How much food for bristlenose

[DJRansome]

He is the only catfish in a algae-free planted tank. If I go by a portion the size of his eyes, it would take a week for him to eat one algae wafer! I've been giving him 1/4 to 1/2 of a wafer every other day. About right?

[Richard B]

Are there other fish in the tank?

Remember a hungry fish is a healthy fish - although obviously not a starved one! Fish don't get 3 square meals a day in the wild & t is always better to underfeed - your reasoning seems ok

if you wanted to have a supply of food available for when he/she chooses - you could set up a very small tank on a windowsill with loads of light, mature water & place some nice round pebbles in it - these will get covered with algae & then you can carefully put one in the tank every once in a while for him/her to eat - remove the pebble & start again - this has been documented by Jools & others many times

[DJRansome]

Her tankmates are Calvus. What the bristlenose does not eat will be eaten by the snails (unwelcome guests that arrived with the plants), but I'd just as soon not feed them.

She pretty much creeps over to the algae wafer shortly after I drop it near her.

I'll probably put her in an unplanted tank with more algae at a later date, but she seems to be doing well and I lost 3 other bristlenose while in quarantine, so I'll leave things as they are for a while.

Thanks!

[apistomaster]

Are there other fish in the tank?

Remember a hungry fish is a healthy fish - although obviously not a starved one! Fish don't get 3 square meals a day in the wild & t is always better to underfeed - your reasoning seems ok

if you wanted to have a supply of food available for when he/she chooses - you could set up a very small tank on a windowsill with loads of light, mature water & place some nice round pebbles in it - these will get covered with algae & then you can carefully put one in the tank every once in a while for him/her to eat - remove the pebble & start again - this has been documented by Jools & others many times

That is a good idea. Often even just one two inch hungry specimen can eat all the algae that's fit to eat from an entire 30 gallon tank within 48 hours.

[vriesea]

Here is another thought:

Wait a few feedings then cut a fine slice of squash and place it in the tank overnight. See how much of the squash the BN eats overnight. This will give you a good indication of how much he is eating and needs to eat.

Make sure you remove uneaten squash the next morning.

There is no need to repeat this on a daily basis. I feed my BN this way about once a week.

Just my thoughts.

Vriesea

[DJRansome]

OK she is now in a 72" tank with some lovely green algae just starting to grow on the glass (it was clean when I put her in the tank last weekend). Why isn't she cleaning it? No algae wafers for her as long as there is green algae? The kind on the glass is usually green "fur" that waves in the current once it gets long enough. Do bristlenose eat that? Do I need to add more bristlenose to keep up with it in a 72" tank?

[Richard B]

The tufty, filament algae is not that readily eaten by ancistrus - they eat the sort that forms a thin coating to surfaces afaik

[pLaurent1251]

If you mean hair algae, not too many fish will eat that. I've heard that Rosy Barbs will, but no guarantee.

[MatsP]

If you mean hair algae, not too many fish will eat that. I've heard that Rosy Barbs will, but no guarantee.

Actually, if you have many enough, hungry, Ancistrus, they will gnaw down the hair algae too - but it's more like humans that walk on the same piece of grass back and forth will wear the grass down to nothing.

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Mats

[apistomaster]

I did not get the impression that hair algae is what is growing on the glass. Just one of the common soft algaes BushyNose are good for. It sounds more like a few more BushyNoses would help take care of it; too much for one small BN.

[DJRansome]

Sorry for the long delay in reply, I was not getting email notices. The algae is soft (swishes off easily with scrubber) and is just a coating when it first starts growing. When allowed to grow, it does grow longer but is not tufty or stiff...waves in current even when 1/8" long.

Anyway she has made headway in either eating it or wearing it down. I can see her "rachet-tracks" through it on all surfaces. It's definitely better, but not CLEAN.

She has kept the front glass pretty clean, and the sides not as clean but under control. The algae has remained a coating and has not gained any length since she has been in the tank.

I wish there was a way to know if she is eating it. I'd like to think she gets something yummy and nutritious while helping out the tank.

What would you do? Add another or go back to scraping the tank?

[MatsP]

Reducing any "additional feeding" will actually help the Ancistrus keep the tank clean. But with supplemental feeding, you can certainly keep several adults in a larger tank - I have a pair of adults in a 32" tank, and they get a bit of extra food a few times a week, and still manages to reproduce.

So adding one or two more in a 72" tank should certainly not cause a problem - just make sure they have a hiding spaces for each fish.

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Mats

[apistomaster]

One pair or trio of Adult Ancistrus sp 3 will keep a 125 gal free of all the algae that is fit to eat and is accessible. Their babies will clean the more delicate or narrow leaved plants. I would see that they received food everyday. It won't make them too "lazy" to continue grazing algae at night. The fry must be able to feed constantly or their growth will be extremely poor.

[DJRansome]

Can you tell whether the fish is eating algae or NLS by the color of the feces? It's brown, not green.

[MatsP]

Can you tell whether the fish is eating algae or NLS by the color of the feces? It's brown, not green.

That wouldn't be significantly different for algae wafers or algae - no, it doesn't come out green if they eat a lot of green algae. It does however come out white if they eat a lot of courgette/zucchini.

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Mats