8 replies to this topic

[uppo]

Hi guys , prob a simple question but are bristle nose catfish a pleco? I keep getn told different things. It seems a bristle nose catfish can be purchased from $10 - $20 but a pleco the same size cost any where from $80-100 for the same size? I'm just a lil confused is all. Any thoughts

[Moses]

In short, no a bristlenose and pleco aren't the same. Both have similiar diet requirements but adult size is very different. Bristlenose adults will max out around 15cm while a pleco will get 45-60cm, so tank size and filtration long term need to be taken into account. Bristlenose are easily tank bred while plecos are bred seasonally in ponds, hence the price difference.

Bristlenose types-
Common short fin
Common long fin
Albino short fin
Albino long fin
Marble short fin
Marble long fin

Pleco types-
Common
Albino
Chocolate

You will also see sailfin gibbicep, goldspot gibbicep, albino sailfin gibbicep and sometimes fineline gibbicep. Often you will see gibbicep and plecos being sold under the same name or a combination of the 2 names, eg. albino sailfin pleco, goldspot pleco etc, which adds to the confusion. Shops need to take more care when labelling their stock.

Bristlenose
Family: Loricariidae
Subfamily: Hypostominae
Tribe: Ancistrini
Genus: Ancistrus

Pleco
Family: Loricariidae
Genus: Hypostomus
Species: H. plecostomus

Gibby
Family: Loricariidae
Genus: Pterygoplichthys
Species: P. gibbiceps

I hope that hasn't confused it more

Edited by Moses, 25 March 2013 - 07:31 AM.

[uppo]

A lil confusing but that's the kinda answer I was expecting! Hahah Pet shops an ( and private keepers who accidentally breed) can quiet easily wrongly name all types of fish. Eg- person comes in from the street with a fish his breed an wants to sell/ trade. Quiet often the spices is simply determined bt looking at a picture in a book. ( the fish could be a half cross breed of anything!) an many fish tend to look quiet similar as juvies. That's a lil off topic from my original post but it fustrating when sum ones telling a fish is this an some else is telling its Anuva! Hahahah. But yeah so bristly catfish are a seperate species an wont get the massive sizes the plecos can get. Is there any sure fire way to tell bn catfish apart from plecos when they're small? Or does it come down to experience? An cheers for your reply

[Bowdy]

Pleco/gibbi's don't get bristles on there nose and there will be no one breeding them here. Anything you see around below 5-6cm will be a bristle nose. And shops won't bet the 2 mixed up.

[Departure]

I have been told female bristle nose wont get the bristles either, I can confirm I have 2 bristle nose that have no bristles but they are still young and might take awhile to form, At the same time I have another 2 or 3 that do have bristles on there nose and are slightly larger which I assume are male. But i let you know if the smaller(assumed females) grow bristles or not once they are full size

[Androo]

Some female bristlenose have small bristles around mouth but never going up the nose towards eyes. I had both mature females with and without bristles

But in saying that they are very small bristles

Edited by Androo, 25 March 2013 - 03:22 PM.

[bigjohnnofish]

well this is pretty straight forward to me... bristlenose is an ancistrus pleco.... they are classified into a group that the male more often than not does grow bristles on top of its nose... they are an omnivor but much closer to a herbivor than a carnivor....
the pleco(s) moses was referring to is in the Pterygoplichthys family.... only bred in dams rivers etc.... but the same a herbivor/omnivor....

but there are many other plecos too... some more classifications....

eg hypancistrus , peckoltia , panaque

all are Loricariidae catfish... also given the common name of "L-numbers"

so a definitive answer to your question is "YES" .... but bristlenose generally arent referred to as plecos

[uppo]

Lol. Cheers for that guys. While where talking about L numbers- is there any "system" to L numbers? Or simply each type of pleco has a number? I'm assuming ( could be wrong) that a lot of the plecos we see around are not found naturally and are the results of selective or accidental cross breeding? So when summone comes up with "a new" pleco they just assign it a number? ( don't worry- I'm not gona start messing with gene lines and start trying to cross, mix breed plecos lol) I'm a bit of a novice with plecos and I'm still getn learning about all the L numbers. Cheers for everyone's help, advice an input

[bigjohnnofish]

well no plecos are created by cross breeding in captivity and then assigned a number... there is such a huge volume of water called the amazon river/basin... were these Loricariidae catfish live... they say there would be literally thousands of different varieties of catfish... so when a new Loricariidae catfish is discovered and described it can then be given an L-number for ease of future identification...
heres a link to a catfish dedicated site having pics and information on L-numbers...

http://www.planetcat...e...l&thumbs=16

it will come up with the l-number index so you can chose and click on what ever numbers you wish to look at... information is updated as best as possible by the people running the site but i have found the info to be 99% accurate... you can spend hours sifting through all the listed L-numbers