BN Pleco

[FishRBeautiful]

So I realized when my tank almost crashed after a substrate change that it’s overstocked. It’s mostly back on track. However, I’m wondering if my Bristlenose pleco is outgrowing my 20 gallon tank. Is that possible? He’s probably 3 1/2 inches but bigger than all my other fish. (I know that’s normal but he seems cramped.) Is all this poop his/hers from like 3 days? Could my 3 nerites be contributing to this? Surely not the Corys’s? Platy poop isn’t black. I know because it hangs off them because they’re pigs. I’m flabbergasted a pleco is even recommended for a tank this size. Or did they accidentally give me a common pleco? Once in a while, I see him “aggressive” toward a Cory if they get too close any time of day or try to share his food during feeding time. He does have driftwood. And I feed sinking catfish pellets. Can’t find my algae wafers but when I do, I’ll give those again. And don’t worry. I’m planning to find any substrate but this that shows EVERYTHING. Disgusting! But glad I did it because it shows me what’s going on so I can assess my fishkeeping as a newbie. Shows food, poop, algae, everything!

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/1/2023 at 8:16 PM, LoveMyPlatys said:

Once in a while, I see him “aggressive” toward a Cory if they get too close any time of day or try to share his food during feeding time.

This is normal.  Certain plecos will graze off wood (like a clown pleco) while BNP and RLP will tend to use the grass or wafer types of foods.  If you're seeing aggression, just be sure to target feed the pleco outside of its cave during the afternoon when all the lights go out. 

I don't think the pleco is too big, but if it does keep growing, that's a clear concern that you did not end up with a BNP.

[Odd Duck]

Bristlenoses can get a bit on the big side for a 20 gallon.  My biggest are nearly 7” long (6” to the base of the tail = SL).  They take a while to get that big, but you might want to consider an alternative tank in the near future.  A 40 gallon breeder is a great size for a bristlenose and you could have a pair in a 40 G.

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/2/2023 at 4:42 PM, Odd Duck said:

Bristlenoses can get a bit on the big side for a 20 gallon.  My biggest are nearly 7” long (6” to the base of the tail = SL).  They take a while to get that big, but you might want to consider an alternative tank in the near future.  A 40 gallon breeder is a great size for a bristlenose and you could have a pair in a 40 G.

I considered getting a 30 or 36 gallon (there’s one I had my eye on) for Christmas but that’s my only option for upgrading my tank size and depends on space and flooring support, etc. Wow! I’ll keep my eye on the pleco. Seems like a pair of otos would have been a better fit. 
 

Also, It has changed color a lot as it’s grown. Is this normal? Seems like maybe it’s lighter? Not pale stresssed lighter. It’s done that like twice ever

 

[Odd Duck]

They can pretty easily shift colors depending on what’s going on around them.  Fish in general will tend to be lighter over light substrates and darker over dark substrates.  What I can see of him (her?) looks very normal.  At 3.5”, a “he” should be starting to show bristles, so you might have a “she” there.

A 30 breeder would likely be good.  The 36 G - are you talking about a bow front?  I found my 46 G bow front to be awkward to maintain since the curved front glass piece of the lid makes it so very awkward to get to all the corners to clean the glass.  I imagine a 36 bowfront to be similar.  Floor space is much better than height, especially when you’re talking about species that like to mostly hang out on the bottom.  Wider vs taller always wins for bottom dwelling species as far as I’m concerned.  Bristlenoses will get on hardscape and hang on the tank walls, but they don’t need much height.

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/2/2023 at 5:14 PM, Odd Duck said:

Fish in general will tend to be lighter over light substrates and darker over dark substrates.

That’s probably what it is. I switched to a light substrate. Even so, it used to be more of a blue black. Now it’s more of a brown.

On 7/2/2023 at 5:14 PM, Odd Duck said:

At 3.5”, a “he” should be starting to show bristles, so you might have a “she” there.

I’m thinking it’s a she too. I got the measurement based on my finger. LOL I measure big stuff with my arms.

On 7/2/2023 at 5:14 PM, Odd Duck said:

The 36 G - are you talking about a bow front

It may be a bow front. I haven’t seen it in a while. And I was more referring to floor space in my house. Will the floor hold, etc? Will my husband allow it there? LOL

[Odd Duck]

I’m fortunate enough to have a slab foundation which has its own drawbacks but I never need to worry about the floor load.  If you know which way your joists are running, then you can figure out if it’s safe.  If the tank will span multiple joists you’re almost certainly safe.  If the joists run the same direction as the length of the tank, you definitely need to take that into consideration as the weight of the tank will only be spread among 2-3 joists.  You might need to pick a different wall to put the tank against.  No need to pick a smaller tank.  😉 😆 

[FishRBeautiful]

There’s only one place in my whole house not used up that I can put it. I’ll check the joists. That’s good to know. I do know when my daughter was potty training and had an accident, it fell through the floor there and we had to clean it up in the basement. It’s an old house. LOL

[Odd Duck]

On 7/2/2023 at 5:59 PM, LoveMyPlatys said:

There’s only one place in my whole house not used up that I can put it. I’ll check the joists. That’s good to know. I do know when my daughter was potty training and had an accident, it fell through the floor there and we had to clean it up in the basement. It’s an old house. LOL

😯 😬😳 Support is good, so make sure the joists aren’t rotten.  There should be no give if you jump up and down in the proposed tank location.  

