Poor little girl Bristlenose?

white96wrx · Post by **white96wrx** » 14 Apr 2005, 13:27

Hi, firstly great site been on here a while looking about and learning.

Anyhoo got me some sexy little fishies and although I'm almost cetain they are bristlenose i just want to make sure(i cant keep up with all of the different types - man!

)

Now im sure this is a male?
http://www.hollywood-fashions.com/male.jpg
http://www.hollywood-fashions.com/male2.jpg

and this a smaller female?
http://www.hollywood-fashions.com/female.jpg

I have a 6ft tank, but the weird thing is that the male never leaves here alone untill she is hideing, when she comes out to eat he will chase her away. they are the only ones in the tank (untill this weekend hopefully) and they have been in almost a week now and if anything its only getting worse? i thought that maybe its a younger male and they were territorial or is he just a grump old fart?

Sorry for been a complete noob, as you can see im a huge know it all??

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 14 Apr 2005, 13:48

Quite definitely bristlenoses, Ancistrus species. Now, when it comes to deciding exactly which kind of Ancistrus, the most likely candidate is Common Bristlenose

What you think is a female, does indeed look like a female to me too. If it's any more than about 2 inches (5 cm), it should show bristles if it's a male.

I modified the colours on one of your picture a little bit, and it looks like a pretty goood match to me.

The chasing is most likely the male trying to impress on the young lady. When the female is allowed in the cave of the male, that's when the babies are made. But before she will allow that, he has to prove that he's able to defend his territory.

Obviously having more hiding place will give her a bit more time to herself.

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Mats

white96wrx · Post by **white96wrx** » 14 Apr 2005, 13:54

Thanks heaps for that... i was worried that she wouldn't be able to eat anything because she is always chased away from the food. Im getting more hidy holes this weekend and starting to set up some spaces for my cichlids (for when i get some anyway)

Thanks again. I can go to sleep now

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 14 Apr 2005, 13:57

Dropping food in two places would probably also be a good idea...

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Mats

white96wrx · Post by **white96wrx** » 14 Apr 2005, 14:00

I've tried this and he will either venture over and take what she is eating or she will only will only want to eat what he is eating!
Hopefully she gets enough food in her belly to keep her going!

Thanks heaps

Shelzbells · Post by **Shelzbells** » 21 Apr 2005, 19:12

Is it true that the female bristlies have NO bristles? I was always told they had them, just not as much as the males do??

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Apr 2005, 10:01

Shelzbells wrote:Is it true that the female bristlies have NO bristles? I was always told they had them, just not as much as the males do??

Most younger females have NO bristles. When the female gets older, it MAY have bristles. For young fish, it's _ALMOST_ certain that if you have one with bristles, and a fish of the same size without, the bristly one is a male. But for really big/old females, they may well have a small amount of bristles.

Of course, all of them have no bristles for the first few months of their life. They need to be at least 1.5 inches (40 mm) to show bristles, and at that size there's still a chance that bristles will develop later (just like any other animal, these fish will mature at slightly different age). A well-fed bristlenose will be about 6-9 months old at the size when it starts to be easily sexable. Some breeders, however, can pick out a male/female based on body shape earlier than that.

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Mats