# BN plecos and plants(java moss)



## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

I own two BN plecos. The male is much bigger than the female, wih a nice rack of bristles and cheek spines. The female is a much smaller. Currently, they are swimming around in a basically plantless tank. They seem to be a pair, and some chasing and quivering is going on...looks like enough to uproot most plants as the male gets pissed and lunges at the persistent female. My questions.

Would they have a problem with me tying java moss all over there favorite pieces of driftwood?

Will they run over the foreground plants?

Thanks!


----------



## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I always thought that they would do great in planted tanks and not mess with any of the plants.


----------



## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

Im looking for personal experience, as these two seem pretty rowdy.

Thanks for the quick reply anyhow!


----------



## INXS (Apr 9, 2004)

This is what happened to me in less then a week with BN plecos (3).









Apparantly the bristlenosed plecos like to rasp algae off most flat surfaces, big plantleaves included. I don't think they intended to eat the leaves but they sure sucked the juice outof it.

So if you have swordplants or any largeleaved plants I would pass on the BNs.


----------



## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

No large leaved plants as of yet. I may get some in the future though. Something to consider.


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Have you tried adding fresh veggies to their diet? Maybe a piece of squash here and there?


----------



## INXS (Apr 9, 2004)

They sucked the life out of most leaves of several larger (50+ leaves) swordplants. I thought it was a nutritional deficience because every leaf was affected.

Once I figured out the problem they got evicted immedietly.

At that point I wasn't feeding veggies - I am now though.


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Wow, they really nailed your plants INXS.... 

Nonamethefish, you could try several different plants with tougher leaves like Java Fern, Anubias or even Crypts. I have a rowdy pair and all of the plants stand up to them except some of the harder to root carpet plants.
I even have a rowdy group in a 125 with Silver Dollars (lawn mowers), and the Java Fern and Crypts stand up to them no problem.


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

My experience with Ancistrus is that they will only harm weak or softened leaf tissue. They have yet to do anything to healthy leaves in my tanks, been breeding them for around 7-8 years now without problems. Due to their uncommon social/breeding behaviour, you should be providing enough plants, rocks, wood for the male and female to hide and have their own private space. This should solve any disputes they are having. You should also be supplementing their diet with fresh veggies, this will further reduce their rasping. Make sure you have driftwood in the tank as they eat that too.

They are great in a planted tank IMO, actually, it's the only pleco I consider ideal for a planted tank. Obviously they are bottom dwellers so they may disturb some badly planted stems at times if they haven't rooted yet. My loaches usually do more of that though.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


----------



## aquaverde (Feb 9, 2004)

If I neglect to add veggies for a time, both species of pleco I keep (Ancistrus and Chaetostoma) will rasp holes my crypts. Not enough algae (not enough of the right type anyway) in my tanks, evidently, to keep them happy without supplementation.


----------



## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

Besides spinach, the only food that they will eat that I have tried is Sera catfish chips.

I will take this all into account, and I will definelty be adding some crypts to this tank.

So far, the male hasn't decided on a home base yet. There is a pvc pipe, but he doesn't use it much.


----------

