephea]

Would they actually successfully breed in a tank with other fish? Not to sound too cruel but I thought any potential eggs / fry would have been eaten so I never considered fry problem to be a problem

 

[Slaphppy7]

Would they actually successfully breed in a tank with other fish? Not to sound too cruel but I thought any potential eggs / fry would have been eaten so I never considered fry problem to be a problem

Yes....they lay LOTS of eggs, and hide them quite well

 

[Dephea]

Yes....they lay LOTS of eggs, and hide them quite well

Ooooh good to know! In that case I think I'm okay with two boys. My LFS would buy babies easily, but I'd rather not have to worry about that, I'm not experienced enough to handle fish babies on top of all the other stuff I need to maintain to keep them happy