are red bristlenose pleco's fragile

[the other Irene]

I have been having issues raising up super red bristle nose pleco's.  I have multiple tanks and all but 1 have passed away before adulthood.  the tanks have good parameters. 0 ammonia and nitrite. 25 nitrate. ph 6.8. temp 78.  all from different sources.  I got 1 female to 15 months then she passed.  Any ideas?

 

my albinos are doing great and breeding.

[gardenman]

Mine are insanely tough. Food might be an issue. They're grazers and like to eat nonstop. (And poop nonstop also.) Mine pretty much always have some green beans or algae wafers available and then get some tubifex worms every afternoon. I almost never lose either a baby or adult. They're just very durable little fish for me. I would call them anything but fragile. 

[nabokovfan87]

@Phillipany advice?

[anewbie]

very tough if treated correctly. Would need more specific information about your water type and food as well as if the tank was cycled and temp. 

[Phillip]

On 6/4/2022 at 10:30 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

@Phillipany advice?

I’m fairly new on the breeding side. I have been keeping them for a while and have had zero issues. When I had them in separate community tanks I didn’t really worry about them. I just fed wafers and veggie’s pretty often, and didn’t treat the tank and different than a regular community tank. 
 

I do kind of overfeed the bristlenose breeder tanks and change water more frequently. 
 

Are yours in a tank by themselves or community tank? Are they getting fed a dedicated diet? I would imagine in a community environment you’d see issues with other fish before the bristlenose. Are you adding any other chemicals? I ask because I saw issues in my tanks, and had otocinculus die when I used liquid carbon for algae. Something like that could be going on??

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/4/2022 at 9:47 AM, Phillip said:

When I had them in separate community tanks I didn’t really worry about them. I just fed wafers and veggie’s pretty often, and didn’t treat the tank and different than a regular community tank. 

I have had some issues with BN from the store, just issues with them adjusting to my water.

I had harder water. Low PH.

What are your parameters? Maybe that helps out.

[the other Irene]

my water is very soft- low tds.  I feed repashy silent green and morning wood.  They are in guppy fry grow out tank- cycled and has been running for months.  parameters are in my 1st post.

 

I have adult albinos in another tank and they do fine and are breeding

 

the super reds are all about 1-1.5 inches.  could it be the age and that they are small.

 

[the other Irene]

I also have albino fry sharing the water as well and they are fine and growing- I have them in a hang on breeder box.  I just can't seem to keep the super red ones.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Guppysnailhas been my guru when it comes to rearing the fry. Most of what I’m about to say has come from her and our private conversation and DMs. Once again thanks @Guppysnail! We both keep the longfins and my females also carry a super red gene so 1/4 come out as super red calico. I would read through her journal there is much to glean. 

The parameters other than the nitrates being above 20 seem fine. 

When they are small <1/2” their world is only a couple square inches of the tank. Keeping them in a smaller container breeder box with frequent water changes is one way - like daily or twice daily, with a ton of food available - leaves, wood, and veggies. They easily starve if the food is not right there. I find that the ones I don’t pull from caves and colony breed  they travel more by being blown around the tank by the current then actually swimming. With my next fish room I think it will be emptying the caves into floating breeding rings or a Dean type fry setup. They need immaculate water quality and food. I pull uneaten food within 12 hours. 

In terms of veg, mine are partial to cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper, Brussels and green beans. I find it does matter how you cut them. My Ancistrus sp Rio Tocantin are very picky wanting them cut in spears, my green dragon albinos like rounds, and the calico sr lf like it anyway I’ve got it. 

Once you get them to around 1/2-3/4” you then have to feed the hell out of them to get them to 1” at around 1-2 months. Water quality and food are the keys. As mentioned they want 2-3x a week water changes, leaves and veggies are the keys to when I’ve had success. this is usually when I’m putting them back in with the parents. You should monitor as you’ll start to notice some thriving and others failing and you have to identify those fish and get them in a different setup. I have a tank that has tons of mulm, leaves and cover which I use to fatten them up. 

