Scientific Name(s): Ancistrus temminckii, Ancistrus sp.
Common Name(s): Bristle Nose Pleco, Bristle Nosed Pleco, Bristlenose Catfish, Bristlenose Pleco, Bushynose Catfish, Bristle Nose Plecostomus
Family: Loricariidae
Species Type: Plecostomus
Maximum Size: 5 inches
Life Span: 20 years
Natural Habitat: South American rivers and streams
Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallons
Tank Region: Bottom
Possible Tank Mates: Community fish. Can work with smaller cichlid species.
Description: The bristlenose pleco, Ancistrus temminckii and related species, is a wonderful fish to have. They come from South America. There are dozens of Ancistrus species. Like many plecos, they love to eat algae. I have read that some aquarists say that bristlenose plecos are the best “cure” for algae problems. Bristlenose’s do a good job on attached algae and only grow to 4 to 8 inches depending on the species. Ancistrus temminckii grows only up to about 4.75 inches. Compared to other plecos who grow to 1 to 2 feet, that is small! The bristlenose looks like most plecos in general shape except for its bristles. These fleshy appendages stick out around the lips and head of bristelnose plecos. The “bristles” or “brushes” grow as the fish grows. Males have many more adornments than females.
There is also an albino version of this fish which is identical in every way apart from albino colouration/lack of colouration and red eyes.
Temperature Range 16C – 27C (although will do fine upto 30)
pH Range 5.8 – 7.6
Hardness 5° – 20°
Breeding Information: Bristlenose plecostomus are perhaps the easiest plecostomus to breed in an aquarium. When sexually mature, a male will find a suitable spawning location and claim it as his territory. This may be around or under a hunk of driftwood or inside or under PVC pipe or clay pots. He will defend the spot from other males if present. To promote spawning, Baensch’s aquarium atlas suggests doing a 75% water change in November (in the Northern hemisphere). The shorter days of winter and the water change make the plecos think it is the start of the rainy season. If the tank has a female(s), she will enter his territory and spawning site when she is ready to lay eggs. Eggs are stuck on hard surfaces, on top, hanging from the “ceiling.” The camouflaged male will guard the orange or amber eggs until they hatch about ten days later. After absorbing their yolk over three to four days, the tiny, baby plecos will immediately start to work on sucking algae off of surfaces. If there are other fish in the tank aside from the plecos, the babies or eggs can be moved to another tank to prevent those fish from eating the babies. Some breeders remove whatever the eggs are laid on into another tank and give the father a replacement site (wood, pot, PVC, etc.) to guard. The babies can be removed after hatching.
Sexing Information: Males have larger bristles and grow more rapidly.
Diet: Vegetarian – eats algae and algae wafers. Suppliment with fresh vegetables such as zucchini slices, rommaine lettuce or spinach.
Temperment: Peaceful; Peaceful, and quite sociable. Excellent for community tanks.
Common Diseases: None specific to species.
Thanks so much for your help. I now know mine is a female. I’ve been looking everywhere for facts about this and haven’t been able to find them. How many babies can they have up to? I’m thinking about breeding we also have a red tailed shark would he disterb the eggs and labor?
Think they can have up to 50 or so eggs not all turn to fry though.
Typically a redtail shark won’t bother the parents but may cause issues for the fry when they emerge from the cave so may want to keep an eye on that
Over Xmas we noticed our bristlenose have had babies not sure when I can rehomega them. Some seem to be a lot bigger than others does this mean they’ve had 2 batches? Really looking forward to them growing as my male is a dark pleco n the female an albino
Depends how much bigger if they’re similar in size probably same batch just growing at different rates not really been enough time since Xmas for 2 batches unless one was early to mid December. Once they get to about once and a half to 2 inches they’re a good selling size
I have had my bn for 7 years but had to take the male out 4 yrs ago. I have now put a smaller male in with the 14cm female and they breed straight away. However I have 6 breeding swordtails which was fine until just the last few days the female bn has started acting strange. She is swimming around the tank. Going to areas that she normally doesn’t and is rubbing her self on everything. The male is currently on eggs and comes out for a few seconds for food. She is even attempting to move the drift wood and all the stones. The tanks 150l and nothing has changed.
