Tank size and filters

Hello everyone.

I am new to forums, never been on one and am a flegling BN's owner. If I may, I would like to tell you a little of my current set up and what size tank I am hoping for soon and hopefully someone may be able to guide me a little. I, Becky, have been keeping tropical fish now for only about 8 months, I have a 35 litre quarantine tank which is being cycled and a 60 litre with 3 small brown bristlenose, I'm fairly sure one is male, he is older/bigger and has bristles, this tank has been running for about 3 months minimum with a fast flowing pump with a spray arm are they called? and an air pump. I am currently looking into getting a larger tank which measure 43 inches by 14 inches high and 14 inches width, will this be big enough for my 3 BN's once fully grown? If I were lucky enough to have baby BN's would the 60 litre be ok for them or perhaps the 35 litre? Can anyone recommend what to buy in terms of filter, heater, air pumps etc for my new tank as I am just buying the glass aquarium. Also, sorry about all these questions, would they be ok with tank mates? if they are would they be ok with other bottom dwellers?
I am very keen to learn and give my beautiful Brown BN's, Mugly Hugly and Bo, the best home I can and the longest healthiest life I can.
This is all very exciting
Thank you for reading this,
Becky

Which tanks you use depends on if you want to breed your BN's, your 60 litre tank could be used as a breeding set up for the trio you have and your proposed new tank could then be used as a grow out tank for the fry.

If you want to keep your BN's in a community set up then the new tank would be the better option There are lot's of fish that will live happily with your BN's, they will live with some other bottom dwellers but others can cause problems.
Smaller livebearers, tetras, danios, etc, will all be good tankmates and corys are usually safe with BN's, when choosing potential tankmates you could always ask about there suitability on here before buying.

When choosing filtration your looking at a filter that can turn the volume off water over about 10 times an hour, although 6-8 times is enough the figures given for most filters are at their optimum performance and by getting one that does slightly more will cover for any loss of efficiency. The choice of filter be external or internal depends on your budget and many BN keepers run a sponge filter and power filter in combo.

A lot of information can be found looking through previous topics and posts.

One of our members (Doug) has written a great e-book about all aspects of keeping and breeding Bristlenoses, info about it HERE.

Thank you do much for that information, very much appreciated I think to start with whilst i'm getting to grips with my BN's i'll keep them in community tank, i think i'tll be while before they can breed and that'll give me chance to educate myself a bit more.
I had a look at previous posts about filters, the eheim filters seem to be popular, I guess the 2213 for 150litre tank would be good? Or I've also heard that the fluval 405 is good? Are external the way to go really if I can afford it? And a sponge filter too?
I don't suppose Yoyo loaches would be very good with BN's, too crazy?

Eheim 2213 should do nicely on your tank (not overly expensive if you look on eBay ). If they aren't breeding ready yet then leaving them in the community tank shouldn't be a problem. Yoyos and clown loaches aren't that much of a bother except when breeding bn (I wouldn't trust them) I have sponge filters in all my tanks (little extra filtering doesn't hurt)

Sounds good to me, thank you kfenk. I think my male bristlenose might be old enough but my two others are too small/young so I'll put them in my community tank when I get it. I may be drifting off the thread here but any advice on good makes of heaters, I can't seem to find anything on previous posts. All this advice is very much appreciated :o

Bit more pricey but try the Fluval or Jager (made by Eheim) which are basically the best heaters money can buy. As stated above eBay probably your best bet for decent price.

I recently got one of the Fluval "E" series heaters and can recommend them, info about them HERE, as kfenk has said they can be found on ebay at a good price, I got mine for less than half the RRP .

As for your fish being to young if they are anywhere near the 5-6 cms mark they are potentially mature enough to breed.

Brilliant, I'll look at getting a Fluval, thank you.
5-6cms!!! Flip, I thought they had to be 3-4 inches! I got that completely wrong, that puts a different spin on things, I need to get my behind in gear and sort out bigger tank for any potential babies. My boy is about 3-4 inches and my smaller ones are roughly 2-2 1/2 inches long, one bigger than the other not sure what they are but pretty sure at least one is female. Going to try and take photos later and put in the ID topic to see what sex and maybe what type of BN they are, I was told in shop they were common BN but they weren't sure.
Thanks again for your help :o

Me again, sorry.
Does anyone have any experience of the Eheim Ecco Pro 200w external (2034) or any of the Ecco Pro range? Im pretty sure Eheim is the way to go but found the Ecco Pro whilst about to order the Eheim 2213 Filter for my 150 litre tank. Does anyone know which one might be best (I guess the price might indicate which is the better one?).

It's up to you really. To me Eheim is Eheim. The Ecco Pros are supposed to be more energy efficient than the classics and from what iv read easier to set up too. But I think they are more pricey I'm not sure (Havnt bothered to look lol) I have Eheim classics on 2 of my tanks (a 2213 and 2215) and I don't have any problems with them

Thank you again kfenk, I think I might stick with the 2213 if you recommend them. Have you got or used an external heater at all? I see Fluval do those too, just wondering if they're any good.