Above an inch my deaths have been due to tank related factors- disease, crashes etc so not necessarily the fishes fault. This is when their reputation for being hardy comes into play. 

I’ve mixed in some community blend of Repashy into my Green, bottom scratcher and morning wood. I think the protein is helpful in getting them fatter. As juveniles I keep this up but the adults don’t really need it. I’ve also put in Spirulina and a vitamin supplement from Brightwell for the fry and that did seem to help with survival. It takes the fry awhile to id the Repashy as food. You may need to divide the portions and distribute throughout the tank better. @Guppysnailmakes Repashy popsicles for hers and puts them throughout the tank. 

[ChargerstoLA]

for your initial question I have not seen any differences from super red pleco compared to other bristlenose. They tend to be tanks. 

You may want to add some crush coral to help with that low TDS. If I recall correctly, low TDS can cause swings in PH which will have an effect on fish. 
 

Do you have any wood in their grow out tanks? I see it as a way to have a constant food source to help between dressings without fouling up the water with food there all the time. 

[anewbie]

You don't want to add crush coral to deal with low TDS. low TDS is very good. You might check your KH; you don't need much KH for stable water - 1 will do. My water is ph 7.1 kh 3 gh 7 tds 120. My bn breed like rabbits and unfortunately a few of the frys tend to make it; though the nannacara hunts them relentlessly. He is an amazing hunter with much patient sitting absolutely still for hours until a fry shows itself. Anyway relatives like hard and soft and low or high are useless without actual values.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/4/2022 at 12:02 PM, the other Irene said:

I feed repashy silent green and morning wood.

I'd recommend trying the community blend as well

 

On 6/4/2022 at 2:49 PM, anewbie said:

Anyway relatives like hard and soft and low or high are useless without actual values.

for KH to "stabilize" PH you want it over 6.

[anewbie]

On 6/4/2022 at 4:49 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I'd recommend trying the community blend as well

 

for KH to "stabilize" PH you want it over 6.

And why do you want PH over 6? Anyway water short of pure ro should be over 6 unless there is an additive that needs to be gassed off before using it.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:55 PM, anewbie said:

And why do you want PH over 6? Anyway water short of pure ro should be over 6 unless there is an additive that needs to be gassed off before using it.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

Quote

KH is measured in dKH (degrees of KH) or ppm (parts per million), where 1 dKH equals 17.9 ppm. Typically, freshwater aquariums should be between 4-8 dKH (or 70-140 ppm). If you need to lower the pH for animals like discus or crystal shrimp, you’ll need to decrease the KH to 0-3 dKH (or 0-50 ppm). African cichlids, on the other hand, appreciate KH higher than 10 dKH (or 180 ppm), which usually goes hand in hand with higher pH levels.

 

[anewbie]

On 6/4/2022 at 4:56 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

 

That is utterly useless as it depends on the specific species. There are more than  a few fishes that require ph below 6 and many more that are perfectly fine in ph below 6.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/4/2022 at 3:01 PM, anewbie said:

That is utterly useless as it depends on the specific species. There are more than  a few fishes that require ph below 6 and many more that are perfectly fine in ph below 6.

I am talking about KH adjustment to stabilize PH from swings. not PH.

You stabilize KH, then adjust PH as you need to.

 

[anewbie]

On 6/4/2022 at 5:03 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I am talking about KH adjustment to stabilize PH from swings. not PH.

You stabilize KH, then adjust PH as you need to.

 

Those are general rules but not an absolute; as anyone who has kept a blackwater tank will tell you. Also ph swing itself is not harmful as anyone who has injected co2 into a tank will tell you. Anyway the op hasn't stated their ph was 6.8 and hasn't stated their kh so lets leave it at that. The problem with articles with that is it is a generality that has no chance to be correct for all situations. 

Edited June 4, 2022 by anewbie

[the other Irene]

i have wood. the ph is 6.8 and kh is 3. will try feeding more