Sounds like she’s just readjusting the tank to her likings she will do that every so often doesn’t sound like anything to worry about just keep an eye on her behaviour once the male is off the eggs
Well it’s been awhile since I’ve commented about Spike my bn had him 2 years this May got up this morning and he, who was actually a she has died. No signs or marks on her body and a nice round belly didn’t look like she wasn’t eating. 22l wc on Sunday was active up until last night. Temperature 25 degrees and has been constant so at a loss as to why but I’m gutted.
That’s a shame. Did you introduce any new fish recently? The most common causes of death are diseases introduced to your tank via new fish or a mini cycle/ammonia spike usually caused by over disturbance of substrate or too large a water change so resetting the cycle or something silly like people cleaning their filters in tap water rather than tank water
Heya! So here is my issue! I have my tropical tank running for at least a year now! And My tank seems to be heaven for my plecos (I have 4 fully grown and 2 more on their way) I had a least hundreds of babies now! Managed to give some to the aquarium shop against some Gourami, tetra and Neon! But my plecos keep having babies!
Thing is I don’t want to get rid of my 6 adults as they have pretty colour (specially the albinos one, and the blue dotted one)!
So I would like to know if there is any fish I could get which would eat my tiny baby plecos without hurting the adults pleco and the other!
In case you ask! I have a 150L tank fully equipped! No real plants in it! The other fishes are 4 Neon tetra, 2 gourami, 2 glass cat fish, 3 runningnose, 4 Cardinal tetra
There is nothing that really eats plecs as they’re armoured cat fish. The blue spotted one probably isn’t the one breeding as its not a bristlenose at least I don’t know of any blue spotted bristlenose.
Just keep trading the bns to your LFS use it to get food etc could try selling some too on aquarist classifieds if your in the uk
My bristle nose plecos have laid eggs and now the dad is guarding them. Yesterday I saw a large cluster of orange eggs in his “cave” and today they are no longer there. But dad is stI’ll in the cave guarding and fanning his fins. Is it possible that he moved them out of sight? There are no babies visible, so I’m pretty sure they haven’t hatched.
It could be he’s eaten them or kicked them out and other fish / dad / mum will eat them this is especially common in first time in experienced dads. Don’t panic if they’ve done it once they’ll do it again you’ve obviously got your water how they like it and they’ve found a space they’re happy with.
When do bristlenose plecs get there bristles
They usually start to appear once the fish is about an 4-5 cm in size sometimes later.
will bristle-nose eat other species of baby fish
Not intentionally although I have known them to accidentally suck up other baby bottom feeders by accident.
what is the right enviroment
i have a pair of bristlenoses and they havent bred. since we have had them for 2 years i am wondering if they will breed? (they are about 6 cm.)
They’re either not a male and female pair or you haven’t got their environment right for them. Bristlenose require very little in the way of prompting if they have the right environment and its a pair
I didn’t even realise I had a male and a female as only have two…. Woke up the other day to 4 babies sticking to the glass :))
Lucky you 🙂 you’ll probably find out there’s more than those few in there over the next couple of days they usually have batches anywhere from 10 to 40 ish
Why have my bn eggs disappeared no sign of fry no other fish can get to them
Father will probably have eaten them
i have a male albino bn in a tank with a larger butterfly pleco are they able to cross breed,or do i need to find a male butterfly?
They won’t breed as they’re different species of plec you’d need a partner for your butterfly for it to breed you’d also have to confirm the sex of your current one first
Thanks for all that you taught me ?
Hi, we have had about 4 bn in about 12 months and all have died, all our other fish are thrieving, we do live in a very hard water area. Is there anything we could do to ensure we lose no more bn (we only have 2 bn in the tank at a time)? Our tank is 48 litres.
