Dwarf Bristlenose Plecostomus Doing Tricks With Food - VIDEO

I wanted to share this with everyone. I just dropped in some fresh zucchini for my plecostomus to eat and my larger female Dwarf Bristlenose Plecostomus became very dedicated to eating it. Check it out!

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By the way, this is my first video ever on YouTube. It was actually a very simple process if you've never done it. I think it turned out well. What do you think?

Emporer Plecostomus L-204 AKA Flash Plecostomus

I got this beauty about 10 days ago. I went to my LFS and there it was. Like it was waiting for me. I just couldn't help myself. I had to get it. I was a little worried about adding to the tank with so many other plecos in there already. Not to mention I had Ancistrus actively breeding in the tank. But, I decided to gamble that everything would be ok. When I got it home, I floated it on the top of the tank for about 30 minutes. Then I scooped him out of the bag and let him in. He went straight for the favorite hang out of the Snowball Pleco and the fight was on! I was so scared when they first started. I just knew someone, if not both, was going to die. After about a 2 minute all-out brawl, they separated from each other and never had issues again to this point. As soon as the brawl with the Snowball pleco was over, he bumped into the female Dwarf Bristlenose Plecostomus and they went at it for a couple minutes. The Emperor Plecostomus made it's way around the tank violently introducing its self to every plecostomus in there. From the female Albino Bristlenose to the King Tiger Plecostomus, everyone was going to notice the Emperor had arrived. After about the most nerve racking 30 minutes of my aquarium life, everyone calmed down and carried on about their business and they have all gotten along just fine since. It was crazy that it went from the Emperor fighting anything with fins to it's all good in the neighborhood in 30 minutes. I'm not complaining, I'll take it. In fact, you could say I'm even grateful. I feel very fortunate to have all the fish that I do getting along in the same aquarium in addition to having the good fortune that the Dwarf Bristlenose are breeding too.

From what I've researched about them, they are from Peru. They love wood and actually eat it. They get about 5 or 6 inches in length.They like a little bit warmer temperature (78 degrees F) and tolerate a PH of 6.4 to 7.8. The one I have, in addition to gnawing on all the driftwood, seems to be just fine eating the flake food I put in, algae wafers and occasional zucchini.

Well, here's a few pictures of my Emperor for you to enjoy!

It wasn't until I was looking at the pictures I had taken on the computer, that I noticed there was a Dwarf Bristlenose Pleco fry in this picture with the Emperor Plecostomus:

How to Breed Dwarf Bristlenose Plecostomus (Ancistrus sp.)... Or at least how I did it...

This could just as easily be titled: 

How to Breed Bristlenose (Bristle-Nose / Bushy Nose) Plecostomus - Ancistrus sp.

I never in my life imagined I'd be breeding Bristlenose (Bristle-nose / Bushy Nose) Plecostomus, but as of right now, I am on my 3rd batch of eggs and have 2 sets of fry living well in the aquarium! Here's how it all happened:

Quick recap: As you've may have read in my earlier posts, I'm about 10 weeks into setting up this aquarium. It was intended to be an African Cichlid tank that never came close to happening. Part of the first batch of fish I got for this aquarium were a male and female pair of Dwarf Bristlenose (Bristle-nose) Plecostomus (Ancistrus sp.). As I started to add to the aquarium, I got set on the idea of having a planted tank. Along with the idea of a planted tank, I decided to try my hand at breeding...

How it all went down:
 While I consider myself to be a good breeder (I have 2 boys and am expecting a 3rd child in March), I have never bred fish. You, as a human, really have little to do with it. You're really just trying to "set the mood", so-to-speak, for the fish.

Setting the mood: After I had several plants in the the tank and plenty of driftwood (Plecostomus love to "chew on" driftwood) I needed to make a suitable cave for the male to call home. I decided that was going to be a small ceramic flower pot that I buried in the back corner of the tank leaving the top 3/4" exposed making a tidy little cave. I even put some Cabomba plants around the front of the cave to sort of give it a hidden or private feel.

The Male Plecostomus, however, decided his cave was going to be under a small piece of driftwood that I had situated front and center of the aquarium. So, now I have a small ceramic flower pot wasting away in the back corner of the tank. I'm content though, because he's found a home. He even pushed out some of the sand substrate to make himself some more room.

Now I needed to make sure the PH was low enough to encourage breeding. At the time, my PH was 7.2... A little high, but I could live with it, I just hoped they could too.

