Bushynose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.)

The Bushynose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.), also called the Bristlenose Pleco, is the pleco we recommend more than any other. It tops out around four to five inches instead of the eighteen inches a Common Pleco will reach, it is genuinely one of the best algae eaters in the hobby, and it is tough enough for a first tank. Mature males grow a crown of fleshy tentacles across the snout that gives the fish its name and makes it one of the more characterful catfish you can own. Care level is beginner, temperament is peaceful. Browse the rest of our live fish and freshwater supplies to round out the tank.

Choose Your Size

• Small: young juveniles, usually an inch or two. Too young to sex, and the bristles have not developed yet. The economical way to buy a group.
• Large: grown-out fish with real size on them. Males at this stage are showing their bristles, so you have a much better chance of picking the look you want.

Care Guide

• Tank size: 20 gallons for one, 30 gallons or more for a group or a breeding pair. They stay small, but they are messy eaters and appreciate the extra water volume.
• Driftwood is required, not decorative: bushynose plecos genuinely rasp on wood, and the fiber it provides is part of how they digest. A tank with no driftwood is a tank where a bushynose will not thrive long term.
• Diet: mostly herbivore. Algae in the tank is never enough on its own. Feed algae wafers or sinking pleco wafers after lights out, plus blanched vegetables like zucchini, cucumber, and deshelled peas. A little protein now and then is welcome, but greens should be the backbone.
• Water parameters: 72 to 80°F, pH 6.5 to 7.8, soft to moderately hard. This is a genuinely adaptable fish that does fine in most tap water once dechlorinated.
• Caves: give each fish somewhere dark to sit out the day. Ceramic caves, wood tangles, or stacked rock all work. Males claim a cave and defend it.
• Behavior: nocturnal by nature but quickly learns feeding time and will come out in daylight once settled.
• Breeding: one of the easiest egg-laying fish in the hobby. The male picks a cave, cleans it, guards the eggs, and fans the fry until they are free swimming. Many keepers end up with babies without ever trying.

Specifications

Compatibility

About as easygoing as community fish get. Bushynose plecos ignore mid-water fish entirely and mix well with tetras, rasboras, barbs, livebearers, corydoras, and most peaceful cichlids. They are also fine with dwarf shrimp and nerite snails.

Males are territorial with other male Ancistrus over caves, so in a smaller tank keep one male with one or more females, or provide a cave for every male. Avoid very aggressive cichlids and any fish large enough to swallow them. Also skip known fin-nippers, since a resting pleco is an easy target.

Recommended Foods & Supplies

• Hikari Algae Wafers, the everyday staple
• Xtreme Scrapers Sinking Wafers, built specifically for plecos
• Repashy Soilent Green, an algae gel they go crazy for
• Malaysian Driftwood and Cholla Wood for rasping and cover
• AquaVitro Ceramic Hide for daytime shelter and spawning

FAQ

How do I tell males from females?
By the bristles. Mature males grow long fleshy tentacles across the whole snout and forehead. Females have only a few short bristles around the very edge of the snout, or none at all. Juveniles cannot be sexed reliably, so buy the Large size if you want to choose.

Will it really keep my glass clean?
It will do a lot of the work, which is more than most fish sold as algae eaters. Just do not treat algae as its whole diet. An underfed pleco will start rasping on plants, and a starving one simply wastes away.

How is this different from the L-129 pleco you sell?
Almost completely. Our L-129 False Zebra Pleco is a small carnivore that needs meaty foods and will not eat your algae. The Bushynose is the herbivore and the actual algae eater. They make excellent tankmates for exactly that reason.

Is this the same as a Common Pleco?
No, and the difference matters. A Common Pleco (Pterygoplichthys) reaches a foot and a half and outgrows nearly every home aquarium. The Bushynose stops at four or five inches, which is why it is the one we point beginners toward.