Clown pleco vs. Bristlenose pleco

Both clown and BN's can get to 5-6" but in most aquariums seldom get larger than 3.5. Neither one is very careful around plants although they do not eat them. Their bumbling, stumbling ways cause most damage. Hardy plants do well and any plant with a strong root system is fine when planted in a deep substrate
 
I had a BN that got to 5" in my old 29g tank.

My clown might as well not have existed, as the only time you'd ever see him is when re-arranging the tank or netting other fish.

A 20g long would do fine, but I don't think I'd keep one in a 20 tall (standard). The footprint is important with them, as they spend as much time on the ground as they do stuck to the sides of the tank or on driftwood.
 
I don't know if I'd call a fish that is always hiding from human sight ornamental, lol
 
Flash Gordon.jpg

*cough cough* Ornamental is right. A clown pleco is a Panaque (so is Flash Gordon in the picture, he's a mature 5 year old, and about 5 inches long.) They're reclusive moody fish, but Plecos are the whole reason I keep fish so with the right tank setup and care they can be viewed and enjoyed. It just normally requires zucchini and a moonlight kit. As to which of them are better? If by better you mean, better at digging large dusty holes, and uprooting plants, and having an all around obstinate personality, as well as being better to look at...then the clown/panaque is totally the way to go. If by better, you mean better at cleaning the glass endlessly and keeping your tank shiny, then the nerite snail is a much better option, but thats a topic for another thread. My BN does continually eat algae off the glass etc, he just produces so much poop in the process its pretty much an even trade-off, I'd have to say that both my plecos are ornamental fish, and if i didn't get them specifically because i love keeping them I'd have regretted their purchase long ago.

P.S. Panaques eat wood primarily as well as fresh veggies, zucchini is this guy's favorite, and while he's apt to rearrange the whole tank in a tiff, he never eats on my plants, but he is kept well stocked on various types of food and even a wood buffet. I'm sure if i slipped up on his diet for even a week there'd be lots of dead plants around.

Flash Gordon.jpg
 
fozzy,great pict. i love my clown's to
this is a bad pict. but all i had was my phone at the time

0109010911_0001[1].jpg
 
if you dont want more otos you can get some of their close relatives
the parotocilclus!
http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/p_maculicauda.htm

here is the shape difference
parot_otto.jpg

and the color of one
url
 
Odd, aside from not having an adipose fin, the otos I picked up at the LFS look far more like the top picture.

The ones I picked up at Petsmart however, look much more like the bottom one.
 
My tanks that have (or had) a clown plec never need to have the glass cleaned, they're very much nocturnal. My BN was out & about more, less nocturnal but 1.5 inches bigger. IME it's kinda exciting to have clown sighting, BNs always seen at feeding time, veg or pellet; & slightly more aggressive. Neither will eat all types of algae.
 
I love the BN's. I've had them reach 5" or so. Mind you this was in a 125G tank. They will much on any wood in the tank leaving wood shavings all over the place, and will not worry if they are ripping your plants up when they dart around the tank. Also the albino and the natural color both grow to the same size IME.
 
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