Mood - Male and Female... Check! Man Cave for our fella... Check! Atmosphere (Proper PH)... Give that a Check too! Now it's time for dinner!

Diet: To this point their diet consisted of Tetra Color Plus Tropical Flakes that I had been feeding the fish in my 29 gal aquarium. They seemed to like it well enough. I was also giving them a Hikari brand Algea Wafer at the end of every day.

But, now it time for the good stuff! So, I broke out some peas. (Keep in mind, if your going to feed peas, that you need to squeeze out the insides of the pea out of the casing, if that makes sense. It's easier for them to eat it this way.) I also sliced up a zucchini and froze it. At feeding time, I take a slice and put it in the microwave for about 12 seconds on high. This softens it up so it's easier for them to eat and (the best thing about microwaving it) it will sink if it's cooked! Let me tell you, they absolutely LOVE zucchini!!! They liked the peas too, but they LOVED the zucchini. They were getting nice and thick over the next few days, especially the female. I saw her on the glass at one point and thought to myself, "She's looking a little fat in the middle", something you'd never want to say to a lady. Turns out I was right though...

It starts: A couple of days later she was looking quite slim by comparison. I looked into the cave with a flashlight, and there they were. Positioned neatly at the top of the cave toward they back sat a compact little cluster of yellowish-orange colored eggs. They were about the size of a BB (you know... from a BB gun). It was a challenge to get a good look at the eggs since the male was positioned over them. The male will stay right on top of the eggs most of the time they are in the cave. He stays on top of them while continually moving his fins back and forth "fanning" fresh water over the surface of the eggs. This helps keep them oxygenated and helps keep fungus from growing on them. He's good at it too! Very diligent! Much more so than I would be. I decided I was happy to not be a plecostomus. I use it as inspiration... When my boys push my sanity level, I just think to myself that what I have to do as a father has to be way easier than fanning fresh water over eggs or new fry 24 hours a day! ;)

A little over a week later (I was checking daily), I peeked in and saw that the eggs had hatched! This was exciting! They were basically an egg that now had a head and a tail. The egg sack was still attached. They get their nourishment from the egg sack for the first few days. I checked on them every day until I noticed the egg sacks were gone. Also at this time, there are a few that have ventured outside the cave (they are about 1/2" long at this point). Now they have to rely on being fed to survive. I just used the flake food I told you about before. I just crushed it basically into powder and dropped in several pinches into the water. If you hold the pinch between your finger and submerse it in the water before releasing it, it will all sink immediately and not float. It's better to turn your filters down or off to let the food settle to the substrate.

It was next to impossible to count the number of eggs since Dad was guarding them with his life. It was the same challenge to count them all once they hatched too. The most I was ever able to count out at one time of the first batch was 11.

It was about a week after the fry had left the cave, I noticed that Dad was inside the cave allot. So, I got out the flashlight to peek in. Much to my surprise, there was another egg cluster! I did not expect that at all! It was just about the same process all over again. Meanwhile the first batch are growing quite nicely. All of them being about 5/8" long at this point. The only thing I am doing differently than I was before, is I am feeding flake food only. I decided to back off the fresh vegetables when the babies came out because I didn't want them to get hooked on that and eat nothing else. I have since set up a grow-out tank and I'm a filter short of having it running. Once I get it going, all the babies will go in there to grow up and I can start adding fresh vegetables back to the grown-ups' diet again. I don;t want the babies to get hooked on the fresh veggies because the object now is to sell them when they are big enough. I don't want to have them eating veggies and then go somewhere that won't feed them veggies.

As the second round of fry started to leave the cave, something unexpected happened... As I mention earlier in my blogs, I also have an albino bristlenose plecostomus female... About 3 days ago, I noticed her leaving the confines of the cave as I was about to leave for work that morning. I immediately went for my flashlight, and sure enough, there were eggs! I'm not sure what I'll get out of this batch, but I know I'll be moving her out of the tank very soon. I don't particularly want that to happen again.


That's about all I have for now. As soon as I have more updates, I'll blog about it some more! Thanks for reading about all the fun I'm having!  8)

"Dwarf" Bristlenose Plecostomus... The great debate.

Ok, I have 2 plecostomus that were sold to me as "Dwarf" Bristlenose Plecostomus. I've been looking all over the internet trying to find info on them and have been unsuccessful. I know enough about plecostomus and the different breeds to know the Ancistrus are a smaller breed of Pleco and have been called "Dwarf" due to their small size compared to a regular Pleco that gets upwards of 18" long. From most things I read, it says that bristlenose plecos top out at about 6" in length. I've come across countless articles and forum posts that have people saying that there aren't "Dwarf" bristlenose plecos, it's just that bristlenose are just small by nature and have been given the "Dwarf" tag* (Paraphrasing there).

