# how much to feed a bristlenose?



## superguppy (Feb 15, 2010)

I just got a bristlenose pleco yesterday. It's about 2.5-3 inches and already has some short bristles along the upper lip. I can't tell if it's male or female; it has some ridges along the nose/forehead, but not very prominent.

How much do you typically have to feed these fish? I'm using Top Fin algae pellets and there's no grossly visible algae on my tank walls. I do have a piece of driftwood in there.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Algae wafer every other day should do it.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

feed it 1-2 algea wafers every other day..and some kind of meaty foods in between..some bushynose will exceed 8 inches..so; as they grow you will want to increase food quantities.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

the more variety you feed them, the better. blanched veggies, wafers, and other types of pellets are readily taken.


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## superguppy (Feb 15, 2010)

My bristlenose doesn't seem to be eating either my algae wafers or cucumber. It appears that he's at least touching them because they change locations from where I put them, but it doesn't eat them. I see him sucking on the walls a lot even though they appear sparkling clean. Do I just assume that when he starts to starve he will start going for the wafers/cucumbers/other foods?


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

superguppy said:


> Do I just assume that when he starts to starve he will start going for the wafers/cucumbers/other foods?


sg:

I do not know about the cucumber but the wafers and other foods Yes.

TR


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Mine LOVES blanched cucumber, but all plecos are different.


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## jrdeitner (Feb 7, 2010)

the one i had liked zucchini. you can blanch it or tie it to something heavy. females like more meaty things, so try feeding shrimp wafers.


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## superguppy (Feb 15, 2010)

i've been trying to feed the pleco some algae wafers, but i'm not sure that it's eating them. I have 3 zebra danios and 3 cory trilineatus in there with it, so i break an algae wafer into 3-4 pieces and toss it in. The pleco will find one of the pieces and start sucking on it. Whenever a cory comes by, the pleco starts thrashing around to defend it's food, but in doing so, it loses it and I'm not sure it ever finds it again. I myself can't find the food in all the mess to know if it's been eaten or not. My substrate is around the same color as the wafers so they just blend in. Any ideas?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Give the pleco a cave, drop one wafer in front of it, the rest on the other side of the tank. A pleco can learn to grab it and drag it where he can eat in peace. http://plecocaves.com/Caves.htm


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