Hi everyone, new member UK

Hi, found this website whilst doing some research on my new BN's. I keep livebearers mainly but have kept bristlenoses on and off over the years, lately however I have become more intrigued with the different types available and have bought on impulse a pair orange ancistrus from my LFS (I think they are 'super reds' but they were labled Ancistrus Orange?).

I would some advice on this particular strain as regards to eventual size, feeding (herbivore/omnivore) and decor for the aquarium.
The substrate is playpit sand and there are two good pieces of shop bought driftwood.
The set up has been running for several months and there is plenty of algae for them to feed on.
Their diet has been mainly algae wafers and I have added some cucumber which I am not sure they have looked at,
They do seem to be happy and constantly cleaning the driftwood are feeding on the algae wafers.

My PH is 7 and have no ammonia, nitrates or nitrites.

Regards

Steve

Hi Steve, and welcome!

If your orange BN have black eyes, then I would assume they are Reds, or bred from reds. I would think the shop would have labeled them "Super Reds" if that's what they were selling, but I don't know the status of the Reds in your country - here in the states they are still somewhat in demand.
Their feeding is the same as all BN, algae, supplemented regularly with fresh raw veg (zucchini, cucumber, spinach,shelled peas, green beans, mushrooms, etc) keeping high protein foods to a minimum. I use live bbs and microworms, sometimes frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp to condition for breeding. Algae wafers occasionally (2 or 3 times a week) are fine, but they should be encouraged to eat the veg as their primary food.
Size should be in line with all the color varieties. Tank decor sounds good, driftwood is necessary, and if you have a male, a cave of some sort should be provided. A good cover on the tank, and some kind of barriers to keep them out of the filter if you use the HOB type.
Just a final note. Your ammonia and nitrites should be zero, but with a cycled tank there should be a small, but measurable amount of nitrate.
Sarah

Hi Steve and welcome to Bristlenoseworld

How big are your bristlenoses ?



Bristlenoses

Hello and welcome : )

Hello Sarah, bristlenoses and ktk05

Thank you for replys it's good to know there is help out there, this is the first time I have used a forum so was a little unsure of how people would respond.

My bristlenoses are a little over two and a half inches long with the female slightly larger than the male, they have black eyes and good colouration much inline with the images on the net for 'super reds'. The chap in my LFS claimed that they come from a Czec exporter and were delivered as orange.The good thing is they are active and always on show which I take to mean they are happy in their enviroment.

I have removed the cucumber that was placed in the aquarium the other day as it has now gone soft and was breaking up, I will try the other vegetables you suggested although I would never have thought to use mushrooms. I have used tomatoes in the past are these ok for BN's or are they too acidic? also do BN's really respond well if Garlic is smeared on their food first as I have read earlier?

There is a cave in the aquarium it was placed for some apistos but the male BN has convinced them that he should live there, I now have to find them a new cave.

My filter is an internal and there is no access inside for the fish, however do they have a reputation for jumping as I do like to keep the lid open to allow more natural light in?

apologies if I have resent the same message my computer went belly up whilst trying to reply earlier.

Regards

Steve

I think the garlic trick works. Just make sure it's not garlic salt. I use granulated garlic. My BNs never touched zucchini until I smeared it with garlic. They happily eat anything that I smear the garlic on. The other fish I the tank love it too! Also if you feed a lot of wafers they might not have an appetite for fresh foods. ,I and many others here, have great success with no salt added green beans.

Try looking in the DYI section for good ideas on caves. I use terra cotta cut in half and siliconed together. I also use coconuts.

Hiya Steve

Hi again Steve,

I've never tried tomatoes, so I can't say. Actually, I don't know if tomatoes are considered a veg or fruit, not that it matters. They will eat fruit, and a small piece of cantaloupe (rock melon?) on occasion is often appreciated.

Raw mushrooms are well liked by mine, esp the fry. I feed a lot of fresh spinach, and other dark leafy greens, a bunch of leaves held together with a vegi clip if you have one works great, and raw greens don't tend to break down as quickly as other foods. You can also rubber band it to the driftwood.