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/2/2023 at 6:04 PM, Odd Duck said:

😯 😬😳 Support is good, so make sure the joists aren’t rotten.  There should be no give if you jump up and down in the proposed tank location.  

Ok, good to know. Our basement isn’t finished so I’ll check it out well. 

[FishRBeautiful]

So back to original question. Is all the poop from the pleco? I did see a Platy with black poop tonight and a quick Google search says they can be “poop machines” too? And maybe the nerites also? Thinking to rethink my future stocking. My new GBR never poops. LOL

[Stef]

Looks like BN Pleco poop to me. I just finished growing out 123 babies from an accidental clutch. Messy messy messy. They dig a lot too. The poop should be fairly easy to siphon out by swirling and hovering a gravel vac over your sand. 

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/3/2023 at 12:39 AM, Stef said:

Looks like BN Pleco poop to me. I just finished growing out 123 babies from an accidental clutch. Messy messy messy. They dig a lot too. The poop should be fairly easy to siphon out by swirling and hovering a gravel vac over your sand. 

Thanks! That was 3 days after I siphoned it out. That’s not counting the other side under the fake plants. Wow! 123 babies!

[anewbie]

What type of bn is it - i mean is it brown, yellow, red, starlight. Also is it male or female. I find that frequently (but not always) colour morphs will stay a bit smaller - as well as females but there are exceptions. I've had lemons from 3 to 6 inches - but most tend to be on the smaller size. Likewise most of the females are a bit smaller but i do have one large lemon female. 

-

as for aggression; yea bn are aggressive when it comes to feeding. I put in some shrimp pellets one day (which they love) and the upside down cat and the bn were each eating one but then the bn decided the one the cat had was better and the cat was not willing to give up his so they faught for about 5 minutes until the bn gave up - he never tried that again with the cat. Both were on the younger side when that incident happened and there was plenty of food - the bn was just - well being a bn. So yea they will try to take food from other bottom fishes even if there is plenty available after all if another fish is eating it it must be good.

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:27 AM, anewbie said:

 

What type of bn is it - i mean is it brown, yellow, red, starlight

 

It’s just a regular BN. It’s brown now. Was blue/black when younger.

It’s probably not full grown as I’ve had it probably a couple months now but so far, no “nose spikes” so maybe female. 

[anewbie]

Yea it will take around 2 years or so to reach absolute max growth - if it is around 3 inches you should or begin to see bristles if male - depending on actual age. I have some young ones that took around 9 or 12 months before they started to show bristles. My first one was a brown - the one that got into a fight over food. One of my lemon (a male) got into a fight with a clown loach and he didn't put up with it and that was that (for the pleco).

[FishRBeautiful]

Yikes! Poor guy! That’s good it might take a while to grow. Since writing this post, my 4 year old keeps not being gentle around my tank and the water and tank goes back and forth a little. It’s a sturdy stand but still…it would be good to wait another year before getting a tank where she will be walking by so much. Going to try different substrates this summer to help the poop not show. No more pool filter sand. Yuck! Probably do ottos some day. Surely that’s better…or more live plants and CO2 booster is another option I read for algae…some day…

[Odd Duck]

Shrimp are probably better for “cleaning up” BN pleco poop (it looks like pleco poop to me, too).  Or burrowing snails will work it into the substrate if you don’t get it vacuumed up or siphoned put.  Fish don’t often clean up other fishes poop.  They might jostle it around and break it up, but they don’t eat it.  Shrimp or snails may eat it or at least break it up.  But you will end up siphoning it out sooner or later, whether it’s in big or small pieces.

[FishRBeautiful]

On 7/4/2023 at 12:56 AM, Odd Duck said:

Shrimp are probably better for “cleaning up” BN pleco poop (it looks like pleco poop to me, too).  Or burrowing snails will work it into the substrate if you don’t get it vacuumed up or siphoned put.  Fish don’t often clean up other fishes poop.  They might jostle it around and break it up, but they don’t eat it.  Shrimp or snails may eat it or at least break it up.  But you will end up siphoning it out sooner or later, whether it’s in big or small pieces.

I tried ghost shrimp once and decided I don’t like shrimp. They remind me too much of big bugs. So trumpet snails? Is some of it possibly also Platy or Nerite or catfish poop or is it mostly pleco? I switched to BDBS yesterday (very fine because it’s what’s available). I was siphoning it on white sand every few days and it still looked like this. 

[Odd Duck]

I try to avoid MTS since they can be too prolific.  But their cousins, chopstick snails (Stenomelenis torulosa), are much better behaved with a much slower reproduction rate, but have similar behavior otherwise and like to burrow in sand.  I know I must have some reproducing in my 100 G nanofish tank because I sometimes have random empty shells appear, but I only occasionally see the live chopstick snails.  Could be some platy or catfish poop, but unlikely to be nerite poop since I’ve only ever seen them produce tiny little nuggets of poop, never big curly bits.

I don’t use the fine BDBS because fine sand is more likely to compact.  Medium is much better, less likely to gradually run down your drain with cleaning, and far less likely to get sucked through a filter pump or powerhead and ruin your pump.