bristlenose

chinaman

AC Members
Dec 2, 2005
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hawaii
I've had a bristlenose pleco for almost a year now and most of the time it's breathing fast. I dont know why its doing that but my water is fine. PH is 7.0, tempature is 76-78 degrees and he is in a 30 gallon tank with a pair of blood parrots. Could the parrots be stressing out the bristlenose somehow?
 
Are you sure he is not just eating?

What are the oxygen levels in the tank?

I know from experience that they are often seen to be breathing fast, so far they seem fine :). I'd only worry if you saw symptoms of an illness or if he started to turn whitish.
 
jwddboy said:
Are you sure he is not just eating?

What are the oxygen levels in the tank?

I know from experience that they are often seen to be breathing fast, so far they seem fine :). I'd only worry if you saw symptoms of an illness or if he started to turn whitish.

No I'm sure he is not eating and I dont really know the oxygen level in my tank. But he dosen't look sick nor is he turning whitish. He just breathing fast
 
hello chinaman.

i too keep BPs and bristlenose and they get along fine. unless you've actually seen the BPs harassing your bristlenose, i'd think that wasn't the problem.

how large are your BPs? i hate to tell you but 2 BPs in a 30G isn't going to be big enough long-term. i started 2x3inch BPs in a 29G. after one year, i moved them to a 46G. after another year and a half, i've finally moved them to a 100G, they're 7-8 inches now. this should last them the rest of their natural lives assuming i don't overstock the tank!

my experience has been that bristlenose like a fair amount of water movement/current. sometimes, they'll park right near the filter/powerhead outflow just like a dog sticks his head out the window of a moving car.

you say he's not eating when he's breathing hard, but is he eating at all? what are your feeding your bristlenose? does he/she have a piece of wood to chomp on? can you post a pic?
 
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