Bristle Nose with Discus

[senol]

Hello all,
I have a pleco, 2 very tiny bristle nose which are perfectly peacefull, and one adult bristle nose about 5 inches or so. I had them for a long time and while back then when i had gravel in my tank especially BN helped quite bit cleaning any uneaten food.

After i went on a vacation and my roommate killed most of my discusses, now i made my tank Bare Bottom and had enough courage to get some discus again. Anyways to make the story short, now it seems like my BN is just too territorial especially during the feeding time. It keeps in hitting the other fish tryingt o pick up worms from the bottom.

It has been almost a week since i got the discusses and they are still so shy and hide under the driftwood most of the time. They finally started going out of there more yesterday and one of them finally responds when i tap my finger to the galss and gets closer. So far i tried to keep the light shut off so that they could get confortable easier, but i am wondering does the BN bothering them have something to do with them not addopting well yet ?

I decided to give the pleco away and I am wondering if i should give the BN away as well ?

[Greggy]

Definitely remove the Pleco.

BN Catfish are usually fairly peaceful and go about their business of cleaning every nook and cranny in the tank. However I'm sure they will not enjoy living in a bare-bottom tank so my advice is to remove them.

I have probably over 25 BN catfish in my 6x2x2 Discus/community tank (as my original pair of BN catfish successfully spawned) and none of them bother any of the fish in my tank. However I have a gravel bottom with a lot of plants, driftwood and rocks that they like to hide in and explore so I guess that helps keep them from bothering my 10 Discus and the other fish such as my 5 SAEs and a bunch of Cardinal, Rummy Nose and Black Neon Tetras.

I hope that information is useful.

Regards,

Greggy

[NorCalAl]

Hey greggy - that is exaclty the size I'm getting ready to populate. Was the BN breeding intentional or accidental? I'd like to get my BN's to breed, if I can. On another note - isn't 25 a lot even in a tank that size?

[BigDaddyAdo]

25 !!! Damn that would be messy.


Ado

[pink66]

25, wow, that is a lot of BN poo!!! I find 2 enough to clean up after.. but you are right.. no left over food in the tank :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Greggy]

Yep there is a heap of BNs in there alright, at least 25, maybe more! However the babies seem to be growing slowly, I guess they are all competing for the same food. They don't seem to make a mess at all and I've not seen NO3 go any higher since their arrival either.

The spawning of the BNs was purely nature doing it's thing - I didn't really want it to happen but when I saw the male guarding this hole in one of the rocks and I saw all those eggs I was happy to see what would happen. I actually expected the SAE's to hoover up the tiny baby BNs but they totally ignored them! I mean I must have lost quite a few babies but I still have plenty left. Many got sucked up the three Eheim filter intakes and no doubt perished in the bottom of my two canister filters but several of them spent the 1st 3 or 4 months of their lives living in nothing but the Eheim tubes!

I guess if they all grow up and breed again I'm in trouble, so if anyone has any good suggestions how to get them out without destroying the entire tank I'm all ears.

Regards,

Greggy

[swampy.1972]

Greggy,

I always use a small platic hose to syphon the fry out of the tank into a bucket. Get them early before they become too mobile. It works for all species and lets you pick through your tank without disturbing any the habitat. You may have to get them over several attempts but it's a very easy way to do it. Just make sure you have some water in the bucket prior to syphoning the fry just to cushion them.

Hope this helps.

[Scat]

Hi :)

I keep peppermint bristlenose im my 7ft tank with my discus without any problems and i have peppy`s in a bare bottom 4ft tank breeding also without any problems. Hope this helps.

Cheers
Craig

[ILLUSN]

Bristlenose and discus are fine, just make sure you remove them if ever you need to do a metro treatment.

[jtchia]

really? lol... i have 3 albino Bn that have been in metro treatments over a dozen times.... i figured since they were in the same tank with sick fish they should also be treated....? i guess i was just lucky i haven't lost them yet.