Petco has Longfin Albino BN Plecos!!!

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Cichlidgirl91

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Feb 8, 2008
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I couldn't believe it. Last week, I stopped by my local Petco and was stunned to see that they had albino BNs....for $3.99. Needless to say, I picked up 3, in hopes of at least getting a pair. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of buying them the same day they arrived and 2 plecs died within 2 days of being in my tank. I just moved 2 regular BNs out of that tank to make room for these new albinos, so I don't think anything was wrong with my tank.
So, I returned the 2 dead ones and got 1 more, which put me up to 2 albino plecs.
Today, I go back to Petco to see their new arrivals. Of course, I go over to the BN tank and what do I see? Are those....? No way. It's not possible. This is Petco, for goodness' sake! But, yes. There they were. Longfin Albino Bristlenose plecos. For $3.99. It took me a good while to scrape my jaw up off the floor. I bought 2. I'm 90% sure that one is a male and about 70% sure the other is a female, but they're both pretty young still.

Okay, here's my question (after an initial statement): I have a 55g setup sitting in the basement that I want to set up as a breeding tank for these little beauties. First question is: how many could/should I have and in what ratio? Are pairs or trios better? My second question is: what (if anything) can I put in there to liven up the tank a bit, but that won't eat the pleco babies? I was thinking maybe some platies.... definitely not tetras - they're like mini pirahnas.
What do you guys think?
Oh, and here's a quick pic of the LF BN plecs waiting to go in the tank. Does it look like a male and a female or is it too early to tell?

IMG_0691[1].JPG
 

vwill279

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The left one is almost certainly a male. Its really hard for me to tell when they're young if they're female or just too young yet to know.

As for a fish to add with them, you could get chili rasboras. They're very pretty and too small to be a danger to baby plecos. I dont know about platies, though. I have never had platies, but my swords and guppies are all monsters that will eat anything they think they can, including their own fry. I would be worried the babies would be small enough to be food. Then again, I've never bred plecos, just observed my friend's breeding pair of ABNs. He keeps them by themselves.
 

Cichlidgirl91

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Hmm.... okay, I guess I'll ditch the platy idea. So, maybe I should go with a large school of some type of fish that grows to be 1.5" or less? That could be fun.
I'm planning on drawing up some ideas for the tank layout (55g), so if ya'll have any ideas, let me know!
So far, I'm thinking: lots of driftwood, broken clay pot caves, maybe some camouflaged PVC pipes for variety, and plants (still deciding on which ones). For substrate I want to go with large-grained sand, so the males can root around and dig out space in their caves (mine really seem to enjoy doing that). Anything else I need to make it a better pleco tank?
 

pinkertd

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May 29, 2007
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The one on the left is definitely male. Not sure about the one on the right, picture isn't quite clear enough. A 55G tank is great size for raising BN plecos. Add lots of driftwood arranged so they can hide out when they want to. Get yourself a BN cave. It needs to have only one opening in the front so that the babies are safe. I always keep a dozen cories in a tank that size. They don't bother the plecos at all. Common BN's like the albinos breed profusely and with just a pair you will have tons of babies, so I wouldn't do a trio. Spawns can be up to 100 each time and about every 2 months. So do the math, LOL! It certainly won't hurt to have more than one female with a male, but if you have 2 males and only 1 female, the males may fight to the death of one when the female is ready to spawn. As far as other small tankmates go.....I've had ember tetras suck a newly hatched baby bristlenose right down when the baby has accidentally been swooshed out of the cave by dad's long fins, so keep to something very small. And lots of plants, even around the cave, will help to protect the newly hatched babies when they first get out of the cave. Good luck, it's lots of fun!!:)
 

jsalas623

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Mar 1, 2012
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Wow thats cheap. I saw the other day that my local Walmart is carrying them also. But I think their selling them for like $8 for 1"
 

Fozzybear

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Mar 16, 2011
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get those puppies dosed up on antiparasitics and then yeah, tons of driftwood and hidey places, and I'd put cories with them, they like the same water quality and are too nice for pleco's to worry about. My Panaque used to beat the crap out of anything that came near his cave except cories, in fact, he'd let them sit on his pectoral fins if they all got scared, they'd just mob into his cave and pile on top of him...i always expected to find some beat to crap infected cory with holes all over his side from being pinned and whipped and i never did.
 

oo7genie

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Nov 18, 2010
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I have 2 longfin albino BN in my 60g tank, and woke up to a dozen or so fry the other morning. I have several "cichlid stones" (fake rocks with built in caves) to provide shelter for all my fish, but didn't make any attempt to breed them by doing anything special like using the classic flower pot method or anything like that.

I have mine in a tank with a few cichlids, neon tetras, and otos. So far they've gotten along fine, but the plecos weren't super tiny when I brought them home, and I am ready to yank the plecos and stick them in a different more peaceful community tank at a moments notice if it comes to that.
 
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