Should I get a bristlenose pleco?

Hi everyone, I am really debating on getting a bristlenose pleco or a red lizard whiptail, wich one would you get? Do bristlenose pleco often come with a lot of deseises? I never quarantined any of my fish but I am starting to want to quarantine so should I go get what I need to quarantine it instead of getting a bristlenose pleco or a red lizard whiptail?

 

How big is your tank? The bristlenose pleco is one of the smaller pleco species. I have a common pleco that is over 10 years old and well over a foot long. A bristlenose will get up to about 5". A 20 gallon tank would be the absolute minimum tank size with 25 gallons or larger being even better.

Unless you intend to breed plecos, it is best to get only one as males in particular can be aggressive towards one another.

As far as quarantine goes, all fish, whether wild caught or raised in captivity tend to harbor diseases, especially internal parasites such as worms. Plecos, like most catfish, do not have scales, so they are more vulnerable than fish with scales to external parasites like ich. Thus, all fish, especially scaleless ones, should be quarantined unless you are willing to accept the possibility of having your other fish get sick.

 

How big is your tank? The bristlenose pleco is one of the smaller pleco species. I have a common pleco that is over 10 years old and well over a foot long. A bristlenose will get up to about 5". A 20 gallon tank would be the absolute minimum tank size with 25 gallons or larger being even better.

Unless you intend to breed plecos, it is best to get only one as males in particular can be aggressive towards one another.

As far as quarantine goes, all fish, whether wild caught or raised in captivity tend to harbor diseases, especially internal parasites such as worms. Plecos, like most catfish, do not have scales, so they are more vulnerable than fish with scales to external parasites like ich. Thus, all fish, especially scaleless ones, should be quarantined unless you are willing to accept the possibility of having your other fish get sick.

Thank you for your awnser, I will get the stuff to quarantine fish. My tank is a 55 gallon so there is no problem for tank size.

 

Bristle nose plecos as far as I’ve heard need wood in their diet so you need drift wood in there. Sorry I don’t know about the other

 

How big is your tank? The bristlenose pleco is one of the smaller pleco species. I have a common pleco that is over 10 years old and well over a foot long. A bristlenose will get up to about 5". A 20 gallon tank would be the absolute minimum tank size with 25 gallons or larger being even better.

Unless you intend to breed plecos, it is best to get only one as males in particular can be aggressive towards one another.

As far as quarantine goes, all fish, whether wild caught or raised in captivity tend to harbor diseases, especially internal parasites such as worms. Plecos, like most catfish, do not have scales, so they are more vulnerable than fish with scales to external parasites like ich. Thus, all fish, especially scaleless ones, should be quarantined unless you are willing to accept the possibility of having your other fish get sick.

I purchased mine in May, as a baby BN Pleco. Was tiny barely 1 inch. She's become my favorite. They are very interesting. Mine like to camoflauge a lot. They do like driftwood to graze on- I haven't added mine to tank yet. (Its floating in a bucket lol) but I supplement with algae wafers, catfish pellets & zucchini & cucumber slices.. And she's growing like a weed. Fat & happy. You have a 55G, that's a good size tank for one! They can get a little territorial, May need a log or rock of some sort to hang out in during the day, they are mostly nocturnal. I've heard they do better with peaceful fish, I have mine with mollies & she bullies them the bigger she gets because mollies are food hogs. & I didn't have any problems with diseases, it probably depends on the seller or store & stress level of the fish though.

 

Just so that everyone sees that my tank is very suitable for this fish I will post a picture! I have wood and everything

 

Just so that everyone sees that my tank is very suitable for this fish I will post a picture! I have wood and everything

Beautiful! Yeah Pleco would be a good addition! Idk anything about the whiptail you mentioned.

 

I purchased mine in May, as a baby BN Pleco. Was tiny barely 1 inch. She's become my favorite. They are very interesting. Mine like to camoflauge a lot. They do like driftwood to graze on- I haven't added mine to tank yet. (Its floating in a bucket lol) but I supplement with algae wafers, catfish pellets & zucchini & cucumber slices.. And she's growing like a weed. Fat & happy. You have a 55G, that's a good size tank for one! They can get a little territorial, May need a log or rock of some sort to hang out in during the day, they are mostly nocturnal. I've heard they do better with peaceful fish, I have mine with mollies & she bullies them the bigger she gets because mollies are food hogs. & I didn't have any problems with diseases, it probably depends on the seller or store & stress level of the fish though.

I posted a picture above, I have wood and rocks for the fish. The other fish in this tank are 3 pearl gouramies, 10 hengeli rasboras and 5 corys (some died over the last 8 months I need to get more I know) and 2 amano shrimps, all very peaceful! What color of bristlenose do you have? I think my favorites are the orange and the black one with some white dots.

 

Just so that everyone sees that my tank is very suitable for this fish I will post a picture! I have wood and everything

Beautiful tank, a BN pleco would be very happy in there The whiptails are cool but I would get the pleco, they are very fun little guys. Make sure you have caves for him to hide in though or he'll dig all the time :/ I had to rehome mine recently because I switched tanks and he kept digging and clogging my filters with sand all the time. I only had one cave though and my tank was probably too small after the switch due to my large hardscape

 

Beautiful! Yeah Pleco would be a good addition! Idk anything about the whiptail you mentioned.

Thanks! I owned this whiptail for 2 weeks and it died It was probably already sick... That's why I am really unsure on wich one to get, I really like both.

 

I posted a picture above, I have wood and rocks for the fish. The other fish in this tank are 3 pearl gouramies, 10 hengeli rasboras and 5 corys (some died over the last 8 months I need to get more I know) and 2 amano shrimps, all very peaceful! What color of bristlenose do you have? I think my favorites are the orange and the black one with some white dots.

