Can I put a bristlenose in with a clown pleco?

[Catfish586]

Hi all. I recently replaced our dear old late bristlenose with a little clown pleco after being unable to get hold of a super red bristlenose.

He's a beautiful little fish (when I see him, which isn't often!) However I hadn't realised that they don't eat much algae compared to a BN, so our 100L tank is suddenly getting greener...

Could I get another fairly small BN to get to work on the algae? I don't want to upset the clown as he's only been in a few weeks and is already painfully shy - but are they OK together with no territorial disputes? And longer term will a 100L be big enough for both, at least for a few years?

 

[Colin_T]

what are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

they should be ok together if the tank is 3ft long or bigger.

 

[Catfish586]

it's a 100L Aqua Nano which is D40 x W60 x H47 cm - so only 2 foot long.

 

[Colin_T]

probably too small for both.

 

[anewbie]

It can work IF the bn is one of the colour morphs that tend to run a bit smaller than a natural bn. Also it helps a lot of the bn is a female.

Be aware that if both pleco are males they will seek caves and defend those caves possibly to the death of an intruder.

However the idea of buying a fish to eat algae is usually the wrong approach and in the end in effective.