dannyboy;662859; said:
in summer its up around 30 degrees the water, so in winter i might just bring it inside (no need to kill it), what temp should it stay above?
i found this site that gave me the idea(plus there was the debate in the pond forum)
It says
"Secondly, Plecostomus will die when the water temperature drops to fifty five DF. Not 56 DF. Like a light switch, in the Fall of each year, they all die when the water reaches down to fifty five."
55 deg farenheight = 13 deg celcius
In general the Ancistrus species should be kept from around 23-28 degrees celcius. Firstly the plecos that are often kept in ponds or Hypostomus species and plecostomus is one species of Hypostomus (H. plecostomus), not Ancistrus.
monsternoob;881147; said:
I have read that page before and it didn't seem too reliable, I don't think bristlenoses will eat string algae, if it's in a pond you might be better off going for a common. Also, it is a rumour as far as I know that plecs will attack sleeping fish, pretty unfounded.
Not a rumour. Plecos often "attack" fish, basically to suck at slime coats. This is often down to a lack of protein based nutrients in the diet, but sometimes it is just something they do when confined to a tank where fish cannot swim away. Once they start it is very hard to get them to stop, and the fish usually have to be seperated or until one dies. The "rumour" as you put it is because plecos are nocturnal, and so a lot of time this is when it happens. Cichlids can be suseptable because at night time they "sleep". However, it can happen to any fish, from rays to bichirs, gars to gouramis, it doesn't matter.
HunterX;881191; said:
Bristlenoses are completely harmless to other fish- even fry.
They won't eat as much algae as regular plecos though.
Thats not true. I dont know what you mean by regular plecos but Ancistrus (if there is a best algae eater this is one of them) inhabit shallow waters, and in this natural enivonment algae flurishes. There diet consists of mainly algae and decaying vegetation, and as they are also grazers they would also consume microorganisms and eggs or whatever else they find, and so also require some protein in their normally fibreous diet.
If by what you mean by regular plecos are "commons" which are generally sold as Hypostomus species (H. plecostomus, H. punctatus, P. pardalis etc) are species that are suited to eat anything. From wood to dead fish, algae to mircoorganisms, these are unspecialist feeders, and should not be fed mainly algae.
Therefore you could say Ancistrus, a more adapt algae eater would be by far better than the Hypostomus/Pterygoplichthys etc. However, species differ, and the type of algae they would eat naturally, is often not what you want them too eat.