Many thanks
Francine
48 litres? That’s not even big enough for a single bn. Perhaps one if your massively over filtering it and you’ll have to be doing water changes every 3-4 days certainly won’t be lasting a week with the amount of waste plecs put out.
Ontop of that they like soft water not hard water. Make sure there’s plenty of cover hidey spaces for the fish and there’s some bog wood in there that’ll help soften the water a bit
Hello, I have a 55 gallon tank with on breeding pair of albino bushy nose plecos. Unfortunately, I lost my male and my female is about 3-4 years old. I introduced another male about 3 – 31/2 inches long and they seemed to be doing good, but in the last week or so both had torn fins red batches on them and I lost the new male. Do you think it was from fighting? If so, could I introduce another male or will she just fight him to death again?
Are you sure one was a male and one female ? you don’t have 2 males do you? If they are a male/female pair then breeding can get a little violent for plec’s and they will accidentally kill each other / themselves especially for first timers. Try again see what happens, also double check your current” female” really is female.
Positive she was female she bred successfully with my old male for the past year and a half
If she’s bigger than the new male and it was just his first time it may have got a little heated then and he bought the wrong end if it all. Try again hopefully it’ll turn out better this time
can you advise me when to move baby plecs to a separate tank thanks Eric
That is entirely up to you. I usually didn’t move them to different tanks instead leaving them in with parents until big enough to be sold. If you want to move them though they’re pretty much good to move any time you like once they leave the caves. Though be careful scooping them.
Sometimes its easier to move the cave with the male and babies still in it to a holding tank then you only have the larger male to catch and relocate rather the babies
After several batches of Cory eggs, I’d added more Cory’s, and the eggs were more likely fertilised, so I put some in my filter on the top layer. Couple of days later moved them to a small tank somplete with filter layer and airstone and now have two babies. How big need they be before they’ll be safe in my big tank, with Cory’s Guppy’s plecs rainbows Otto’s? So far they’re about half inch. Thanks
We have one bristle nose plecs and two female ..
could tell me if one female kill the other female
Nope multiple females should be fine just only keep 1 male and you should have no problems as long as your tank is big enough to support that many plecs
sorry Dave dont think i was clear about what i meant. loach has not physically harmed bns but he has harassed them badly when they tried to feed. he also chase corys mercilessly.
Even so the bn’s should just ignore the loach they pretty much know he cant harm them and from my experiences if a plec is being harassed more than it likes they’re powerfull fish and can quite easily throw a fit and push/force the away the annoying one
cannot understand why my female bns died. i took pains to make sure they ate a variety of veg based foods, not too much and, hopefully not too little. they simply stopped coming out and stopped feeding. mystery. bodies showed n sign of disease. they live with platies and cories and that b@@@@@ loach. any ideas?
Could my sucking loach have bullied my two female bristlenoses into an early demise? I spotted him attacking my male bn by latching onto his back when he tried to feed.
Unlikely. I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure sucking loaches lack teeth without pretty sharp ones they’d never get past a plec’s armour plating. More than likely he’s just tagging along
Thanks thought I’d be okay either way will move them first before I buy the others think they will love the bigger tank . Got my eye on a few denison barbs santa
I am hooked on the hobby already and have now got a jewel trigon 190 it’s cycled and I’ve had 8 cherry barbs for 3wks. I am moving my bn plec and 2 raphaels from my 64l into there and wonder if I’m best doing that now or building the community and bit first?was going to put maybe the bn in and the the raphaels the week after so as not to overload the filter. What do you guys think?
Doesnt really matter if you move them in before or after building your community. Neither fish are massively territorial so its fine either way.
You are right though for putting them in separated by a week or so that’ll minimise bioload spike on your filter and give the filter time to establish to the new load level
I have 2 females and 1 make. 1 female and the make are albino. I have what appears to be 2 sperate litters of babies, some are the size of rice some the size of sesame seeds. Is it possible to have 2 sets that close together? And how long until they will be ready to go to another home? My 30 gallon tank is not big enough for all of these fish.
