I have a bristlenose that spends all day attached vertically to the water pump in my tank. The pump is black, and the fish is attached at the very top and just hangs there all day. When the lights go out, it starts cleaning the glass and the plants. Would placing a cave in the tank be more like it's ...

This bristlenose still isn't doing too well. It only nibbled at the garlic coated zucchini once. Is hiding more now. Chased it out of a plant this morning. It laid on the gravel for awhile and then tried to stick to the glass. Noticed it had trouble "climbing" the tank wall and finally settled for ...

Hooray - I blanched a slice of zucchini, rubbed it with fresh garlic and put in on a clip, and the bristlenose finally actually nibbled at it. It didn't eat much, but at least it's a start. I'll do it again tonight. It seems to be a bit more active now too. Would recommend the garlic to the 14 year ...

Lornek8: Thanks for the advice. I will try adding garlic to the zucchini tonight. Last night it actually clung next to the zucchini, but didn't even nibble at it. At least it came out of hiding! Belly is still sunken, though. As far as species, I asked for Ancistrus 3 but the dealer wasn't sure what ...

Thanks for the reply
The fish was in the store for about two weeks I'm told, and they all seemed healthy. The one I bought was $14 and is about 3-4inches long. It has two plants to hide behind (which it does) and none of the other fish seem to harass it. When I do put algae tabs or zucchini in the ...

I have the same problem as the writer. I'm on my second Bristlenose and I don't think this one will live either. Bought a healthy specimen a week ago and it won't eat anything - not algae, not wafers, not zucchini, not romaine lettuce. It's a twelve gal. Eclipse, about 78 - 80 degrees with a rainbow ...

Have a bushy nose or bristlenose since December. Don't know how it survives. Eats nothing - not the algae film on the live plants nor gravel, not algae pellets or cucumber slices. It stays in one spot for days, so much so that I have to nudge it occasionally to see if it's still alive. Has anyone ...

Wrote a few weeks ago concerned about bushy nose not getting enough to eat. No longer concerned - it's eating the Sword plant (creating holes). Is this normal for this species? It ignores another plant (a crypto something I think) whose leaves are loaded with algae. Does a pretty good job on the ...

Put a bushy nose (bristlenose) in the tank a month ago. Seems to be doing fine, but not working on the algae growing on the leaves of the live plants very much. It's the thin film-like algae on the leaves that it seems to be ignoring. Also doesn't seem to eat the algae pellet I throw in once a week ...

I bought a Bushy Nose Pleco on Saturday and put it in a 1 gal. desktop aquarium which I had running for a couple of days. The temp. in there is about 70 degrees and it has an undergravel filter. The fish seems ok, no signs of ich or anything, but I don't think it's eating. Each night I drop an algae ...

Thanks to everyone who answered my email about a new pleco making the other fish sick. The pleco and four tetras died last night, leaving one rainbow cichlid and two tetras which are not doing well. 25% water change today with second dose of Quick Cure and an increase in temperature. Can't do much ...

Added a bushy nose pleco last week. Two year old cichlid started acting sluggish. Added Melafix on Tues., no improvement. Now on second day of Maracyn II and it's still hiding, not eating, and pale. Tetras also not eating well. Pleco is ok, I think. Always hiding, but they always do anyway, right ...

Absolutely - Common bristlenose Ancistrus sp(3) will eat algae as long as they live... Other bristlenoses are the same with a few rare examples - Ancistrus ranunculus are more of a carnivore, and not such a good algae eater.

I've also moved this thread to the correct forum, as it's more about the ...

Thinking of trading my common pleco for a bristle nose because the common, after two years, no longer eats algae. Do bristle nose plecos eat algae throughout their adult life? I'm speaking of the green film which forms on glass and the coating on leaves of live plants. Thank you.

My plecostomus, which I've had about a year and a half, has stopped eating algae. It eats fish food with the other fish. The algae is really starting to build, even though I clean the tank and do a partial water change each week. I no longer feed it algae pellets to encourage it to eat the algae ...