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.
My female pleco laid eggs and now I have over fifty baby pleco, I bought her almost 8 to nine months ago and there has been no male just my slider turtle. How did she have babies? And what can I do? There is very little information about plecos that I found. I have moved all the surviving babies to another tank before my turtle could get them.
Without a male in tank I honestly have no idea.
I have a tank just for my guppy fry, will my plecos breed in this tank ??
yep if its big enough for the type of plec you have
I have a BN Pleco and he/she is sick, it may have a parasite infection.I have given it a common cure( an anti biotic said to fight parasites) from the local pet smart store and he seems to be getting better. It’s head has swollen, along with it’s mouth and down it’s sides. After I gave the anti biotics the sewlling seems to have gone down. It has only been 3 days since I gave it the meds. I guess I will just watch it and see. I was hopeing to send pics but I can’t on this form. I would like some advice, Thanks
The difficulty is identifying whats wrong with it. There’s so little information on fish diseases with clear accurate photos and treatments and not all treatments are available in all countries either just to complicate it further.
If the antibiotics seem to be working stick to their routine see if it works if not try the next best thing/closest match to the symptoms.
look at the minimum temperature : 16 degrees. Is that true (just for keeping them not to breed ofcourse) ? If that’s the case, i can put them in one of my nonheated tanks….
I have kept them successfully in tanks kept at standard room temperature without heaters
Hi I have 2 different breads of catfish a bristlenose and plectrum I’ve have had them for over 2 years and now I have babies in my tank so different types of catfish bread with each other or so they have to be the same bread
A bristlenose is a type of plecostomus (pleco) a plectrum is something you use to play the guitar with. What you have is 2 plecs probably of the ancistrus genus. Within the genus there are quite a few variants of the fish some with short names such as bristle nose and so all ancistrus will be able and will breed with each other, this is what lead to things like long fins and super reds via line breeding and hybridisation.
What you won’t get is cross genus breeding so a ancistrus won’t breed with a hypan for example. Now I don’t know the entire history of every genus of the plecostomus species so I can’t say for certain and i’m definitely no geneticist but I’m pretty sure they’ve never naturally cross bred any where.
I have about 10 baby BN Plecos, I have 3 adults, how big should I let the babies get before I need to pass them on?
about 2″ is a good bet
I have one male amd 2 females in a 75 gallon tank will they be ok one of my females is about 4 inches long amd the other is about 2 and a half inches where the male is onle about an inch and a half rn with tones of bristols just wanna know they have enough room to breed or if they will at all iv had them now for about 5 months but nothing yet
My pleco has recently looked as though he’s cheeks are swollen as well as both eyes. I’m worried
Google fish diseases and see if you can match what he looks like to a picture
If the fish is still a little young it may be just filling out and growing a bit more if it has competition with another plecco it may be taking the role of becoming the big fish in the tank
Hi all
Wanted to ask a question. I had a bristlenose plecos couple who used to breed on a regular basis every 6 weeks. Had to take the little ones to the shop as I ended up with hundreds of them. They used to lay eggs in a big shell. Once we went away for a weekend and the female died. Unfortunately shortly after the male died as well so we have decided to keep about 15 of the children. They were in a large tank and doing all fine. This happened year and a half ago. Today I came to the tank and found new eggs!!!! So really the question I was meaning to ask is that they are all related in the tank creating new offspring. How would that really work? Shall I just separate them as I know once it starts it will keep on happening. Thanks.
Just because they’re related doesn’t mean they cannot breed and indeed this is how alot of traits are bred into things like dogs. However just like with dogs it weakens the genepool and can lead to inheritance disease and general I’ll health in the off spring. Having said that 1st generation is usually not too bad but you certainly don’t want to inbreed more than maybe one generation
I’ve just successful bred a albino bristlenose with a beautiful longfin black and white female the eggs are already Wiggler’s on the roof of a clay cave I have a clown pleco he’s really small 1″ give or take and 2 peppered Corys 5 black neons 3 neons 4 glowlight tetras …..my question is ,are my babies in a any danger with any of these tankmates???? Thanks , please anyone I would like to hear your imput??? -Jeff (Pensacola FL)
I think you may be ok but keep an eye on the clown plec it may inadvertently hover up the babies as it’s just feeding. It happens it’s not intentional and you may be ok because of his small size but as he gets bigger it may happen. Rest of the fish shouldn’t cause a problem
My bristle noses have laid eggs. Male doing his job but while his doing his job. Can I still do water changes or do I leave it for now? Thanks
To be on the safe side o don’t do water changes while male is fanning
Ok thank you.
A few months ago I bought a female for my male plec and in a very short time there were hundreds of fry. My local fish shop took them but not until they reached a decent size so for ages I was over run with them. I took the parents in to my fish shop and now just have one of the fry – about 3inches now. I never want to see another plec fry! Actually it was great to see but it did my head in catching them all. Good luck!
I bred bristle noses years ago but I just couldn’t remember if I did water changes while there was eggs. I no what it’s like to be over run with them but I didn’t find it hard to find homes for them. Let’s just see as that was few years ago now. Thanks for advise though
I’ve wanted to breed bristlenose plecs for ages and finally got a mature female for my male and that’s taught me a lesson! Within a couple of weeks the first batch of eggs were being fanned by the male, with dozens of babies hatching. Then there was batch after batch. I caught the male in his cave and took him to my lfs and found yet more babies in the cave with him. It’s been an endless slog of catching them and taking batches to my lfs. Never again! I love them, but felt my other algae eaters suffered. Plec babies clean everything! Once I get down to just one that’s how it’s staying!
Haha they are the rabbits of the aquatic world breed so fast and regular and so easily you really need to be separating the male and female between batches to keep it under control else you end up swamped
No kidding! Anyone who asks about getting two pleco, I say unless you know for certain they are two of the same sex, DON’T! I think I’m scarred for life from our experience!
It’s only a major issue with the ancistrus type of plecs the others don’t seem to be anywhere near as bad
Are they the really pale ones?
Ancistrus is the family the bristlenose belong to they’re distinct from the other families of plecs such as humans and panaque’s etc