Bizzare Bristlenose

How many do you think you have?

Lots, well over 100!

Great news Rob i think it is amazing watching the shere amount of them perfectly formed just like mum & dad going crazy around the tank at such a young age.Sounds like as you say batch N# 2 is due,prepare to be overun.

Well a little over a month, and I think I must have lost quite a few of the babies, it's hard to be sure as there are so many nooks and crannies in the tank. None the less there are still a lot, some growing faster than others.
The parents have taken their time, but Dad is now guarding his second batch, laid friday, so as Paul said.....

prepare to be overun

lol it dont take a pair long Rob once they get started & im sure that you will have many more from them yet.

Aren't you forgetting something? Pics please!

Aren't you forgetting something? Pics please!

OK Helen, your wish is my command.....
But as I mentioned....

there are so many nooks and crannies in the tank.

I now have 2 adult males and 2 adult females in the tank.
First photo is a whole tank shot, the mother of the babies is at the bottom left, she's also the female that laid the current batch of eggs (middle photo). You can also see the second female on the filter (back right) and the cave where the male is guaring the eggs is about a third of the way in from the right. If you look closely, you'll see one of the babies on the rock just to the right of the cave. The babies are hard to photograph as they are constantly darting in and out of the rocks, but the bottom photo gives a good idea of what they look like!

Thanks Rob. Nice tank, and I see what you mean by "nooks and crannies". Lol

common bristlenose you have but some get more bristles then other i have had females with bristles also,

there is a few species of bristlenose about and some stunning ones !
i have a pair of L182 and wow these can spawn over 800 babies depending size of the female !
here was there last batch :





but by far this is the best looking bristlenose i have 5 growing on at the moment :

Hi OwNz,

common bristlenose you have but some get more bristles then other i have had females with bristles also,

I don't profess to be a taxonomist, and despite running an aquatic store, I'm not that clued up on bristlenose. I would agree that it does look very similar to the common ancistrus but checking on planet catfish [url=http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=1940 ]http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=1940 [/url]
the common Bristlenose only grows to about 3 1/2" whilst this one gets is over 5" long

Here's a photo where I got him to pose by a ruler


and a close up of those bristles


Having checked with my supplier, I believe they came from Paraguay and I have settled on a tentative ID of Ancistrus pirareta.

some get more bristles then other i have had females with bristles also,

There was a lot of variation in the bristles on the ones we got in, and yes the females of these are comparatively bristly ...


Whatever the species, they clearly like to breed, about a week ago the male was spawning with one female, half an hour later and the eggs were outside the cave and he was inside with a different female. I tried to hatch the ejected eggs artificially but they fungused, but he's got yet another clutch of wrigglers. It will be interesting to see how the bristles develop on the youngsters, some of the first batch are about 1 1/4" now.

I do like starlight plecs too!

i have seen commons at 5" before mate i have a breeding pair the same size imo they are common i will ask jo at rare aquatics to see what she thinks !

males will spawn more when they have eggs,

if they boot the eggs again get a small egg tumbler or search it on youtube mate