It seems like there are hundreds of albino babies. Lol
Its unlikely you’d have 2 at once as the male could only fan at once. Sesame seeds is small for plec babies when they first hatch theyre grain of rice size. Do you have other fish in the tank? For example any cory’s?
We have 4 different kinds of gold fish. I saw one of the smallest ones sucking up to the glass. Sorry I don’t understand all of this we didn’t plan on having babies. Ha ha and my husband says there are actually 40 or so.
Be careful with goldfish they will eat baby pleco’s
Yeah that’s what we are afraid of. We just got rid of our ten gallon tank to, or we would put them in there. How long until they are big enough to go to a new home?
Probably a few months if a private sale if your selling to your local fish shop they typically prefer you keep them until theyre an inch and a half to two inches in size which is about 12 months growing.
Thanks for all the information.. This is my second spawed of the albino b.n.p. the male is fanning the eggs. Today I’s day two… 12-13-14** I have about 6 baby .b.n.p. In a 10 g.tank they about 2 inches long.say 21/2 weeks old.feeding them veggies & flakes they are housed with six baby Angel fish fry.about 2 weeks old too.
Glad the info helped and well done with the babies. The spawns will get bigger as your parents get better. 30 or so from one spawn of bn’s isnt unheard of
Hi, Im very excited as I have two plecs and spotted last night that I have plec babies! Im confused though as one is an Orange Plec and the other a brown bristle nose so i didnt think they would breed at all! Is there anything special I need to do to look after them? Ive got 4 old tetras in the tank and some snails, thats all. They are eating the plec wafers ive put in and seem very lively!
A picture of both parents would be useful but its probably a normal brown bn and an albino or lemon bn (they look orangey) so both from same species just different variants. Plec pellets are fine but usually quiet high protein so dont feed them purely that. Cucumber is good at a small age my babies always swarm the cucumber
Just got a female bn – at least I hope its a she. She’s quite a bit smaller than my male but she was straight in his hideaway! I don’t know how old she is but she’s about 2 inches nose to tail. She’s keen on the male, but will she have to grow quite a bit before she’s big enough to mate? They seem to have made a friendly start!
2 inch is a little small but i have had a female spawn eggs at that size before.
As long as they’re not fighting leave them to it if she is a female you’ll get eggs
My male pleco has 5 fry that he is protecting in our community tank. So far they are about 6 days old and have not left their hiding place, nor has he left their side. How long can I expect them to stay safe with their protective father? I am wondering whether to let nature take its course or separate them into a “nursery tank”.
As long as they are all hatched eggs and are free swimming fry you can either leave them with dad after a week or so he should come out. Or you can pick up cave tip dad and fry out into a grow up tank then fish dad out back into your main leaving just the fry. It’ll be just fine
I’ve had a few batches of Cory eggs now and the latest lot I’ve got some off the glass and put them in a nursery box in the tank. None of my greedy fish can get to them. Is there any chance some may hatch? No idea what to add to the box, although it refuses to stick to the tank glass and is floating, so any weight would sink it. If I’m lucky and some hatch, I’ll be back for more advice. Thanks
Corys arent like plecs they dont fan their eggs just keep fresh flowing water over or through the box and if your lucky they may hatch. If the nursery box isnt a mesh one try just putting a small airstone in it shouldnt sink or you can use tie wraps to hold the airline so its kinda dangling in the box without touching it. Squirt some fresh water in every day or so and gope its enough.
Dont hold your breath though unfortunately ive never had cory eggs survive like this but others have
my pleco laid eggs i have other females in there will they eat her eggs?
The male should be guarding and fanning the eggs he’ll make sure others don’t get near then although if he’s a first time parent he may get it wrong for a few attempts first
Hey the best way to sex them is if there are no spikes up the nose it’s a female as only males get the crown don’t worry about size that will come with age I now have three females and a male in a 125ltr now I’ve had about 6 successful batches that I have raised and sold I wouldn’t keep any other type of fish in the tank with them if you want them to breed they are much happier alone