Which pleco would you recommend?

LisaC144

Wow, Eric. "Dark chocolate brown with caramel spots....amazing swath of richness". your little guy sounds like something I'd want to devour in sin.

Luckily, they are getting in both for me to choose from. I like the idea of albino because I have black gravel and black background. My peppered cories blend in so well with the gravel, sometimes it's hard to see them right away. I liked the idea of albino because it is different and will not blend in. But, I may change my mind when I see him.

Which brings me to another question. Do BN plecos develop their bristles right away? I was looking at pictures online and saw some that didn't have bristles at all. When I went to one LFS, I didn't see any plecos with bristles so I figured they didn't have any. Now I'm wondering if they don't actually develop them until they are a bit larger. If so, how can you tell if you're getting a bristlenose?...

1077

The male bristlenose I have didn't develop Bristles till he was nearly three inches long, (six months).
The female I have ,never developed any.

LisaC144

Wow, okay. Thanks 1077. So, how do you know it is a bristlenose you're getting at the LFS. I don't trust what employees tell me. My luck I'd get a "bristlenose" that magically grew a foot long Are there distinct marking I should look for? Now I'm wondering if my one LFS really DOES have a bristlenose...

rosehower

MH are youre bn's in with your plants?! do the BN's eat the plants???

1077

You may just have to take them at their word, or you could visit www.planetcatfish.com and see if the fish pictured resembles the fish at the store.
Inch for inch, the Bristlenose will be shorter than Common Pleco even when very young.IME.
There are so many species of Plecos that Identifying them can be confusing as some closely resemble others.
If the store has the fish listed as Bristlenose and other tanks holding common plecos,I would prolly be fairly confident that the fish is what they say. Often the Bristlenose will be a bit more expensive than the common plecos. The site I mentioned ,should have some photos of juvenile and adults to maybe help you to be sure.

aunt kymmie

My BN is in a planted tank, my BN does NOT eat plants.

aunt kymmie

Here's a pic of a tankful of ABN babies. I took it yesterday at Pet Kingdom in San Diego.
To my eye baby BNs have "wider" heads than the Common Pleco.

Attached Images

Plecos 012.jpg (43.1 KB, 10 views)

LisaC144

Cool, Kymmie! I'm leaning towards the albino as long as they look okay when they come in to the LFS. I think they would be a neat addition to my tank with the black gravel and black background.

aunt kymmie

I agree, I have black sand and background and my ABN looks great against it. Plus, you can always easily spot them that way.

LisaC144

Yeah I actually kind of wish I went with albino cories too instead of the peppered cories. All cories are so entertaining and I love them, but the peppered ones are hard to spot on black gravel. I was onsidering a shoal of albino cories as well, but I think it would make me a bit overstocked.