"bristlenose" catfish

[brycemc]

I bought 2 bristlenose catfish a while ago and neither of them actually have bristles on their noses. one has grown quite larger than the other but both are still pretty small. my mate said maybe only males grow the bristles. have i got 2 girls? or do they develop bristles when theyre a bit bigger? or have i been sold a different type of catfish?
thanks

 

[OrionGirl]

Depends. There are many species that are sold as bristlenose, and some never get large bristles on either gender. In some, only the male gets large bristles and the females just develop a sort of 'fringe', right above the upper lip. Most males won't start getting larger bristles until they are about a year old, IME.

 

[Holly9937]

How big are they? My bristlenose is about 3-4 inches, and I started noticing his bristles had grown a few months after I got him, but it always had littel nubs,they were just never very long

 

[nursie]

I had questions about my bristlenose too...check out www.planetcatfish.com
they have a great searchable database. I figured out I have a starlight bristlenose female...from pics on their site. If you can post a pic here maybe someone will recognize it. But check out planetcatfish..it's great!