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Hey guys,

I was at eh lfs the other day and was amazed at the decent selection of catfish. All be it there were only 4 that really caught my eye for my cichlid community tank. I wanted to get the pleco in the window But need to know if you guys have heard of it. It's called a butterfly bushynose pleco.

I wanted to get one of these pleco's and also a syno., but the 2 I was looking at I just don't know how compatibale they are with the rest of the catfish. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ron

Ron, that depends on which catfishes you already have.
One thing's for sure: I wouldn't keep just one S. petricola; this fish is much better in a (small) group. Besides, it comes from an African rift lake (Tanganjika) and needs other water parameters than riverine species.

butterfly bushynose is probably the same as a longfin bristlenose. Also called ancistrus sp. 5. Look it up in the Catelog. These, from what I've heard, do not do well with cichilds because their fins tend to get shredded.

I don't have any fish yet in the tank and I was thinking of starting out with the ctafish first to help establish them before the bigger guys come in.

Right now the ph level is at a pretty constant 8.0, the lowest I've seen it at was 7.5 and that's not having to add any buffers to the water. I have eco-complete cichlid substrate and some rocks and 2 drift wood in there. It's a 55gallon tank. I was looking at maybe 2 syno's, but also wanted a pleco to maybe help with the algae, but as wel as for looks.

drgold wrote:butterfly bushynose is probably the same as a longfin bristlenose. Also called ancistrus sp. 5. Look it up in the Catelog. These, from what I've heard, do not do well with cichilds because their fins tend to get shredded.

Ya, when I looked at 2 of them in the tank, there tail fins looked a little tattered, but is that normal for them? There dorsal fin was tall, long and beautiful, even thou they were only 2in's.

Then choose the S. longirostris and keep that as a single specimen. Just two synos (different or equal specimen) is asking for trouble with constant chasing, bullying etc. until the inferior one finally dies.
BTW: this goes for many other (cat-)fish as well.

Marc van Arc wrote:Then choose the S. longirostris and keep that as a single specimen. Just two synos (different or equal specimen) is asking for trouble with constant chasing, bullying etc. until the inferior one finally dies.
BTW: this goes for many other (cat-)fish as well.

You'd suggest then sticking to just one catfish? Could I still add the pleco in the mix or no? Or instead of 2 would 3 or 4 be a better choice or would they still chase each other? Just curious?

I tried looking in the cat-elog and could'nt find anything on the S. longirostris. Is that the correct way to spell it, or do they have a common name or nickname? Thanks.

I keep BN plecos in my African cichlid tanks for algae control. They do fine w/8.2 pH, just acclimate them slowly. I us an airline ssiphon/clothespin to drip water slowly into a bucket, taking about an hour to allow the BN to adjust to the change, before putting it into the tank.

toddnbecka wrote:I keep BN pl*cos in my African c*****d tanks for algae control. They do fine w/8.2 pH, just acclimate them slowly. I us an airline ssiphon/clothespin to drip water slowly into a bucket, taking about an hour to allow the BN to adjust to the change, before putting it into the tank.

Do the cichlids seem to mind that he's there, or do they pretty much leave him alone? Also, how big is he and the size of the cichlids, tany's or mbuna's?

The cichlids ignore them, yellow lab's and Julies in one tank, plagiostoma eels and N. gracils juvies in the other. The gracilis are a brichardi-complex spp, still much too young to spawn. Unless you have really aggressive fish though, they should be fine. Just provide a cave for them to hide in by day, they're mainly nocturnal. Both BN's are adults, though the female is younger, a little smaller, 3-3.5", the male is 4".

When you guys say yellow labs, are those electric yellows? Just surious? Also, would you suggest just the bn pleco, and not a syno. also? Or could I get away with having both? I'm still kind of eyeing the Petricola, and the bn together as tank mates.

Also, have you guys ever heard of the Royal Pleco? If so what's it regualr name? Thanks again for all the help guys!

Ron

Yes, yellow lab's are also calld electric yellow's, a relatively peaceful mbuna. I also have 5 petricola's in the tank w/the male BN, recently moved the other 7 to a 38 for spawning. Petricola's or multi's are best kept in groups, and get along well w/cichlids. If you prefer a larger, single Syno, there are other options as well. The BN's are great for keeping the tank clear of algae, and are fine as long as the other fish aren't too aggressive. Some of the nastier mbuna's will kill pleco's, though not usually Syno's.

So would 3 petricola's be a pretty good number to start with and 1 bn pleco? Or how does the 1 bn pleco and 1 longirostrus sound? Thanks again for the help!

Petricola's, like any social fish, are more active in groups. You could start w/3, but 4-5 would be better. S. longirostrus isn't a rift lake species, but will adapt to the pH. As for availability, they may be difficult to find. S. eupterus (featherfin) is more commonly available and fairly inexpensive. I've kept them w/Africans before as well.