So, my question is: Is there a "Dwarf" breed of Bristlenose Plecostomus? Does anyone know at what age or size most Ancistrus are considered sexually mature? From most things I've found about this specifically, it suggests that they need to be nearly full grown to be considered sexually mature. If that's the case, My pair (who seem to think they are rabbits) are only half the size (About 2 1/2" to 3") of what the majority consider the adult size of a Bristlenose Pleco to be.

Any thoughts, ideas or input would be appreciated.

Here's a few pictures of the male:

Here's a few pictures of the female:

Neon Dwarf Gourami's, Amano Shrimp and a Mystery Plecostmus...

A few days after getting my plants I made my weekly visit to my LPS and found a pleco hanging out in one of the tanks. the tank wasn't marked with a price for a pleco, so I asked what it was. They weren't exactly sure, but thought it came in with the Clown Plecostomus. He sold it to me as such, but we both knew it wasn't a Clown. I've posted a few pictures below. Hopefully someone will see him and know what he is.

 

I'm so proud of myself for taking these pictures while he was still in the bag because he's impossible to catch out of hiding. Please reply to this post if you know what he might be and / or have any information about him. I'm really curious.  

The same day I got him, I got an Amano Shrimp and a pair of Neon Dwarf Gourami's. I wanted to get something to stay on top of potential algae issues on the plants and something else to add more color to the tank.

 

I really liked the Amano Shrimp, but the Neon Dwarf Gourami's kept chasing the Cherry Shrimp around and I'm convinced they took out 2 of them. I took both Gourami's back to my LPS the next day.

New plants! - Amazon Swords, Water Whisteria, Penny Wart, Ludwigia Natans, Cryptocoryne Crispatula and Star Grass

It was just before I got the Otocinclus and friends that I got some more plants for the aquarium too. I got Amazon Swords, Water Whisteria, Penny Wart, Ludwigia Natans, Cryptocoryne Crispatula and Star Grass. I ordered them online and they were mailed to me. I learned allot from that experience... If you're going to get plants in the mail, only order stalk type plants or plants with thicker or broader leaves. Most of the plants arrives just fine, but the Star Grass and the Water Whisteria were pretty much a loss. I have the Star Grass floating at the top of the tank right now to see if it will revive. The Water Whisteria disintegrated on the way. All the leaves "melted" for lack of a better word. I rinsed them in water to get all the rotted leaves off and it just left the stalk and a little bit of new growth on each stalk. I have thos floating at the top of the tank as well to see if they will do anything. The Amazon Swords, Penny Wart, Ludwigia Natans, and Cryptocoryne Crispatula all have done very well. Over all I'm happy with the plants.

 

Here are the Amazon Swords

 

Here are the Ludwigia Natans

 Here is the Penny Wart

Here is the Cryptocoryne Crispatula (furthest to the left)

I now had concerns about making sure there were enough nutrients in the water to support all my plants. I bought some Flourish by Seachem from my LPS. It seems to be working well. I just added Flourish Excel by Seachem too since I don't have a CO2 unit on the tank. I was doing some research and ran across several people talking about Flourish Excel. I've only had it in for 2 days now, so we'll see how it goes. It's supposed to help growth and color.

New Fish! - Blood Fin Tetras, Von Rio Tetras Otocinclus and Cherry Shrimp

Well, it was about 3 weeks ago I decided the tank needed something moving around a little more than the Plecostomus do. So, I went to my LPS (Pet Smith's in Bixby, OK) and looked around for a while. I took them the regular plecostomus I had to free up a little room and I got 12 Blood Fin Tetras and 3 Von Rio Tetras to help with the lack of activity in the tank.

 (sorry the pictures are a little blurry. I couldn't get them to stay still long enough for a good picture)

I also got 6 Otocinclus and 4 Cherry shrimp to make sure my plants stay clean and free from algae. My Anacharis and Java Moss had started to brown just a little and it appeared to be some algae. They seem to have taken good care of the algae issue too since the Anacharis and the java Moss have no brown left on them.

They are all happy and doing well! I know I have a clean and well balanced aquarium, but I also appreciate that I know I can get fish that have been well cared for at my LPS. I'll have to do a special blog just about them sometime, it's a great place!