Peppermint bristlenose plecos

Hi I'm new! I've been reading looooads on forums so thought I should start posting myself!

I've currently got 5 albino bristlenose which are growing up in my smaller tank, (2 of which are longfins) and one small longfin brown which I got today.

Today I swapped four of my synodontis catfish, for four peppermint bristlenoses (L071) with this guy from the internet!

They are gorgeous, but can anybody can give me a help on what is best to feed them?

Also, can the peppermints and albino's live together?

I've got tons of food available, including
Algae wafers
Bloodworm pellets
Shrimp pellets
Ordinary catfish pellets
Frozen bloodworm
A mix of frozen beef heart and banana

I also feed my others peas and cucumber etc....

that was a good swap in your favour, next time get some for me too..lol..

seems the foods are ok to me as well )

good luck in the forums and with the pep's now )

wolverine wrote:

that was a good swap in your favour, next time get some for me too..lol..

seems the foods are ok to me as well )

good luck in the forums and with the pep's now )

Thanks, I'm startin to wish I asked if I could also buy a few from him! But I don't know the limit for my tank, Ive got a 125 litre with bogwood driftwood and a sand substrate, (some slate caves coming) and some hand made coconut caves!

Finally managed to get a picture of the peppermints, I left the tank light off for a few hours...
But they aren't pitch black like they were earlier, ahh well it's as good as I can get for now!

Mind the tank! I had to peel back the backing to see them hid behind the filter! (Hoping to get a new backing soon)


A nice shot of the male... hes was jet black when I got him! He still needs to settle down


One of the females

I'll get some better pictures when they are showing their true colours!

Hey And welcome to the forum

Sounds like a good swap, I reckon you came out the winner on it for sure!

But I suspect you may be heading for issues. From what i read you have 10 bristlenose now, all in the same 120ltr tank. If this is right then they are over crowded. If the albinos and commons are still young then its not going to be an issue for a while but if they are all mature then you will start to run into problems, particularly if you are keen to breed. The rule i suggest is 1 male per 1.5ft of tank bottom and two females per male. of course you can bend this by ading in lots of rocks and wood to increase the surface area. this may allow them to live together but I would be very surprised if they showed any signs of breeding.

If you start to increase beyond the rules the males will start to fight and even though they look calm enough they can kill each other. they have extremely nasty spines hidden in their gills that can easily draw blood from me or you, and we are a bit tougher than britlenose skin.

Good luck with them, the peps look stunning!

Hiya, Its just the peppermints in the 125 litre at the minute!

The albinos are in a seperate tank and I will deff be considering selling them as adults to cut down my numbers if theres any problems
I would like to breed them which is why I'm not worried about the numbers for now, but once they are bigger and startin to show signs of pairing off or spawning or whichever.... I will cut down the amount I have to make room!

Thanks for the reply

Hi Abby & Welcome ,, Nice peps you have there
Feed your Peps, the same as the bns. But make sure they get their fresh veg, at least once a week ...
Mine get veg twice a week, a list of what mine eat is algae wafers, green beans, the actual bean, peas, cucumber. many others but thats their basic foods...I vary their foods daily..

Never heard about feeding them beans! Is that just the normal beans which you get in tomatoe sauce? (Obv washed) Or am I just being dumb? lol

I'll try that!

green beans, brown beans, runner beans, kidney beans, oh my think that is one for Doug or Moo again...

Quite a variety then! How about sweetcorn? Haha I know the shell won't be edible but what about the inside?

litterally any vegie ill be eaten by them if they can. The issue is some vegies foul the water badly and others are too hard for them to eat. For the hard ones you blanch them and for the ones that foul the water you simply remove them after a short time. The staples are cucumber or zuchini (people have their faves and tend to defend them ) apart from that check the list is the feeding time thread as it has a good list.

lol No I don;t mean the fartz beanz
I use green beans, and just the bean not the pod or the bean capsule..
Just the bean from inside the pod..
I usually cook them for our dinner and steal a few beans from our dinner portions for the cats n shrimp...
I know how much the inhabitants can eat in a night, so I never overfeed..well never too much that it fouls my water ..
It may take a while to estimate how much they will consume in a night, But you'll work it out, its takes a bit common sense is all

Thanks a lot
I do the same with the peas... steal a few from the dinners!

A little towards another topic but just wondered what you guys thought....

Whilst my peppermints are shyl hiding away, shall I add some of my younger albinos to the tank?
Rather than add them when they are older.... as it may cause problems!

I was thinking if they could settle in whilst the younger ones are in there, it would avoid any territory issues if I was to add a few when they are older as my breeding caves have just arrived! (four of them)!

I would only add about 2 or 3 small ones, not the tiniest ones!

What do you all think?

Abbie, I totally agree with you on this while they are young and others may not...lol

though if they starts showing signs of territorial dispute may be handy having a decent size fry saver at hand

Thanks I just rearranged my big tank so I think if I'm going to add the little ones in, nows the best time as the others are getting used to the tank!
(Not like they'd even notice I've moved it around, they just stick to the filter! Or underneath some wood! (just got new pictures of the peppermints and tank setup post soon in my post' my tank old and new'

I'm never happy with the way my tank looks, but just added 4 caves... which the kribensis are happily looking around.. in fact I think theyve already claimed one!
Hopefuly they will lay eggs this time and not eat them!

If the little ones get bullied or there are any signs of aggresion I've got the other tank to move them too... and my boyfriends tank as a backup!
No worried about the peppermints taking over at feeding time though as they get fed at night when the lights are off.

The guy I got the pepps from said he kept them with commons fine, so I'm hoping all goes well!

you might want to try a blue backdrop with peppers... it worked nice in my tank...

though I ended up painting it with blue tile paint and it makes the black peppers and albions stand out lovely...

you need some back drop let me know later and I might have some spare.... I also tried some old blue vinyl and wallpaper behind mine from the pound shop and that worked a treat too )

I have my peppers in with 2 female BN and 1 male Bn, along with 2 bumblebee cat fish, and a red tailed shark and they seem to be managing fine....

Though I do have a 4ft tank standing spare I am currently cleaning out and sealing ready for them to go in when we move home in 8 weeks.



speak soon...lj

wolverine wrote:

that was a good swap in your favour, next time get some for me too..lol..

seems the foods are ok to me as well )

good luck in the forums and with the pep's now )

Sounds great, but watch the water using banana. Try blanched Apples or Pears. Keep the watyer PH on the high side.

Good luck

Ian

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