BN sizes

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 20 Oct 2004, 05:42

I have 5 albino bristlenose plecos, all of them a little over an inch long. One of the 5 is already sporting bristles along his nose, and I say his because I assume it is a male?

I have no idea on the ages of these 5; bought them at seperate times at the same lfs, so I can presume from the same breeder. But if 1 out of the 5 has bristles already, does that make the other 4 late bloomers, or all female?

saradora · Post by **saradora** » 24 Oct 2004, 16:58

A venerable source told me that bristlenoses can be very misleading because a fish whose growth has been stunted by something like poor water quality may be mature enough to exhibit the characteristic bristles at a very small size. In this case, although the fish is mature it will never attain its full size. As far as I know, you cannot sex them with any certainty under 2-3" and a fish that exhibits bristles at a smaller size could be a stunted fish. Also complicating matters are the small bristles the females sometimes develop.
I am no pleco guru, but I hope this helps!

Post by **Barbie** » 24 Oct 2004, 17:46

Just keep doing regular partial water changes and don't fret about bristles or no bristles. Not all fish read the book about how they are supposed to develop is all ;) Their sexes will become obvious at some point.

Barbie