More than one pleco in a 40B tank?

[Wolfgang]

Hello friends of the AC.

I've had my super red ancistrus since April, still don't know if it's a male or female. I am absolutely loving it though!! I have a 40B community tank and it seems to be doing just fine. I kind of want to get another but wasn't sure how territorial these fish can get, especially if I don't know the sex of my current one. I do know these species of ancistrus don't get nearly as big as some of the others. In the tank are also: one gold gourami, 15 green neon tetra, 15 rummy nose tetra, 5 Colombian tetra, 7 sterbai cory's, and a plethora of assassin snails and RCS.

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

[toddnbecka]

A 40 breeder is large enough for 2 males to establish separate territories. Looks like you're heavily stocked already though, what filtration are you running?

[DoubleDutch]

And if you get a pait their will be tons of fry.
Be sure they are all females. Safest !

https://youtu.be/83IQS1WNq-k

[Wolfgang]

A 40 breeder is large enough for 2 males to establish separate territories. Looks like you're heavily stocked already though, what filtration are you running?

I am running two AC70 filters.

[angelcraze2]

My male brown BN does not tolerate other plecos well. It may be because he mates with the two females, so there are eggs often, but I saw him kill a juvie male with his spikes. For him, he will always be the only male in a 90g. Perhaps without a female in the tank the territorial aggression would not be as severe, but IME, I was surprised how territorial they can be, just like a cichlid. The females are all fine together.

[SueD]

By 8 months you should be starting to see some bristles if it's a male. Some females may also show some but limited and smaller. What sort of driftwood/caves do you have in there? I found that my female was out most of the time but my males stayed hidden a lot - one in a bamboo tube I had in his tank and another behind/under the driftwood in his tank. I'm just guessing, but I'd say you probably have a female if you're not seeing bristles yet and see her often out in the open.

[Wolfgang]

By 8 months you should be starting to see some bristles if it's a male. Some females may also show some but limited and smaller. What sort of driftwood/caves do you have in there? I found that my female was out most of the time but my males stayed hidden a lot - one in a bamboo tube I had in his tank and another behind/under the driftwood in his tank. I'm just guessing, but I'd say you probably have a female if you're not seeing bristles yet and see her often out in the open.

I do see two small protrusions on the "nose" area in front of the eyes, but the bumps are still too small to tell if they are the start of bristles (although I don't really know much since this is my first pleco). And I'd say in the first few months it was hiding a lot, but here lately I've noticed he/she out more often, on the glass, searching the floor, on top of rocks and wood. I have two decent sized pieces of DW each with crevices and holes in them to hide. I also have a fake centerpiece cave type thing with lots of hiding places, and two rocks with spaces underneath them where he/she likes to hide sometimes. I mostly see he/she underneath a piece of DW when it's hiding.

I will try to get a good picture soon, though it will be difficult. Whenever I get near the glass it gets spooked and goes into hiding. I have one of those lights with lots of different settings and I don't usually keep it on the brightest because it's just way too bright. I'd say the lighting is more of a "natural" light, not too bright, not too dark, and maybe that adds to the pleco coming out of hiding more often??

[angelcraze2]

IME, female BN don't hide much. Mine are out all day, munching on DW, cleaning plant leaves. My males, each in their own tank are more skittish. The breeding male disappears for a week at a time, taking care of the eggs, usually in a cave with one opening. My other male BN is still a juvie, but his bristles are fully showing. I forget exactly how old he is, but he is not full grown yet. He's the only bottom feeder in the tank, but is still petty skittish and hides in his DW cave until feeding time. For some reason, none of my female plecos have any bristles at all- completely flat face?

Sounds like you have a nice pleco cave setup. They will love that :) It's important to add real driftwood to the tank if there's a BN in it. It's actually part of its diet. What are you feeding him/her?

[Wolfgang]

I have two pieces of real DW in my tank. Just one fake centerpiece I got from Petco. I'll get a pic of my tank on this thread as well as a decent pic of my pleco when I get a chance.

I feed every other day. Quality flakes, sinking hikari wafers and algae wafers. I try to feed my tank frozen bloodworms about once a week or once every two weeks. I also have frozen brine shrimp. I've tried zucchini and squash a while ago but the pleco didn't seem very interested. I want to try the veggies again though. So mainly the flakes and wafers. And also spirulina.

[angelcraze2]

Right, I see you have RCS, sounds like he/she gets lots of choice if he/she turns its nose up to zucchini haha. My BN love it. All are different I suppose. It sounds like you have it all right :)

[SueD]

Try the zucchini after lights out and leave it in overnight.

[Wolfgang]

Would it be okay to add a different type of ancistrus with my super red ancistrus? Or is it better to match the two? There are just so many different types out there and they all look so cool.

Still don't know if mine is male or female. I will try to get a good picture on here soon.

[labagility]

Try the zucchini after lights out and leave it in overnight.

I started mine on zucchini by pushing algae wafers into the zucchini. Just leave the edge of the wafer exposed, they figure it out quickly.

[angelcraze2]

Would it be okay to add a different type of ancistrus with my super red ancistrus? Or is it better to match the two? There are just so many different types out there and they all look so cool.

Still don't know if mine is male or female. I will try to get a good picture on here soon.

It doesn't matter which phenotype you add, ancistrus will breed with ancistrus, the babies will all be brown if you mix the genes though.