i need an alge eater!

what kind of cichlids do you have??

if they are mbuna they will eat the algae, it is how they eat in the wild. If you are set on getting an algae eater

a bristlnose pleco stays quite small

I have a chinese algae eater in with my mbuna and he seems to be doing pretty good.

Bristlenose plecos love algae...and they stay small... best of both worlds Can't wait til a LFS gets some more in stock.

why do people call bristle nose, bristle nose plecos when they are not plecos but id say get some bristle nose they are interesting fish and get 15cm max

Another vote for the bristle nose.
Or flying fox, but they are not as affective IMO.

with the flying fox they might not like the water perimeters that the other fish thrive in and will get quiet sick in the long run

bristlenoses aren't plecos?

wanna back that up or set the record straight with some sort of link or info?

not having a shot, just trying to clarify it. I always thought they were plecos.

although the term PLECO covers hundreds of fish the bristle nose is related but not directly in the PLECO family if that makes sence ill find out some stuff to support my case

Dragon is correct. I may be off the spelling but bare with me.

The common "bristlenose" is actually an Ancistrus sp. catfish, not in Plecostomus family. That partially explains why they have different traits. Ancistrus cats GENERALLY don't grow nearly as large, and they are mostly vegetarian; plecos will eat fish eggs and young if you have them. IMO - they are much more efficent at algae removal, and they don't have they destructive outburts both of the plecos I had were prone to do. Mine just about tore everything up a couple of times.

That being said I think the bristlnose Ancistrus sounds perfect for your tank. They seem to do well with surface algae on the glass, rocks and wood. If you have hair or BBA, then the SAE's are the ticket. However, I have no experience with them in hard, high Ph water. The only thing with them is that if you have a lot of algae they grow fast, I have seen them grow to 5"!! Also, as they get older and fatter they seem less intersted in the algae and more in the food your are feeding to other fish.

Originally posted by Dragon_Lord_Tia
although the term PLECO covers hundreds of fish the bristle nose is related but not directly in the PLECO family if that makes sence ill find out some stuff to support my case

Click to expand...

Wrong. The Bristlenose is in the Pleco family...Loricariidae, which is the family in which the Common Pleco resides.

The term Pleco started out just referring to one genus of loricariids and then one species of the genus Hypostomus, but it has since encompassed all of the armored catfish (Loricariidae).

Pleco is as much a technical term as tetra or cory...both of which encompass far more than they initially did. They are just common names, and may be used as such -- in any context that the user pleases.