Constantly hiding calico BN

[blondeyny]

I have 2 bristlenose in 2 different tanks. One is an albino about 4" tl in my 25 g, and the other is a calico about 3" tl in my 20g. My albino is out and about the tank occasionally during the day. At dinner time he comes out and sits patiently waiting for his food. My calico however is constantly hiding. Never see him during the day, and very rarely after lights out. I put his food in the tank and I never see him come out to get it. However, when I wake up in the morning and take the remnants out, it looks as if he has nibbled on it. I have also noticed the last couple times I was able to get a glimpse of him, that there is a little piece missing from his tail fin. Also his pectoral fins look a little frayed. But I didn't see any blackened edges associated with fin rot. I've had the calico for about 3 months now. The albino did a lot of hiding for the first month or so that I had him, so I expected the calico to do the same. However it's been longer, and it's making me nervous that he's hiding all the time. The calico I got from a fellow hobbyist, who also got her batch of calicos from a fellow hobbyist. The albino I got from a LFS if that makes any difference.

Water params have all been fine. No ammonia or nitrites, and nitrates have always been below 10ppm ever since the tank was set up in July. Temp is about 80f, ph 7.6-7.8, with 50% water changes done weekly. Tank is moderately planted with various anubias. His tankmates are 3 male dwarf platies, 6 glow light tetras, 2 endlers, 2 nerite snails, and 1 ghost shrimp.

Should I be concerned or am I just being overly paranoid? It took a lot for me to get this little guy, so I'm afraid to lose him to something I could've fixed.

[andywoolloo]

are the tankmates in each tank different? Since one seems harrassed maybe and one not. Are the furniture in each tank the same?

I once had a bristlenose in a 20 long with a male betta, had to remove the betta cause he nipped her fins.

I notice the females are more outgoing then the males, but usually both out and about when young juveniles. But when adult the males tend to hide all day and the females are out all day. Least IMHO

[blondeyny]

hey andy! Both tanks have platies and some sort of shrimp. Those are the only similar tankmates between the two tanks.

Both tanks have driftwood of some sort and live plants, as well as a piece of pvc to hide in. However the calico doesn't use his pvc. He prefers to hide at the base of the driftwood "tree".

Both bn's are males, as far as I know. The albino definitely is since his bristles are around the lip and up the snout. I've had him for almost a year and a half, and I got him when he was almost 3", so I'm guessing he maybe is around 2 1/2 yrs old. Sometimes I wonder about the calico though since I only see definite bristles along the lip. There are a few sporadic bristles up the snout, but only a couple. I think he is only a year or so old though.

[MatsP]

I think they are just personality differences between these fish.

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Mats

[PseudaSmart]

When you gave the water parameters you did not mention hardness. I use ABN's for alge control for all of my tanks. I have noticed in my softer breeding tanks the bristles are much shorter and their overall growth rate is slower. The fry grow out very nicely in water that is over 500uS. My lfs that I trade with has hard water and they grow out quickly. Hope the suggestion helps!

[blondeyny]

I honestly don't know the hardness. Never tested for it I don't think.

I've never heard of the hardness effecting the growth of the bristles before. Interesting.

[MatsP]

When you gave the water parameters you did not mention hardness. I use ABN's for alge control for all of my tanks. I have noticed in my softer breeding tanks the bristles are much shorter and their overall growth rate is slower. The fry grow out very nicely in water that is over 500uS. My lfs that I trade with has hard water and they grow out quickly. Hope the suggestion helps!

Interesting observation. I've kept and bred mine mainly in tap-water in Southern England, which is quite hard (300+ ppm TDS). However, I also kept a group in soft water, around 75ppm TDS (less than 200 uS). I can't say I saw much difference in growth rate.

I think water around New York is pretty hard.
Edit: wrong state. Florid is between "Very hard" (on the western side) and "extremely hard" (eastern side), according to this map:
http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/ci ... _guide.htm

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Mats

[Richard B]

Bear in mind that bristlenoses are by their nature quite a shy & secretive fish & it is only when they feel comfortable in captivity that they might overcome their natural instincts and become more outgoing.

[blondeyny]

I think water around New York is pretty hard.
Edit: wrong state. Florid is between "Very hard" (on the western side) and "extremely hard" (eastern side), according to this map:
http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/ci ... _guide.htm

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Mats

That's funny that you first mentioned New York since that's where I am originally from. Also find it amusing that someone in England knows my water better than I do Thanks for that info!!

Bear in mind that bristlenoses are by their nature quite a shy & secretive fish & it is only when they feel comfortable in captivity that they might overcome their natural instincts and become more outgoing.

