Wild fish? Bristlenose catfish baby

[frannyscho]

I went into the LFS to get some bristlenose catfish for the big tank (45gal) and they only had albino ones which I didn't particularly like the look of. He said they didn't have any ordinary ones. As I have an increasing algae problem in that tank and wished to go away with a fish, I asked if I could show him a smaller fish that looked similar and was it an algae eater...he then said it was still a bristlenose but a wild one and wouldn't grow bristles in order to be able to sex it until it was a bit older. I bought 2 and they are about 4cm long with no bristles at all (super algae eaters though). I've seen baby bristlenoses in the school tank, and I was sure you could still see bristles on the smaller ones (I will check next week).

What is the difference between a wild one and not a wild one? Just that it was caught by accident?

 

[Bloo]

I went into the LFS to get some bristlenose catfish for the big tank (45gal) and they only had albino ones which I didn't particularly like the look of. He said they didn't have any ordinary ones. As I have an increasing algae problem in that tank and wished to go away with a fish, I asked if I could show him a smaller fish that looked similar and was it an algae eater...he then said it was still a bristlenose but a wild one and wouldn't grow bristles in order to be able to sex it until it was a bit older. I bought 2 and they are about 4cm long with no bristles at all (super algae eaters though). I've seen baby bristlenoses in the school tank, and I was sure you could still see bristles on the smaller ones (I will check next week).

What is the difference between a wild one and not a wild one? Just that it was caught by accident?

[snapback]891850[/snapback]​

Females do not have bristles. But just check though that you actually got bristlenoses and not Chinese Algae Eaters

 

[SirMinion]

There are over 75 species of bristlenoses (ancistrus) and some are more bristley than others.
In some species only the males get bristles, some species have equally bristley males & females and in other species both have bristles with the male having more.

Some species hatch with 'stubble' and some don't get their bristles until later.

If you bare in mind all those considerations, it's still very likely that your fish are bristlenoses. The fact that they are wild caught instead of captive bred just means that they are of indeterminate species.

Do remember that bristlenoses need more than tank-grown algae to sustain them. Algae tablets, sinking catfish pellets and occasional live or frozen bloodworm should be fed as well.

 

[andyj]

and they lurve cumcuber/zuchini !!!

 

[emma12321]

They usually get two inches long before bristles start to develop. females usually have few or no bristles.

Emma