Name: Common bristlenose

Scientific Name: Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus  .

Family: Loricariidea.

Origin: South America.

Maximum size: 15 cm / 6”.

Tank size: 15g min but 20g+ is a lot better because the produce a lot of mess so need really good filtration.

Tank temp: 22C – 28C.

Tank setup: They need lots of caves to hide and spawn in. They need wood because they will eat wood as part of there diet, apart from that they will work in most set ups.

Tank compatibility: Perfect for community tanks and medium sized low aggression fish. Even tiny fry will be left alone once free swimming,

Ph: They have been tank bred for so long they are very tolerant of ph so anywhere between 6-8 will be fine but bellow 7 is best.

Feeding: Mainly vegetable based diet with algae, algae wafers, cucumber, courgette and most other none citrus fruits and veg. They also like some meaty foods like bloodworm.

Sexing: Males will get lots of bristles (tentacles) over the nose where as females have none or very little. Males can start getting bristles for 2” but its hard to tell sex for sure until 3”+

Breeding: They will spawn in a cave with the female laying 50+ eggs sometimes over 100 eggs can be laid in a single spawning. The male will guard the eggs, they should hatch after 3-4 days and will stay in the cave for another 3-4 days guarded by the male until all there yolk sacs absorbed. After this they can be fed on the same foods as the adults.

Comment: A great little plec that can be found in most shops for a good price but often a lot cheaper from breeders. A very easy to breed plec which is a great beginner fish. Come in a wild range of colours including Brown, albino, piebald, lemon and super red.

Female brown BN
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Adult male albino BN and young albino female BN
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Albino male with BNs
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2-4 week old fry
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6 Month old fry
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