That's what I'm kind of hoping. I'm thinking that since he was raised by a hobbyist, then maybe he's not as used to a lot of commotion around the tank, as say a fish from the LFS would. I did a little experiment last night and put a black towel over the tank after lights out. (tank is situated in a high traffic area with indirect light coming from other rooms) I did notice this morning that it seemed he ate more of his zucchini than usual. So maybe this is part of the issue. Too much light coming in to make him feel comfortable. I'll keep doing the towel thing at night to see if it helps.

Also, finally was able to get a better look at him tonight. His pectoral fins look to be healed and in good shape. Still a small piece missing from his tail fin though.

[PseudaSmart]

Glad to hear your guy is doing better. I breed Cardinal Tetra's so some of my tanks are as low as 60ppm. Perhaps this is why I have noticed the difference. When water is that soft it does not have many minerals to grow on.

[blondeyny]

OK so now it's March and he's STILL hiding and the pieces of his tail still haven't grown back. Yet his tail doesn't look worse either. He's about 3" TL or so. The only time I actually see more than his head is if I happened to get up in the middle of the night and happen to see him on the tank glass. I never actually see him eat, but when I take the veg out in the am, I can see sucker marks where he has chewed on it. There is always a good portion left of his veg in the morning. Am I still just being paranoid? Oh yeah, and still not many bristles.

[plecomanpat]

I have a 3 breeding pair of BN,s, a longfin albino pair who are constantly out and grazing. A pair of Green Dragons that only come out to feed, and a pair of Calico's in which the male is very reclusive and the female never hides. @ 3 inches its hard to sex most bn are you sure its a male. I also have very hard tap water and I use it for my bn tanks and they show no ill efects and still spawn.I dont think you have anything to worry about.

[blondeyny]

I have been questioning if it's a male. It has a few bristles around the lip, and one or two potential bristles up the snout and that's it. I got "him" from a fellow hobbyist, who bought a bunch of them as males from a breeder in a different forum.

I was anticipating "him" to be like my other bn and be out and about occasionally. I guess I'll just have to keep waiting and hope it will eventually become more social. But how am I supposed to know when something is wrong with "him" if I never see "him"?

[MatsP]

In the common bristlenose (the Calico is a colour form of the common one), the females only have tiny bristles when they are really large and old - I've only ever had one female with bristles, and I've kept at least a dozen mature females through the last several years.

--
Mats

[blondeyny]

I'm really hoping it will develop more bristles eventually. Will have to wait and see.

I put in a piece of fresh/raw zucchini last night, and he ate a lot more of it than usual. Typically I've been giving them blanched, then frozen zucchini. They barely touched the fresh/raw stuff before. Well, I also soaked it overnight in water with a crushed garlic clove in it, so maybe that helped. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is a good sign.

[MatsP]

Bear in mind that males ALWAYS hide more (and eat less) than females, because they need to find a good place to keep eggs, should a "lovely" female turn up.

How big a piece of zucchini are you feeding each day - a 3" fish on it's own will probably only eat "half-slice" that is about 1/4" thick, maybe a bit more.

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Mats

[blondeyny]

My male albino bn, almost 5" TL, is out and about his tank all the time. Moving between his pvc cave and driftwood. Only occasionally hides for long periods on the backside of his driftwood. He also eats like a pig. There usually isn't much left for me to pull out of his tank in the morning.

Last night they each got a half of an end of a zucchini. It was about 2" long, then cut it down the middle length wise. I scooped out what seeds were there. The zucchini was only about 1" - 1 1/2" in diameter to begin with. It's sad how tiny zucchinis are lately. The calico almost gutted it down to the skin. Nibbled on some of the skin too. Almost ate more than the albino did. Typically they each will get a slice of zucchini about 1/4 to 1/2" thick and at most 1 1/2" diameter that has been quickly steamed, then frozen, then thawed for feeding . I usually find most of it left in the calicos tank. Makes me wonder if the calico is picky and likes his stuff raw, where as the albino prefers the steamed stuff.

[MatsP]

I have not ever done anything other than slice the courgette (zucchini) and stick a spoon into it to make it sink. Cooking it makes it softer, which I don't think has any beneficial effect on adult fish. For baby fish, yes. But your fish is not a baby.

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Mats

[blondeyny]

I have fed them both the raw zucchini again since my last post, and they both loved it. The calico ate even more than he did the first time. I began steaming the veg because they wouldn't touch anything raw, only when it was steamed. Not to mention by steaming then freezing it, it kept me from having to run to the store weekly for new veg. Oh well. Still hoping this might help him come out of hiding.