# Pleco's



## Shill (Mar 10, 2008)

I read so much great stuff about Bristlenose Pleco's that I finally went out and bought one. I spent $25 locally and my kids even named him "Mr. Sparkles" because we heard how people put these ravenous eaters in their tanks and got up the next day to a sparkling clean tank.

I must have bought a dud! He didn't do ANYTHING. Just hid and never ate. I fed him 1 algae wafer a week because I didn't want him to starve to death but at the same time, I had plenty of algae for him to feed on. He just wouldn't eat it. I think my Mbuna were eating the algae wafers and he never got to it anyway.

All that aside, he died about 2 weeks ago (4-6 weeks after I bought him). My tank needs a resident algae destroyer. I refuse to buy another $25 poop machine that doesn't carry his weight.

At this point, I just need someone that will eat and that I an pick up at the local fish store. Any suggestions?


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## bigcatsrus (Apr 15, 2009)

I had to bristlenose plecs, they took about 3-4 days to settle in properly. Then one day I found a baby plec that I had no idea that they had spawned. IMO good plecs.

What size tank and what other inhabitants do you have? That maybe a start to help you as someone will ask these quetions


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## Shill (Mar 10, 2008)

I have a 45 gallon with yellow labs, red zebras, and demasoni. I've had my tank over a year and have good water quality and plenty of breeding.

I'd use snails but they eat them too fast. I can't get any to grow big enough to not become a meal.


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## bigcatsrus (Apr 15, 2009)

Personally I'd stick with the bristlenose but thats my opinion.

I have a female bristlenose from my pervious bristles, unfortunately I lost them. She keeps my tank quite clean but she does have helping fins, golden sucking loaches, they grow to 10 inches and I find them to be brilliant to watch, little cleaning machines.

I don't know anything about snails, o I can't help you on that one.

HTH


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

The BN was hiding from the mbuna. They are not a good mix.
These things will help reduce algae:
*Try having your lights on less. Use a timer for the lights to come on while you are there to feed and view the tank. 
When not home or at bedtime, leave the lights off.
*More water changes, keeping nitrAtes low.
*Lighter/less feeding.
*If you feed frozen food, rinse it first.
*Scrape the algae from the glass and let the mbuna nibble on the rest. 
If it is the mossy type, that's not a big deal and makes the tank decor look more like what's in nature. 
If it is hair algae, then remove the items with hair algae and scrub it off.

Not what you want to hear, I'm sure, but are some things to try that cost zero dollars and could actually save you a couple.
hth,


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## bigcatsrus (Apr 15, 2009)

I have a yellow lab, demansoni, 2 butterfly cichlids, red tail shark, jewel cichlid, geo (not sure what type yet), the 2 loaches, and a syno cat. My bristlenose is perfectly fine in my tank.


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

Ok, I had always heard that a tank full of mbuna will harrass a BN, so I wanted to offer some alternatives.
I'm glad yours are working out well, bigcatsrus.


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## bigcatsrus (Apr 15, 2009)

Like I say mine has been fine for a while.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've had mixed success with BN surviving, but they always clean. Not overnight though, and they only eat certain algaes. Some tanks they are fine but I've had some deaths too. Never paid $25 for an individual...half that maybe at the most expensive LFS.

What kind of algae do you have?

alicem is right...first reduce it by fixing the problem that's causing the algae. Then maybe a tank resident can polish up your tank.

Sad thing is other algae eaters are even LESS likely to survive or clean your tank.


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## Terrence23 (Oct 2, 2008)

Go to any LFS and pick up a small Chinese Algae Eater. You'll hear all sorts of horror stories here about them sucking slime coats off of other fish and getting aggressive but I think that's only when they get large and lazy. I get small ones between 1 and 2 inches in size and just give them back to the LFS when they start to grow out and buy a new small one for around two bucks.

After a failed attempt with a BN pleco, I bought one small CAE for my 135G tank. Several large slate rocks and plastic plants covered in brown algae were pristine after one week along with the rest of the tank. I've had two more since then and neither was aggressive. If anything, the cichlids pick on them but CAE are fast swimmers so they can avoid the abuse slow moving plecos get.

Regular CAE are pretty bland looking but there is an orange colored strain available too that's slightly more attractive.


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## clie' (Dec 20, 2006)

I have alot of differant kind of plecos and the bristle nose is the not going to solve your algae problem, only because they are extremely shy . Get yourself a common pleco, give it time to settle in , a good place to hide and when you put him in the tank, have the lights of before you put him in and leave them off for a good 24 hours. I have a total of 14 differant plecos in 5 tanks and all of them are crystal clear.
good luck.


