Of males and territories

I heard that male bristlenose catfish will generally establish a territory... just wondering if they do, what kind of change is there to their behaviour? Do they kinda guard it all the time, venturing out for food? Or do they just kinda wander back and forth, and their 'territory' is kinda more of just a hollow or something that they prefer to rest in?

I ask coz my I kinda gather a bunch of rocks to one side of my tank (with a hollow area inside, coz I supported it with a small flower pot), whilst the other side of the tank has... nothing, besides the filter. Anyways, the male (the only one) doesn't seem to want to explore it, rather it just swims around on the side without anything all the time. >_>

Is that... normal? Or should I add more scenery or something?

I'm not too sure if my male is quite fully grown yet either, it definitely has bristles, and is definitely male, but the forks have yet to really develop. But yeah anyways, just wondering. :3

Mine can be pretty territorial and will usually pick a hole or cave when they are thinking about spawning, otherwise they wander around and explore. The more caves you have the better though, it will make them feels safer and they will be more likely to breed. I use drift wood and drill caves into it so that there are plenty of hiding places.

He would probably feel much happier with a smaller cave or two that is just a bit bigger than he is,you can get hold of them quite easily.Have you got some wood in there for him? A live plant maybe,anubias are very good,hardy plants.A moss ball would be good maybe.He definately needs a nice piece of wood.What rocks are in the tank?Are there any other fish?

Hm, driftwood with holes in them might be good... I might try that. Thanks, s0078077.

But yeah, I have a piece of wood in there, but not really that big - prolly going to get driftwood soon, something nice and big. I do have a live plant though, tho it doesn't really cover much at all. In fact, I just realized I took a picture of the tank not too long ago:



I cleaned the tank out practically completely just before taking that picture, hence why it looks so empty. XD But yeah, that's currently my tank set up, until I go get more plants. And maybe the driftwood (don't really know where to get that around here, besides perhaps a trip to the beach).

The male tends to hover around the filter - practically it's favourite spot. The other five swims around randomly.

Hi,havn't you got a heater? What other fish are in with him? What plant is that? If I was you i would take out those rocks as they look like the type that could make the water very hard,I could be wrong,where are the rocks from?Try and get a piece of wood,either bog wood or mopani and an anubia plant or similar and 4 or 5 caves spread about.Do you test the water regularly? What do you feed them on?

Sorry about all the questions but they are necessary in order to help you

Hehe tis cool, the more help the better. :3

In regards to the heater, I have yet to find one - it's surprisingly hard to find one here, for some odd surprising reason. Winter ended a while back and it's heading into summer now in Australia, so I kinda stopped trying to look for one after the winter. I am not sure what the species of plant is, but it's common in the local petshop tanks, so I assumed it was alright. The rocks were from a previous tank, so not sure on them as well - kinda look like a collection from different places to me, tho the water is soft enough (last I check it was around 9), but to be honest I am not too sure. As for the feed, this I know well. XD I feed them algae pellets, shrimp pellets, carrot and zucchini, soon to add bloodworm to the diet. Usually I drop in a piece of algae every 2 days, and cycle the shrimp pellet and one of the two vegetables - more algae pellets right now since the tank was cleaned out and there yet to be really any algal growth.

Do you mean the ph is 9 ? What is the temperature of the tank? What are the test results of the water please?

Sorry, the water hardness I mean, as in 9mg/L of CaCO3. Dun have the info on everything else tho.

I would deffo get a thermometer if you havn't already and keep an eye on temp and definately get the water tested and do a major revamp and get a bit more wood and some caves etc

Coolk, thanks for the advise guys. Definitely gonna revamp the tank, love these guys too much to leave it as is.

A pump and an air stone will help too. I would certainly get more advice on those rocks if i was you.There will be more forum members about soon hopefully to give their input on it aswell The more advice the better.

Bogwood is not only decorative and a good refuge for your BN's it believed that they chew on the wood to obtain lignin, which is thought to be a vital part of there diet and aids digestion.

Many suitable caves can be found on places like Ebay if your LFS do not have any or you could try making your own DIY CAVES.

A heater/thermostat is essential if the room the tank is subject to fluctutions in temperature mostly, it's between day and night, fish prefer a constant tempearture rather than swings, Having a thermometer will also let you know if the heater is working properly or if any outside causes are causing a rise in temperture.

Water test kits are a must, water problems are one of the main causes of death and diseases and checking water parameters can help stop a problem before it gets severe.

BN's need good filtration and water circulation so a good filter is essential, they also prefer good oxygen levels so, as Bristlenoses stated, extra aeration is always a good thing.

Have a look in the Your Bristlenose pictures section HERE you will find some pictures of set ups.

As for the stones a good way of checking if they are suitable for a fish tank is by removing them and when they are dry putting a few drops of vinegar on them if they fizz then they are calcerous and will break down in your tank and effct pH so should be removed.

Thanks a bunch, I'll try that. I'll definitely get a thermostat then, given that the temperature in Australia fluctuates quite a bit between day and night for some odd reason. With the themostat tho, I'm sure it'd come with instructions when I get it, but might as well ask - does it come with both a cooling and heating function - or rather, if say I set it at 20 degrees, it'd keep the water at that temperature regardless of how high or low the temperature outside is? Sorry if I sound noobish... but yeah. :3

Don't worry about sounding noobish, weve all asked the same questions when we started it always better to ask a daft question than make a stupid mistake.

I think most heaters are factory set around the 25-26c mark and BN's are normally kept between 22-28c, mine are normally around 26-27c. They only heat the water and do not have any capability to cool the water in extreme temperatures.

There are things you can do to help reduce the temperature on a very warm day you can have a fan blowing across the water surface, turning off the lights, drawing curtains and there are many other tried and teasted methods. I'm sure if you made a post about cooling the tank you would get plenty of suggestions.

It's not a problem we often get in the UK

Lol, well I've heard that a heat-wave in the UK is like 25 degrees so... XD

But hrm, does turning on the AC work? :3 It hasn't really reached 30 degrees here in the Aussielands, but god it's gonna get there soon. >_> I'd need the AC on anyways, wonder if that'd be alright for the fishies...

The AC will help of course, never thought about it with the previous post.

It's a luxury over here, hardly worth it fot the few days you would use it