Bristlenose Pleco's

[corrosive]

Well ive had my long finned bristlenose for probably 2 years now, it was so cute when he/she began getting bristles coming through but to be honest the fish hasnt really grown much? Sinse it got its bristles about 1 and half year ago theyve only grown about 2-3MM roughly and body size hasnt really increased... Could it be stunting? its in a 20 Gallon tank at the moment and is about to be put into a 37gal.

Id say its about 2-3" give or take, hard to tell with long fins. Its probably ok, but im comparing it to my other bristlenose which is a good 4" long and wide enough to match.

It used to have a problem where when it would suck on things its lips would go all wrong, but as its matured i think its solved the problem.

I will monitor it i think while its in the 20g with 2 other plecs and see if its behaviour etc will change, because its quite an innocent fish, wont fight for food, even against tetras!
Picture is in my signature.

 

[LisaLQ]

Cant tell for sure, but it looks like a female to me - less bristles generally means it's a girl

 

[corrosive]

Cant tell for sure, but it looks like a female to me - less bristles generally means it's a girl

That was my original hope too! i always wanted to have bristlenose babies! i think my male would probably eat her tho! shes like a third of him lol.

Another thing i will say though, ever sinse ive had "her" (will call the plec a she from now on) she changes colour on random parts of the body every now and then like fish do when theyre scared or something, usually i notice it mainly in the morning when turning the lights on and at random times, just looked now and shes gone slightly like it, have no idea why... shes in a 20g tank with 2 other plecs who always stay on the other side of the tank to where she is.
She doesn't change totally its like on random sections of the body in patches.

 

[dylema]

My BN girl is quite a bit smaller than the boys (7cm compared to 9cm) but she is healthy and has spawned 3 times. The colouration may be her stress colour but that is not to say there is anything wrong. Me and others I know have had the lighter patches thing (mainly on girls but sometimes on boys) when the water stats are fine and no other fish have problems, and the colour goes back to normal fairly quickly.

Also being a long fin perhaps her genes are not as good as a normal one due to the selection process to give them long fins.

Hope this helps

Dylan