Grumpy Bristlenose?

[Fishyfriend09]

Hi all, was just wondering if anybody that has or had a bristlenose plec, has it ever been slightly agressive when it comes to feeding time as i have heard they are meant to be peaceful, i spoke to one of the guys at the fish store and described the colour and markings to him and he reckons it might not be a bristlenose after all, he reckons it might be a leopard sailfin (gibbiceps), i hope he's wrong though my tank isn't big enough for one of those

 

[BigJim]

No experience with bristle noses, but I had a rubberlip pleco that would bully armored catfish three times his size out of caves.

 

[Kribensis_2004]

How aggressive is this pleco, is i t just pushing the other fish around or is it attacking the other fish. Do you have a pic of the pleco in question, or a description of the pleco that we can ID it with.

 

[Asbestos]

A brislenose pleco can do next to no harm to the other fish, mine will position herself right on top of the algae wafer so that no other fish can get it. I have also seen her sorta scare away my female bettas. but in general if it is a bristlenose they are (or at least mine is) gutsy and will stand up and fight.

 

[Fishyfriend09]

How aggressive is this pleco, is i t just pushing the other fish around or is it attacking the other fish. Do you have a pic of the pleco in question, or a description of the pleco that we can ID it with.

It doesn't seem to be actively attacking the other fish its more chasing them away from food. As for the pic I will try but it will be difficult due to him being really quite small. The reason i think he's not a bristlenose is that his colours are dark brown with orange spots, where the ones i saw at the fish store the other day were black with white spots.

 

[Fishyfriend09]

I know it may be difficult without the pic but im trying my best. i also forgot to mention that with the brown body and small orange spots it also seems to be getting orange/yellow tips to its tail fin. Me and my friend think that it may be Gold Nugget Pleco ( L-18 ). I shall try to get a pic, or video for confirmation though.

 

[Fishyfriend09]

Here are the best two pics i could get, hope they are good enough to id, if not just let me know and i will try again and maybe try a video next time

 

[Asbestos]

Looks exactly like mine, i don't know what else to tell you, but it cant really do any damage.

 

[mgamer20o0]

try feeding at night when the rest of the fish are less active and the pleco is more active. its just trying to guard its food. plecos eat a lot and make a lot of waste.

 

[Fishyfriend09]

try feeding at night when the rest of the fish are less active and the pleco is more active. its just trying to guard its food. plecos eat a lot and make a lot of waste.

This is generally what i do anyway, otherwise he might possibly be worse, lol. And i know plecos make a lot of waste but my tank is actually spotless of algae, havent seen a spot in the tank for weeks

 

[Drayven]

That looks exactly like my pleco. I wouldn't say she's aggressive but mine does push the others out of the way to get to the pellets. But they all do that to some extent.

 

[Fishyfriend09]

Thats great thanks everyone, now at least i know that he or she is actually a bristlenose =)

 

[7Enigma]

I think some of the problem is there are a lot of different pleco species that are referred to as "bristle-nose". For instance I was going to post that your pictures look nothing like a BN pleco, since mine doesn't look like that in your pic, but a quick google image search for bristle-nose pleco pulls up many different species.

As an aside, do only males have the bristle-y nose?

 

[Fishyfriend09]

yes 7Enigma i know what you mean, lots of different kinds, thats the reason i started this thread really since the one i have looks like the pics but when i went to the store the other day they had ones that were black with white spots which sparked doubt in my mind.

I am pretty sure there are some variations of BN's where the females can get very simple bristles and the males get complicated bristles with branches coming off all over the place.

 

[7Enigma]

My BN pleco has a very bushy nose and is brown. Depending on stress level I've even seen his head turn almost red (got really worried until I found other people that have seen this too). They actually can really hurt you as they have 2 sharp spines they can shoot out of the side of their head near their gills. I've never seen them come out, but I do NOT want to (always get the heeby-jeebies when I have to prune my plants near where he resides).