Bristlenose Pleco With Plants

[NeonNeptune]

I was at the pet store and saw some tiny albino bristle nose plecos. I know the common pleco will bulldoze plants and get huge and eat them, but will the bristle nose eat and mess up the anubias or other plants?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Usually they do well with plants. They only get to be around 4", so you don't have to worry about your plants getting bulldozed.

 

[coldcazzie]

They shouldn't uproot the plants too much, unless you have a pair in which case the male can start to dig pits and uproot plants.

They shouldn't eat the plants either, esp not anubias as it's quite tough and waxy so not very tasty, but if you do find them eating your plants then it's a sign they're hungry and so you should be making more of an effort to target feed them with veggies etc.

In your 20g you could get away with one, but not two, thus ruling out the first problem

 

[Louiseness]

My bristlenose will reliably destroy amazon swords, she can have vegetables and wafers in the tank and leave them in favour or sucking the swords' leaves to pieces. But she doesn't touch anubias, java fern or much else.

 

[lilfishie]

all my lot are fine with all my plants including swords, I have 10 currently

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Understand that the bn isn't really after the plants, it is after the algae growing on them. Even if we cant see it, it is ther., On more fragile leaves such as those of an amazon sword, the rasping of the algae is enough to rasp off the plant material too. On something with tough leaves, like an anubias or many of the other sword varieties etc., the algae is rasped of and the leaf is not damaged.

And trying the feed the bn is not going to help munch. It is in their nature to be munching away all day and night since they need lots of food going in and then they poop most of it back out. This is typical of most heavy veggie and algae eaters.

 

[NeonNeptune]

I have enough algae in my tank for them to eat so I probably won't have to try to feed them wafers.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

never the less you should supplement it's diet by adding in blanched veggies and algae tabs (the tablets have more protein in than real algae).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I did not mean to suggest not giving them a varied diet. What I was trying to say is that even if one does, this will still not prevent them from rasping away on leaves eyc.. They should be fed protein (especially for spawning reasons) on a regular basis. They will eat frozen blood worms and meaty sinking foods, even flake.

Sorry if I failed to make that clear initially.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

It's OK! I meant nothing by it just double checking Glad to hear you've got it covered, though!