the difference between a bristlenose and a pleco

[queer]

just wondering if any one can tell me what is visually diffenent between the 2 (bristlenose and pleco's) i have what i was told was a bristlenose but am unsure please some one help [/quote]

[Fluff]

I'm not sure I understand your question. A bristlenose is a pleco. Just a smaller species. And the males will grow bristles on his nose. If you were sold a pleco as a bristlenose and it lacks the bristles (or has very short ones), it would be female.

[mandi]

Originally Posted by Fluff

And the males will grow bristles on his nose. If you were sold a pleco as a bristlenose and it lacks the bristles (or has very short ones), it would be female.

Sorry to threadjack (but it does seem Fluff has answered the original ?) --
Fluff -- I have also read/been told that the females do NOT grow bristles down the middle of the face but males do -- how accurate is that? I ask because thus far I have found bristlenoses in many [acronym:d60486b99b="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:d60486b99b] and they ALL have the bristles down the middle...some have longer bristles than others, though -- so I am left unsure as to whether they are ALL males I have seen (because of the middle bristles) and some are just more juvenile (thus the different length of bristles) or if it is untrue about females lacking the center bristles and the ones I have seen are in fact males (longer) and females (shorter).

[Fluff]

That sounds like pretty good advice for sexing. Provided the pleco is mature enough. Some males are slower blooming than others. I have one that is just under two inches that is just now starting to get his bristles. I'd say anything under two inches is gonna be kinda hard to sex. The bristles can vary alot but, yeah. I've never seen a female with the centerline of bristles. If you go to planetcatfish.com and do a search for common bristlenose, it will bring up many great pics.

[lp26kwan]

all i know is that bristlenose is the algae killer.

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by mandi

I have also read/been told that the females do NOT grow bristles down the middle of the face but males do -- how accurate is that?

It really depends on the species...sexual bristle morphology really differs depending on the species in question.

To answer the original question, yes and no. 'Pleco' was a general term/jargon taken from the shortened 'Plecostomus' and covered pretty much all of the Loracaridid catfishes available at the time (circa 1950's-1960's). Arguably, one could tar all Loracaridae as 'Plecos', but with so many changes to taxonomy and new species discoveries (Ancistrus, Panaques, etc), is is really becoming a dated term, and now is only accurate towards such fish as 'common plecos', 'sailfin plecos', etc.