View Full Version : Bristlenose gender specifications.
Skippy
11-27-2002, 5:29 AM
I have heard that the hard and fast determination of gender for a bristlenose is wether or not they have bristles on the crown ridge that goes up the center front of thier head, or if they have just bristles around the bottom edge. (males being the ones with the ridge bristles)
Is this really the case?
If not, is there a hard and fast rule for it?
I have a bristlenose who is adult and was thinking about possibly trying to find him a mate. If so I want to make sure i'm matching them up appropriately.
No real problems checking the gender of the bristlenose. Male-tentacles/bristles, females-none. Most of your problems will be on trying to get the right specie with your bristlenose. There are a lot of variations!
Presence or absence of bristles on females is species-specific. Many species have females with bristles, just not as many or as large as the males of the same species.
Bremer
11-27-2002, 10:15 AM
So then, if you are buying juvenile bristlenoses and would like to have a male and female, how do you tell them apart if even the females might have some bristles?
Barbie
11-27-2002, 11:51 AM
If you buy them at the same time, you can usually be sure that the fish of a similar size with noticably less bristles is the female.
Barbie
yannfulliquet
11-27-2002, 2:54 PM
Hi!
I would even say that in a group of juvenils of around 2-2.5 inches and you find some with bristles and some without, well if you pick up one of each you willend up pretty sure with a pair.
Common bristlenose are easy to tell sex apart but then if you get into more specified species it get a little bit tough...
You can usually say that males have longer and more fournish bristles that can ( not for all) grow up between the front of the eyes, look like this _I_ from the front and on female it stays more that way _ _.
Cheers
Yann
Bremer
11-27-2002, 3:40 PM
So am I correct that if I bought one that only has bristles around the edge of its mouth and not up its forehead, it could still be a female depending on the species and that, in order to get a male and female, I might need to compare the relative sizes of the fish?
I looked on www.planetcatfish.com to try and identify the species of the one I bought last weekend. And I went back to the LFS last night, but all of the bristlenoses in the tank where mine came from have small bristles around the mouth and look pretty much the same.
FishBait
11-27-2002, 4:46 PM
Also, if the female happens to have bristles, they often are narrow and unbranched at the tips...I've seen many male species where the tip of their bristles end in a "y".
JamisonBWolsh
11-27-2002, 7:53 PM
I have 1 male/2 females in a 20 gallon. The albino kind which are goldish/yellowish. Female= NO BRISTLES, Male= Has bristles (my male has only a few bristles along the mouth. These guy are PROLIFIC BREEDERS!!! Im finding eggs every 2 weeks in a cave specifically for the male pleco to fan and protect the eggs.
In another tank I have :
Starrynight Bristlenose
golden nugget
Yellow spot pleco
The albino bristlenose are the ONLY ones that like to leave a LONG line of poop...I hate that,.....the others I dont notice. The albino bristlenose are NOT timid in the day, as well as the golden nugget and the yellow spot. The starry night, I LITERALLY NEVER SEE???? IS he still alive??? Yes.....I only see him when I clean the tank once a week,....Its a shame..he is Jet black with a white stripe on his top fin.
I am very interested in this topic as well. I have one bristlenose in 65g right now, and I am also thinking of adding another one. Can someone have a look to the picture and tell if I got a male or a female ? It's got some bristles, but they're not really that "bushy". Any ideas ???
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~kvrompae/fish/6.jpg
Skippy
11-28-2002, 9:40 AM
OK,
That one in that pic is pretty much a dead ringer for mine. Same sparse but existant bristles.
JamisonBWolsh
11-28-2002, 5:31 PM
Im sorry.. your worng.....My albino bristlenose:
Male has bristles near mouth but not on forehead
Female-not one bristle.
It defers with each type of bristlenose.
When they are young (under 2 inches) its almost impossible to sex them.
These guys are BREEDERS- breeding like rabbits. second batch in 1 month! saved 15 fry from the second batch awesome!!!!