Sexing Bristlenose

[Sculpin]

If male bristlenose plecos have the bristles and the females dont then this could get confusing. So if a store recieves a female bristlenose mixed in with males, I bet most of the time it gets moved into another tank, with the common plecos. Its probably tough to sell something as a bristlenose pleco with no bristles. I was looking at a group of bristlenose the other day and all had at least some bristles. How is it possible to find a pair?

[cichlidkid123]

If you want a pair you must get maybe 6 or more to just let them natuaral paring. This is the best way to get a pair to breed.

[bmxer_100]

Most shops sell them as juvi's anyway and you can sex them. Most people not wanting to breed also dont care what sex they are as long as they do their job.

[cathyhill]

It took me quite while before I could tell if I had males or females. I started with 7 very small ones and had 3 that made it to adulthood. I ended up with 1 female - no bristles and 2 males. I put a pair together and they produced a few offspring but they always ended up dying after 2 or 3 weeks. I removed the male and put in the bachelor from the other tank. They really took to each other and also play around. Something I never saw when I had the other two paired up. They also produce healthy fry and I have about 3 batches growing out now and more on the way. Give it some time and be patient.

[Sculpin]

Cathy, do you think you were breeding a brother and sister and that is why they never made good parents and the babies died? Ive just bought 5 young ones off of aqua bid. My plan is to hopefully get 2 females out of the group, and then trade the rest in for a male. Its possible for a regular male to breed with an albino female isnt it?

[cathyhill]

I'm pretty sure they are related (how close is the ?) but I think it has more to do with the fact that mine are albino. I have heard that albino strains of ______ (insert fish name here) tend to be less healthy than the regular strains. Don't know if this is a proven fact or not???

It could have been that the original pair just didn't have a chemistry. The first male also tended to be a little lazy when it came to fanning the eggs. This other male fans like crazy even when he's out of his shell and eating algae wafers off the bottom of the tank. I laugh at him alot!

As far as mixing albino with regular, I was told by a few breeders not to do it because they could be different strains of bristlenose. I have also read on the internet of people doing it and getting 75% regular and 25% albino in the offspring from the original parents.

I decided to stick with albino and I get 100% albino so I'm sure they have been line bred for awhile.