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## Desi&lt;3 (Feb 13, 2008)

do not get a common pleco. They get way too big, they get lazy, they get aggressive, they stop eating the algea and start harassing. Commons are not go fish for this situation.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

For the other side of the coin I have been VERY successful with 3 Albino BN Pleco's in my 90 gallon Mbuna tank. They are almost never out during the day but at night when the Mbuna are sleeping they get to work. When I put them in the entire back wall was covered with green and brown algae as was all of the holey rock. This picture was taken about 5 days after they were in the tank:










At that point they'd cleaned off the entire back and a good chunk of the holey rock.

This was 12 days after the first pic:










Take a look at the rock on the top of the rock on the right. That rock is now kept completely clean. I use a mag float on the front glass once a week or so to get what little they don't get and the rest of the tank they take care of by themselves. They've been in the tank since November and I haven't had any trouble with any of them getting beat up (but I do have plenty of places in those rocks that they can hide during the day).


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

My bristlenose are out and about all day.


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## clie' (Dec 20, 2006)

Well I don't know where you got your common from but mine is 18" long and 12 years old . It's very busy and not the least bit aggressive . It shares a 150 gallon tank with about a dozen cherry barbs , 20 kribs , 2 banjos , breeding pair of bushynose , green phantom , golden nugget and yellow pleco and afew baby bushynose , all in a heavily planted tank . I should of asked what size tank you had before suggesting a common , a clown pleco is great for smaller tanks ,I have one in a 20 gallon , or a bulldog which I have in a 5 gallon . well anyway hope this helps some.


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

Well I haven't gotten my cichlids yet - but I do have my BN pleco - I thought it might help him get along with the cichlids if he got to move in first.

He is super cool and aggressively sucks the algae off of the tank, rocks, plants all day. One of my most active fish.

The owner of my LFS says that whenever he adds a new fish to a cichlid tank he removes all the rock work so that all the fish are a little disoriented and they have to establish new territories. Turning off the lights also sounds like a good idea and get the largest BN that you can.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I have a BN & a Clown pleco in a planted tank with, I guess you would call them, community fish. They are both always in hiding but I guess they do an ok job even with me giving them algae wafers every day. In my cichlid tanks I have 1 BN pleco (that also stays hid) & common plecos. I really think the common ones do the *best* job & they don't hide. I've never had any aggression out of any of my plecos but the common ones do get *big* & poop a *lot* (I feed them everyday too though). 
That one poster had a good idea for the common plecos... trade them in when they get big or lazy. A couple of mine are pretty big but they still keep the glass spotless. I'm not so sure I could trade them in (kind of attached to them  ) but maybe if they stopped cleaning I could :lol:


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## roffels (Jul 27, 2010)

the only way i would have plecos in my tank (which i do) full of mbuna would be to have a rock wall like most mbuna tanks do ... anyways i think a rock wall would help i ton with plecs because they can make a quick escape through the caves and holes i made in the rocks


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think you want to rearrange the rocks if you want the existing fish to tolerate the newcomers...to take away their advantage.

In this case you want the BN to *have* the advantage, so I would not rearrange his rocks.


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## mthom211 (Dec 22, 2009)

Another reason they may not thrive is because a lot of african tanks wont have driftwood which is a requirment for bristlenose. When i took the wood out of my tank they also came out looking for it and got beat up for there efforts. I now hide small bits in the rockwork and they stay around them and don't get beat up.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Although some plecos require driftwood, according to www.planetcatfish.com, bristlenose is apparently not one of them.

Mine just got harassed by the cichlids. The ones that made it were saavy enough to have a hiding place with a low ceiling (between rocks or in the covered terra cotta saucers I provide for them) and to use it frequently!


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

I have BN's in 3 of my mbuna tanks. They have spawned in 2 of them, but not the demasoni tank. They also hide more and have not grown as rapidly in the demasoni tank as in the others,
so the degree of harassment from their cichlid tank mates will definitely make a difference in how well your bristlenose do.


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## AnnaFish (Aug 9, 2006)

Maybe you just need to find a BN large enough to not seem like easy harrassins to the mbuna...

In my experience, the absolute best algae eater ever is the oto cat. Which, due to its size, is out of the question. It would just be noms.

Steve St. Laurent those are some fantastic time elapses and I really like your rocks!


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## yearmax (Aug 11, 2010)

I have a small BN now and had to seperate him from my fish. We had 2 and one is missing. They are the wifes favorite. I have 2 common pleco also and the are holding there own.. My bn is about 1" right now.. How long b4 he gets big enought to go back in th tank or should I take him back and get a bigger one?


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