PlanetCatfish.com

I recently purchased 5 young albino bristlenose. What great algae eaters, they cleaned up my tank in no time. So then I started to feed them. Ive given them algae disks, cucumber, zucchini, and yellow squash. One of them has gotten huge but a couple have stayed small and gotten kind of thin. So on to my question. When any of you feed your bristlenose how well do they actually eat? My biggest guy usually finds the veggies first but he comes and goes, never staying for very long. The other ones do the same. One might munch on the cuke for a few seconds but never stays for long. I guess Ive seen pics of many young ones on a slice of zucchini but mine dont seem to care too much for it. I actually saw one find a algae disk one day, and it did the same, sucked it for a few seconds, and then left. Ive tried blanced and non blanced veggies, Im just wondering if there is anything Im doing wrong, Id hate to see these guys start to die off on me. Luckily I do fertilize the tank so algae does keep growing, but these guys get to it so quick that it doesnt stand a chance. And they are in a 90 gallon semi planted tank with 5 medium size, kind of wimpy, cichlids.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong in the feeding.

There are several things that would make them skittish or not eat well.

Skittish:
How are the amount of hiding places near the feeding place?
What's the lighting like - floating plants will make it less dark, and the fish will be able to eat in peace.

Eating:
There is the possibility that they just plain aren't hungry... If they've been munching algae, they may not need more feeding.

Nitrate levels - I know some of the people reading this will say "You keep going on about water quality", but I do think it's possibly why your fish aren't eating... If you have high nitrate (> 50 ppm) the fish are going to be less than happy to eat stuff. Check nitrite and ammonia too, just to be safe - both should be zero (or no indication on the test-kit).

Other than that, I can't think of anything in particular. Mine, who aren't albino, are quite happily eating anything I can sensibly give them. Staying on for some time too, if no one comes to fight them off.

--
Mats

In my BN grow out tank there are some young ones who seem to sit on the food for a very long time, others eat for 5 minutes or less an take off. All seem to grow well and if they have food in the tank for 12 hours or so they will eat if hungry. I do daily w/c, so I don't check nitrates etc so I can't tell if that is the problem.


Albinos do seem to grow slowly compared to the brown BN and maybe the smaller ones are females I find mine hit a plateau where they don't seem to grow for a month or two, then they shoot up again. If they look healthy, the tank is sparkling and they still eat something you shouldn't have much to worry about.

i read somewhere that the "alpha male" will releaase a hormone that will keep the less dominate males from increasing in size. I don't recall where, but I do believe I have this issues with the albinos.

Havnt had that issue with my Albino BN, but high nitrates and how much plant cover they get does seem to be an issue. More frequent the water-changes the better their appetite seems.

You mention one is quite large. Are these Bristles mature yet?

I've little experiance with males, but I have seen the mature females get very towy with each other. And the dominant female develop's well, whilst the others, being constantly chased under cover, don't fair as well.

There's a significant difference in their size over time. Simple malnourishment...

Bigger tank perhaps? Spread the food a bit wider? A bit more observation of their behaviour?

Mind you, I've had a few runt's in the litter. Genetics is a funny old game. Perhaps I should post pictures of two of my Cory's, 'Stumpy' and 'Stubsy'. Sorry folks, my Daughter names all my fish! Oh - and that's 'Spot' in my avatar - He's a new Dad. Good thing those Cubans are rolled from vegetable matter. The smoke does fog up the tank tho'!

Kana3,

Yes, spreading the food into different places in the tank will help get the lower ones on the pecking order to eat. Obviously depends a lot on the size of tank too - if you have a 60 cm long tank, a mature bristlenose will dominate the entire bottom of the tank, others will have second pickings [which may not be very much!].

--
Mats

Thanks for all your help. Let me give you an update since when I first posted. I still have 5, 1 is almost twice the size of all the others, (maybe 3.5-4 inches compared to the others at around 2 inches). I got them in september and they were tiny, maybe around an inch long. I still feed them zucchini, cucumbers and algae disks. Of course not all at once, but maybe twice a week. They all still ignore the algae disks. The big one still finds the veggies within minutes after putting it in the tank. Ive seen the others very briefly on the veggies but they leave quick, nothing is chasing them away. I have seen them fight a bit, but never on the food. So I took out the two smallest ones and moved them too a tank at work that is full of algae, they were working hard minutes after I put them in the tank.
Kana3-I dont think they are mature yet. The biggest one has some tiny bristles, Im thinking its a female but too early to tell I think. The others dont show anything yet.
MatsP & Kana3-I dont think the tank is too small. Its not over stocked. It a 90 gallon with a footpint of 48"x18" (122cmx46cm).
I will have to try maybe two pieces of zucchini at once.

Of my 3 female (brown) BN breeders they are all different sizes. I'm sure if it is not due to lack of food as there are left overs in the morning. Some just don't eat as much, but the largest female is the dominant one and gets to spawn with the male first He lets them all in the cave on the same day, but goes from the largest down to the smallest every time.

I feel we're tending toward the behavioral aspect here.

My footprint is 48 x 18 like Grubby's, and I've seen reasonable BN dominance behaviour in that space. But something interesting - I've seen two Angelfish fight to the death in one tank. But put 6 or 7 in the same space, and you don't get anywhere near the same level of violence. The dominant one knows if he can't afford to get too shagged out trying to fight everyone.

Now, if a fish is chased off often enough, it's like any other creature, it'll sit at home and fret until hunger drives it out. And the damage has already begun. In addition, it'll barely have time for a snack, when it has to dash back home again.

I think this is supported by the behaviour of the two smaller one's in Grubby's work tank - "straight into it". Trouble is, a bit of malnourishment at early development stages stays with them for life, re: stunting, deformities.

Nightowl, I suspect, is pointing out that the fish have natural variation in size anyway. This is very valid, but that variation factors toward an individuals chance to be the dominant one. This is real 'survival of the fittest' stuff. And at the end of the day some poor bugger has to miss out!

Grubby - post us all a sit-rep on thier development once they've spent some time in the new environment. It'll be interesting to see how they fare.

don't know if this has been suggested already, but something else you can try...

instead of one big piece of cucumber (or whatever veggie), use two or even three smaller pieces and force an algae wafer into the veggie, and spread them throughout the tank.

the dominant plec can't cover all the different pieces and the wafer becomes a treat inside the treat.

i only have two BNs (a male and a female) and i feed two pieces of cucumber in different locations of the tank. the female will not feed if the male is there. veggies go in right before lights out and i remove them first thing in the morning.

Have you tried some shrimp pellets? If you haven't give them a try I feed mine twice a week with OSI Shrimp pellets and they always have fat little bellies

Kind Regards