Bristlenose plecos in hard water?

[FishFriend0]

I have been researching bristlenose plecos and the resources I have encounted seem to suggest that they can inhabit harder water to an extent. In particular this thread: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/plecos-suitable-for-hard-water.206836/ .
I live in SW UK where the water is very hard (15.7dH) and slightly alkaline but I was wondering what levels they can tolerate in your experience as resources online seem to vary.

 

[emeraldking]

I'm keeping bristlenoses in hard water for years now. No problems so far...

 

[FishFriend0]

I'm keeping bristlenoses in hard water for years now. No problems so far...

What dH are you?

 

[Gertrudae]

My tap water is liquid concrete, 28 GH. The common bristlenose, Ancistrus hybrid, tolerates this and can live to a ripe old age. I had one for over 12 years with the Livebearers. But they did not reproduce, which I greatly appreciated.

 

[seangee]

What they all say! I had a BN who lived the last 7 years of his life in RO water. Before that he spent 12 years in tap water at 20 dGH.

 

[Magnum Man]

I have literal rock hard water, so I use RO for most tanks... but after reading they can take hard water, I moved a male and female mature super red, to one of my live bearer tanks... both look to be thriving... I was kind of hoping they would breed, but so far nothing... my female is quite "fat" right now... but it could be possible the eggs won't take the hard water, but the fish seem to tolerate it quite well...

 

[FishFriend0]

Wow, that’s good to hear, I haven’t kept any species of pleco before so it will be cool to have them! I am currently just researching for my next tank in which I am going to have a couple of species of livebearers and maybe some zebra danios. Is it ok to keep just one as I have read they can be somewhat territorial? And I have no desire for them to reproduce. Also would they be ok to be kept with smaller livebearers like endlers? Thanks for the advice

 

[Gertrudae]

Yes absolutely. They go well with small Livebearers or any other small fish and a solitary life.

 

[emeraldking]

Mine also reproduce without any problems. They are solely kept in tanks with livebearers in it. Never had any problems with these combos.

 

[FishFriend0]

Do you think I could add one female to my current tank then?
It is ~230l, has a fluval 407, has been going for about 2 years and is kept at 25.7 degrees C (78.2F), is that temperature ok for bristlenose?
In it there are:
6 boesemani rainbows
8 lemon tetras
5 guppies
10 ish platys but they breed like mad so a few more babies too.
+some snails and amano shrimp
Also I was wondering if the volume of the fish tank is directly proportional to the bio load of the fish or if other factors come in to play like temperature, filter size and whether it is planted or not (mine is) and how you guys would determine the amount of fish that can inhabit your tank?
Thanks for the replies

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Do you think I could add one female to my current tank then?
It is ~230l, has a fluval 407, has been going for about 2 years and is kept at 25.7 degrees C (78.2F), is that temperature ok for bristlenose?
In it there are:
6 boesemani rainbows
8 lemon tetras
5 guppies
10 ish platys but they breed like mad so a few more babies too.
+some snails and amano shrimp
Also I was wondering if the volume of the fish tank is directly proportional to the bio load of the fish or if other factors come in to play like temperature, filter size and whether it is planted or not (mine is) and how you guys would determine the amount of fish that can inhabit your tank?
Thanks for the replies

Yes that temperature is fine as my tank is kept
at the exact same and my Bristlenose does really well. Temperature I don’t think effects anything to do with how many fish you can have but a planted tank and a good filter means you can stock more fish. For stocking I normally use aqua advisor and more experienced fish keepers on forums on their opinion on what stocking is appropriate.

 

[FishFriend0]

Yes that temperature is fine as my tank is kept
at the exact same and my Bristlenose does really well. Temperature I don’t think effects anything to do with how many fish you can have but a planted tank and a good filter means you can stock more fish. For stocking I normally use aqua advisor and more experienced fish keepers on forums on their opinion on what stocking is appropriate.

Yes, this is a useful site, thanks! I plugged my fish and tank size into the site and got the result I will send a copy of below. It says that if I added 2 bristlenose it would be 104% stocked. Apparently the volume of my tank is larger than I thought (although I was trying to take into account the volume of water taken by sand, rocks etc). Do you think that with the fluval 407, plants and 50% weekly water changes 2 bristlenose could be a sensible addition to the tank?

I just thought temperature may play a role as it could influence activity of bacteria in the filter?

Thanks for the responses

 

[FishFriend0]

 

[Naughts]

Do you think I could add one female to my current tank then?
It is ~230l, has a fluval 407, has been going for about 2 years and is kept at 25.7 degrees C (78.2F), is that temperature ok for bristlenose?
In it there are:
6 boesemani rainbows
8 lemon tetras
5 guppies
10 ish platys but they breed like mad so a few more babies too.
+some snails and amano shrimp
Also I was wondering if the volume of the fish tank is directly proportional to the bio load of the fish or if other factors come in to play like temperature, filter size and whether it is planted or not (mine is) and how you guys would determine the amount of fish that can inhabit your tank?
Thanks for the replies

The temperature seems too high for those species, the platy especially. Have you considered lowering it?
Regarding stocking, the oxygen is reduced at higher temperatures.

 

[Fishkeeper123]

Yes, this is a useful site, thanks! I plugged my fish and tank size into the site and got the result I will send a copy of below. It says that if I added 2 bristlenose it would be 104% stocked. Apparently the volume of my tank is larger than I thought (although I was trying to take into account the volume of water taken by sand, rocks etc). Do you think that with the fluval 407, plants and 50% weekly water changes 2 bristlenose could be a sensible addition to the tank?

I just thought temperature may play a role as it could influence activity of bacteria in the filter?

Thanks for the responses

Yes that should be fine. This tank could have lots of breeding tho as Bristlenoses are fairly good breeders and the guppies and platies are livebearers so you just make sure you have a plan if/when they breed.