Should I Get A Bn Or 2?

[Ben M]

hi, i have a 4ft, 216l tank. it is heavily planted, and the stocking is: 12 kuhli loaches, 4 Corydoras copei (soon getting 2 more), 20 copper harlequins (Trigonostigma hengeli), 5 harlequins, 2 serpae tetras, 3 cardinal tetras, 4 rummynosed tetras, (all of the tetras are really ancient, and are slowly dieing off, so i won't have them much longer), 5 SAE's and 3 oto's. i will soon be adding about 20 MTS and about 30 red cherry shrimp. anyway, i've been offered some bn plecos for a fiver each. the question is, should i get a couple of them? they are l114 (yellow), and about 2cm ATM. i don't think it will be possible to sex them as they are so small, so should i buy a group of them(and if so, how many?) until i get a pair? or are they best in a trio? and would i be able to sell on the others, and if so, what price? and, do they damage plants? i have one amazon sword, which i've read that they can be prone to eat? i'll feed them algae wafers and fresh veggies.

cheers

 

[JenCliBee]

hi, i have a 4ft, 216l tank. it is heavily planted, and the stocking is: 12 kuhli loaches, 4 Corydoras copei (soon getting 2 more), 20 copper harlequins (Trigonostigma hengeli), 5 harlequins, 2 serpae tetras, 3 cardinal tetras, 4 rummynosed tetras, (all of the tetras are really ancient, and are slowly dieing off, so i won't have them much longer), 5 SAE's and 3 oto's. i will soon be adding about 20 MTS and about 30 red cherry shrimp. anyway, i've been offered some bn plecos for a fiver each. the question is, should i get a couple of them? they are l114 (yellow), and about 2cm ATM. i don't think it will be possible to sex them as they are so small, so should i buy a group of them(and if so, how many?) until i get a pair? or are they best in a trio? and would i be able to sell on the others, and if so, what price? and, do they damage plants? i have one amazon sword, which i've read that they can be prone to eat? i'll feed them algae wafers and fresh veggies.

cheers

I think you mean 144, black eyed whites/golds, L114 isn't an ancistrus species. I'm presuming a typing error lol .

The don't pair up firstly, the male will spawn with whichever female/s are in the tank, just depends who he happens to trap at whatever time they decide to breed. L144's are quite desirable at the mo and sell pretty easy, usual price is about £4-£6 each but there is a seller that sells them 5 for £20.

Your odds of getting a male and female will obviously be better if you buy a group, so if you are actually planning to breed in the future my advice would be to get a group and keep 2 females and a male if you happen to get that, i would also source from a different seller, having different bloodlines while breeding will produce stronger and better offspring.

They wont usually eat plants unless the are undernourished and feel that they look like food, they can damage plants from sucking algae or general debris but they don't usually bother with plants to much like most other plecs.

I think ive covered everything you've asked so hope that helps

 

[Ben M]

hi, yes, i meant the l144. so i'll need a trio then eventually. the problem is, i can't afford to buy loads to try and get a trio, and getting them from different bloodlines may be tricky, as i don't know of anyone else who's selling them except the one i'm getting the shrimp from. do you know of any other breeders in east Yorkshire? so how many should i get from each breeder? and how will i tell them apart, to make sure that i don't end up with all three from one breeder? are they all identical, or do they have slight differences? i won't worry about the plants then.

cheers

 

[kaivalagi]

Word of caution about BN's....I have a 3" male who is rearranging all the sand in my tank and leaving lots of sand on top of plants/wood/rocks etc....also if you look in the livestock section a lovely 5" specimen is being re-homed because the owner can no longer see his fish for cloudyness...http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/328909-bristlenose-pleco-5-ish-free-to-good-home/