Looking like the proverbial dog that just stuck its mouth in a porcupine, the Ancistrus or Bristle-nose Catfish are a very interesting and colorful member of the Loricariidae family of catfish!
haz - 2009-02-07 I had a male and female bristly, and they bred. Had about 100 babies. Very fun fish to own, very hard to find when small, lol. Get one, they are most fun.
Ellie Homes - 2008-03-21 I am about to buy a bristle nosed catfish, would like any information on how long they live for, if I can keep them in a normal bedrooom, and the light and dark conditions.
Christopher Cargile - 2007-11-30 I've had both the regular and bristlenose plecos in the past, and in my opinion bristlenoses are the better fish. For one thing they stay small, and i have had many problems with regular plecos attacking my fish especially my goldfish. Regular plecos can sometime turn mean and start to clean my fish instead of the glass. This has never occured with the bristlenose. If you need a pleco for your goldfish tank go with the bristlenose, you wont regret it.
Richard Stanton - 2006-12-31 We bought a pair of young adult snowflake bristlenose catfish (hoplygenys) last year and they've performed an amazing job of keeping our 4' community tank totally algae free - much better than the "algae eating shrimps" managed alone.
We have our lighting on a timer giving 12 hours of light per day. Both the male and female prefer to feed at night and are very shy, the slightest movement sends them diving for cover!
While we were away over Christmas they've had a good time, as we came back to about a dozen babies busily scrubbing the gravel :-) The young have no fear of light or movement.
Great site by the way, lots of useful info. I didn't know about feeding them celery/cucumber so thanks for that :)
ryan monahan - 2006-05-28 I bought a new tank 3 months ago and I was starting to get alot of algae in my tank. So I went to the fish store to go buy a pleco, and bought a bristol nose. In one night it had my tank looking new.
jb - 2006-01-22 Our pair of bristle noses have just had a batch of eggs hatch, and they've already laid another batch. These little fellas are way cool.
stuart graham - 2005-08-14 you can`t beat these little fella`s, having said that I have 2 very large sail fin plec`s at just over 1 foot in my heated KOI pond. they help to keep the alge down so they help the UV do it`s job. I also have 7 baby bristle nose and another sailfin in my 4 foot tank.
Peter - 2005-01-29 I have just bought a WHITE SPOT BRISTLE NOSE ANCISTRUS TODAY. seems to have settled straight into community tank life, going straight into action cleaning the algae from the glass. looks just like the predator in the films with out its mask on. will post again soon
mark - 2004-03-08 If you dont have a Pleco in your tank, you dont know what you are missing. I love them. They are great to watch and you can get so many different kinds, sizes and colours, I have 4 of them. 2 Bristlenosed, 1 Veiltail, 1 Royal and soon to get a Zebra Pleco. They are a great edition to any tank and they dont eat your plants or bully other fish, even the larger Plecos. A must have fish.
Looking like the proverbial dog that just stuck its mouth in a porcupine, the Ancistrus or Bristle-nose Catfish are a very interesting and colorful member of the Loricariidae family of catfish!
I had a male and female bristly, and they bred. Had about 100 babies. Very fun fish to own, very hard to find when small, lol. Get one, they are most fun.
I am about to buy a bristle nosed catfish, would like any information on how long they live for, if I can keep them in a normal bedrooom, and the light and dark conditions.
I've had both the regular and bristlenose plecos in the past, and in my opinion bristlenoses are the better fish. For one thing they stay small, and i have had many problems with regular plecos attacking my fish especially my goldfish. Regular plecos can sometime turn mean and start to clean my fish instead of the glass. This has never occured with the bristlenose. If you need a pleco for your goldfish tank go with the bristlenose, you wont regret it.
We bought a pair of young adult snowflake bristlenose catfish (hoplygenys) last year and they've performed an amazing job of keeping our 4' community tank totally algae free - much better than the "algae eating shrimps" managed alone.
We have our lighting on a timer giving 12 hours of light per day. Both the male and female prefer to feed at night and are very shy, the slightest movement sends them diving for cover!
While we were away over Christmas they've had a good time, as we came back to about a dozen babies busily scrubbing the gravel :-) The young have no fear of light or movement.
Great site by the way, lots of useful info.
I didn't know about feeding them celery/cucumber so thanks for that :)
I bought a new tank 3 months ago and I was starting to get alot of algae in my tank. So I went to the fish store to go buy a pleco, and bought a bristol nose. In one night it had my tank looking new.
gotta get one!!
Our pair of bristle noses have just had a batch of eggs hatch, and they've already laid another batch. These little fellas are way cool.
you can`t beat these little fella`s, having said that I have 2 very large sail fin plec`s at just over 1 foot in my heated KOI pond. they help to keep the alge down so they help the UV do it`s job. I also have 7 baby bristle nose and another sailfin in my 4 foot tank.
I have just bought a WHITE SPOT BRISTLE NOSE ANCISTRUS TODAY. seems to have settled straight into community tank life, going straight into action cleaning the algae from the glass. looks just like the predator in the films with out its mask on. will post again soon
If you dont have a Pleco in your tank, you dont know what you are missing. I love them. They are great to watch and you can get so many different kinds, sizes and colours, I have 4 of them. 2 Bristlenosed, 1 Veiltail, 1 Royal and soon to get a Zebra Pleco. They are a great edition to any tank and they dont eat your plants or bully other fish, even the larger Plecos. A must have fish.