Most fresh raw veg will float, possibly why blanching is often recommended. IMO that only speeds up break down and is unnecessary, except perhaps for very young fry. There are very few veg that BN won't eat, and everybody (fish and keeper alike) has their favorites.

Lots of people feed no-salt canned green beans. I rarely do (please, no green bean war folks just a personal preference). I choose fresh 1st, frozen 2nd and canned last. Canned beans have been soaking in water for a long time already, so they start out mushy and deteriorate more quickly. (Plus I'm lazy and have many BN - splitting and debeaning a can of green beans is a pain.)

You may have to withhold the wafers for a few days to get them eating other foods, or you can try sticking half a wafer into a piece of zucchini or cucumber. They'll have to rasp on the veg to reach the wafer, sometimes that's all it takes for them to realize they like it.

As far as jumping, yes and no. They are notorious for "climbing" up into filters via the overflow or tubing, but they will also jump, rather like salmon going upstream! So I do suggest a cover unless your water level is several inches from the top, and even then I wouldn't underestimate them. A glass canopy, or just a strip of clear plastic or glass to block the open lid might work.

It certainly sounds like you have Super Reds. Hopefully they will spawn for you, the fry will help give you some idea of the parents genetics. Since your male has already caved up, and the female is larger I'd be watching for signs of spawning behavior, and plan ahead if you want to raise the fry. They are safe with the parents, and other BN, but most other species consider them a tasty snack.

Good to have you here, Sarah

Why does everyone "debean" their canned green bean? I just cut them in Half length wise. The BNs never seen to eat them buy my other fish love them!

I didn't used to debean them but i found that the beans get left and quickly start to go furry.So i then started to debean them and it is so much better than keep trying to pick the beans out of the tank.If your other fish eat them then thats great.I didn't even used to cut them,i used to just pop them straight in and they never had a problem eating them but as i said the beans were left so now I have to open them to remove the beans.The inside is a little bit softer and the babies seem to prefer eating the inside.


Bristlenoses

I just KNEW IT..... I sparked a GREEN BEAN war!

KTK, my BN are in species tanks - there are no other fish to eat the beans...

I go through at least half a large bag of fresh spinach or mixed greens and two lrg zucchini or cucumbers every other day. Along with the additional mushrooms, nori, melon, algae wafers, spirulina flake, etc. for the plecos and algae eaters.

They also get the benefit of twice daily hatches of live bbs needed for the angel fry and guppies. And live microworms. Occasionally frozen bs, mysis shrimp, or bloodworms. Very rarely, some live whiteworms.

I don't think my fish are missing out because canned green beans are not on the menu. Even the fry eat all the same foods as the adults and thrive. I lightly steam the greens so they sink and spread throughout the tank esp when I have large numbers of fry so everybody finds food easily.

And since the BN don't even particularly like them, the only reason I do sit and shell frozen peas a couple times a week is for a pair of geriatric bettas, and my idiot CAE who thinks they are crack cocaine.

Peace, Sarah

Firstly welcome to the forums mate

I feed my bns a different assortment of fruit and veg. They seem to love cucumber and butternut pumpkin goes down really well with them too. Strawberries disappear very quickly, and tomatoes are also liked (provided you take out the gooey seed stuff). I haven't tried the green beans yet either, nor do I blanch the food. I prefer any fruit/veg to be fresh.
If you're having trouble getting them to eat the fresh food, try doing as Saradd suggested and rubberband the food to their most popular area of the tank. If bns are not used to fresh food, they can often be frightened of seeing it in their tank. The first time I put pumpkin in, they avoided it for a whole day, unsure of the bright coloured object on the ground. But once one landed on it and actually started munching on it, he didn't leave the pumpkin alone for the next 24 hours and the others then joined in. So whatever popular area your bns hang out in, place the piece of fruit/veg there. Don't feed them anything else while you teach them that veggies are yummy :P

Would love to see some pics of them.