I've got a syno. angelicus in my rift tank, and he does fine (he's the biggest thing in there) with julis and a variety of lamprologus. My gibbiceps got moved out as his fins were getting a bit ragged but I think that had more to do with the lava-rock than his tankmates. I've kept larger rift fish and found most just a bit too curious or aggressive with slower moving/smaller loricariidae, but if yours are chilled then maybe they'll be cool.

javelin69 wrote:I tried looking in the cat-elog and could'nt find anything on the S. longirostris.

Click on this link: . It's one of the largest synos; in time it will reach two feet in length.

javelin69 wrote:You'd suggest then sticking to just one catfish?

Certainly not. If you have the room and the possibility to buy more, please do so. I was under the impression that the LFS just had 1 petricola and 1 longirostris...

javelin69 wrote:Could I still add the pl*co in the mix or no?

That shouldn't be a problem imo.

javelin69 wrote:Or instead of 2 would 3 or 4 be a better choice or would they still chase each other?

They would still chase, but the agression doesn't focus on just one specimen but is spread over the group. So yes, more specimen is a much better choice. FWIW, I would take one species, but that is of course a matter of taste. However, don't buy single specimen of (for example) 5 species; they will never become a group.

javelin69 wrote:Just curious?

Be my guest

Once again thanks you guys for all your input!

That's ok Marc, the lfs actually has around 3-5 of the petricola's, 3 of the bn pleco's, and I think around 4-5 of the logirostrus.

Now the only thing is if I have around 5-8 cichlids in the tank, can I still have a bn pleco and 3-5 petricola's, and should I get more cover for them? Here's what the tank looks like roght now without anyone inside.

You'll definitely want more rocks/cover for the fish, both cichlids and catfish like to have cover available. Depending on the species of cichlids, you may also want some dither fish, to make them more comfortable/visible.

toddnbecka wrote:You'll definitely want more rocks/cover for the fish, both c*****ds and catfish like to have cover available. Depending on the species of c*****ds, you may also want some dither fish, to make them more comfortable/visible.

Well the one thing that kind of sucks here in Hawaii. We don't have to much of a rock selection. The rocks on the left side of the tank that are redish are pretty good. I can use them with the slate to make cliffs and over hanging and stuff. But I would'nt mind a nice sized Texas holy rock, but those are like really hard to find here if not impossible. The only ones I can find on E-bay are small ones, nothing like the big ones I see in most people pics. What would you guys suggest?

Hmm, I never thought of rocks being hard to find. Here in MD, limestone is everywhere, though not the holey kind, and rocks in general are plentiful. Occaisonally, a few good-sized plastic/resin ornaments can be found on e-bay as well. I just got this one recently for my 55, I have a similar type in the tank already, and the Paracyp's love it.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=012 Otherwise, if you can't find anything suitable locally, try placing some wanted ads on a few forums.

toddnbecka wrote:Hmm, I never thought of rocks being hard to find. Here in MD, limestone is everywhere, though not the holey kind, and rocks in general are plentiful. Occaisonally, a few good-sized plastic/resin ornaments can be found on e-bay as well. I just got this one recently for my 55, I have a similar type in the tank already, and the Paracyp's love it.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=012 Otherwise, if you can't find anything suitable locally, try placing some wanted ads on a few forums.

Thanks guys! If worse come to worse there's always the home depot or lowe's garden section. Maybe there's something over there?

Large pieces of coral would work, if you can find some. It's limestone too, though not much for color.

Actually I have a small piece of staghorn coral and a pink piece from my old saltwater set-up could these work also?

Ron, which species of c*******ds do you have?

Marc van Arc wrote:Ron, which species of c*******ds do you have?

I got a pair of yellow labs, And then I'll be looking at getting 1 frontosa, a peacock, a couple of electric blues, amybe a kenyii even, and maybe a juli or 2. The frontosa will be hanging out for a year or so till I get my 125 or 150 up and going.

In that case I don't see any problem with regard to your initial question: you can add the Synos and the BNs.
However, have a good thought over the Syno species you're going to take. If you are seriously thinking of adding C. frontosa, I would pick a larger Syno species.

Marc van Arc wrote:In that case I don't see any problem with regard to your initial question: you can add the Synos and the BNs.
However, have a good thought over the Syno species you're going to take. If you are seriously thinking of adding C. frontosa, I would pick a larger Syno species.

Well basically all the frontosa's at the lfs are around 1-2.5" and from what I heard there a slow grower, which is good. It'll give the other guys in the tank time to establish themselves before he can take dominance over all of them.

Coral, shells, it's all limestone and calcium, can only help buffer the pH and hardness.