my mystery plecos

[sushi]

Hi. I bought these two plecos a while ago. I've spent months trying to figure out what they are. I think they might have been bristlenose at the lfs but cant' remember. I looked in a book at book store and they look like bristlenoses.
Neither of them have bristles or anything on their noses, does this mean they're female?? I read that somewhere.
And, how big do they get, they're about 2" and have pretty much stopped or slowed down in growing, where as my other different pleco just keeps growing.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Teelie]

Give PlanetCatfish a try in their Catalog. It'll be in there somewhere. This is the Bristlenose btw. BN's grow to about 5" in length though if it's not a Bristle, the it could be anywhere from 3" to 20"plus.

 

[sushi]

i've looked at that site on planet catfish. My plecos do look kinda like that, just that their spots aren't so prominant.
Do u know if it is true that the females don't have bristles. At 2", are they sexually mature, should I be able to tell if mine are females or males

 

[CatLover]

It's true that females don't have bristles. I believe they only get various bumps on their nose.
BTW, how are their noses shaped? Are they like a normal pleco, rounded and smooth, or do they sort of have a ridge down the center? If they have the ridges, then they're bristlenoses.

 

[sushi]

I just went to the lfs and had a look and my pleco - the big one - is a Red spot pleco, that's if they've marked it correctly. Will check it out on planet catfish, but very excited to know what he is. Plus I bought another iddy biddy bristle nose for my little tank. It's very cool. and very small. it's about 5mm wide and about 3cm long. tiny

 

[M/ASC]

females do get bristles but only around the perimeter of the mouth, males get bristles around the perimeter of the head and up the centre of the head as well!

 

[sushi]

both of my 'bristlenoses' are about 2 1/2" long. Is that sexually mature. If they were bristles' would they have there bristles now, is what i"m asking. Neither of them have bristles.. At their size, would that mean they're something else?