She is black, here let me see if I can add a photo:
Bottom photo is when we first purchased, top is now.

 

Beautiful tank, a BN pleco would be very happy in there The whiptails are cool but I would get the pleco, they are very fun little guys. Make sure you have caves for him to hide in though or he'll dig all the time :/ I had to rehome mine recently because I switched tanks and he kept digging and clogging my filters with sand all the time. I only had one cave though and my tank was probably too small after the switch due to my large hardscape

I hope he won't dig if I get one because I have a lot of plants, I only have one small cave but I would really like to get a peice of wood that would create a cave, I am sure that the corys would go in it when the pleco would not be there!

 

I would go for the red lizard whiptail any day of the week. Far more interesting fish. I'd go for a couple if they are not too expensive.

Having said that they are a more fragile fish so if you are inexperienced or your tank is not kept clean than i'd go with lemon blue-eye bn or a L204; conversely if you are adventurous you could consider a gold nugget pleco.
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I'm not sure how many people here know what a red tail whiptail cat is but i know what one is and they are marvelous fishes though they can be a bit shy. To be honest you could get both a whiptail and a pleco but if you do get a pleco at least get one that is interesting.

Bristle nose plecos as far as I’ve heard need wood in their diet so you need drift wood in there. Sorry I don’t know about the other

 

Go for it your tank looks like a pleco paradise! Nice job with the scape!

 

I would go for the red lizard whiptail any day of the week. Far more interesting fish. I'd go for a couple if they are not too expensive.

Having said that they are a more fragile fish so if you are inexperienced or your tank is not kept clean than i'd go with lemon blue-eye bn or a L204; conversely if you are adventurous you could consider a gold nugget pleco.
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I'm not sure how many people here know what a red tail whiptail cat is but i know what one is and they are marvelous fishes though they can be a bit shy. To be honest you could get both a whiptail and a pleco but if you do get a pleco at least get one that is interesting.

Thank you for your opinion it helps. The whiptails are not that expensive (12$ each) I would definitly consider getting two of them considering that their bioload is much lower than most plecos. I would say I am quite experienced, I can't have plecos that need high flow tho, does the L204 need a lot of flow? Gold nugget plecos get too big I would prefer a fish around 4 inch... To my point of view a bristlenose pleco would be interesting even if it's a very common fish because I never owned one but at the same time getting 2 red lizard whiptail seems very fun too.

Go for it your tank looks like a pleco paradise! Nice job with the scape!

Thank you!

 

The L204 does not require high flow in general but i've been told to breed them they need river like environment. I have 7 of them but the oldest is only 18 months.
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Most of the text i read suggest they require decent flow. They definitely require clean water. My tanks do not have esp strong flow. I have a canister filter on my 120 and as far as i can tell the flow is minimal. The 29 has a hamburg mitten filter (large sponge with air driven pipe for flow); it generates a bit of flow because i ahve it turned up but nothing really exceptional. The oldest one took me about 2 months to train him/her to trust me. She is still a bit skidish but as long as i don't make any sudden movements she will let me photograph her. Oddly all of them seem to prefer rasping coconut shell than the driftwood in the tank - guess it is softer. They are lovely looking fishes.
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Here are a couple of pictures:

does the L204 need a lot of flow?

 

The L204 does not require high flow in general but i've been told to breed them they need river like environment. I have 7 of them but the oldest is only 18 months.
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Most of the text i read suggest they require decent flow. They definitely require clean water. My tanks do not have esp strong flow. I have a canister filter on my 120 and as far as i can tell the flow is minimal. The 29 has a hamburg mitten filter (large sponge with air driven pipe for flow); it generates a bit of flow because i ahve it turned up but nothing really exceptional. The oldest one took me about 2 months to train him/her to trust me. She is still a bit skidish but as long as i don't make any sudden movements she will let me photograph her. Oddly all of them seem to prefer rasping coconut shell than the driftwood in the tank - guess it is softer. They are lovely looking fishes.
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Here are a couple of pictures:
View attachment 747079View attachment 747080

Wow, such a pretty fish! How big are yours?

 

The adult is around 5 inches give a take a little depending how you measure the tail. The male bn i have is larger and bulkier. The other 6 are younger (and smaller).

Wow, such a pretty fish! How big are yours?

 

For quarantine, can I take a sponge filter let it in the aquarium for a month to collect bacteria without having the thing to do the bubble like can i just leave it in there? And then put it in my quarantine tank but then I put it with the air pump, bubble and everything?

 

Pretty sure you would want to hook it up and have it produce bubbles in the tank. It is the bubble that create the suction that brings water into the sponge.

For quarantine, can I take a sponge filter let it in the aquarium for a month to collect bacteria without having the thing to do the bubble like can i just leave it in there? And then put it in my quarantine tank but then I put it with the air pump, bubble and everything?

 

Bristlenose plecos are the best! They almost always come healthy from the store and you can get 3 in a 55 gallon tank and the will do fine. If you get three there is a good chance of getting a male and female and you could get a breeding project started! I am a bristlenose pleco breeder and know what a good fish they are!

 

Bristlenose plecos are the best! They almost always come healthy from the store and you can get 3 in a 55 gallon tank and the will do fine. If you get three there is a good chance of getting a male and female and you could get a breeding project started! I am a bristlenose pleco breeder and know what a good fish they are!

True. Many plecos are wild caught and can have issues. Bristlenose are relatively easy to breed in captivity, so they adapt well. I have one in each of my 20 gallon tanks, although some people say that is a little too small. Certainly, anything smaller than 20 gallon would be too small for even one.