Is this information correct?

[Durbkat]

I made an article on my forum and was wondering if all the info was correct,
Sexing and breeding Bristlenose Pleco's

Unfortuantly there is no real way that will sex these plec's until they are teenagers and then the males will begin to grow bristles. Females may also grow smaller bristles. It isn't until they are fully mature that the bristles begin to grow from the top of the snout up the center of the face headed towards between the eyes. ONLY males get the line of bristles in the center of the face. But the most reliable way to sex male BN plec's is by the spot on thier head, its easiest with albino bn plec's as you can see it alot easier than you can with brown bn plecos, but a way to see it is to shine a flashlight over their head, but I'm sure the people working at the petstore will think your wierd if you got your head sticking above the tank shining a flashlight over their fish.

The male bristlenose plec's are really territorial and its best to only have 1 male per tank, but you can have as many females as your tank can handle because the male will breed with any or all of the females.

Most bristlenose plec's (bn plec's for short) are sold before you can sex them, so if you just want one to eat algae, one will be good enough, but if you want to breed them its recommended that you get 6 to 8 of these plec's and then sell or give away all of the males but keep one of them, then sell or give away all of the females except 1 to 2 of them depending on what size tank you have.

Breeding Bristlenose Pleco's and feeding the fry (babys)

Having a male & female or two females doesn't really mean they will breed. I mean sure they will breed but the dad or mom could eat the eggs before they become free swimming.

Oh I forgot to mention, that the dad will be the one who takes care of the eggs till they are free swimming, which means when they fry(babys) hatch the dad will kick them out of the cave they are in, and all of the babys will come out and start scavenging for algae and food.

You will also need driftwood in the tank and a cave. The reason you will need a cave, as you can see in the picture of the cave that that is where the plec's normally breed in and keeps their eggs (see the orange spots on the back wall of the cave? Well those are bn eggs).(picture not shown here)

If you have any questions or see some incorrect info in this article, just say something on here and I'll look into to make sure what you said is true.

[Damon]

Let me get this correct, you want us to correct your info on your website when we have a profile section here?

[Durbkat]

ok, no need to get rude, you can delete this thread if you want. Loha was the one that told me to do it since he didn't really want me posting links in the chat room.

[Fishnut2]

Durbkat, your article is good. Males are territorial, in that they will choose thier own caves. I've never seen them overly aggressive in choosing a cave (actually hurting each other).
I suggest that you post this in the Fish profiles and articles section of Fish Forums...as it would help other people trying to breed BN. I can move it for you if you want (I think...lol).
At any rate, it is welcome right here. I think Simpte was suggesting the same thing. Share it here too!

[Durbkat]

Ok, violet send me some suggestions thru a pm so I have edited it, tell me if this is better. MP, I hope you don't mind but I used one of your pictures, but I did give you the credit for it, so is it ok if I use one of your photos before I post it in the fish profiles and articles section?
Sexing and breeding Bristlenose Pleco's

Unfortuantly there is no real way that will sex these plec's until they are teenagers and then the males will begin to grow bristles. Females may also grow smaller bristles. It isn't until they are fully mature that the bristles begin to grow from the top of the snout up the center of the face headed towards between the eyes. ONLY males get the line of bristles in the center of the face. But the most reliable way to sex male BN plec's is by the spot on thier head, its easiest with albino bn plec's as you can see it alot easier than you can with brown bn plecos, but a way to see it is to shine a flashlight over their head, but I'm sure the people working at the petstore will think your wierd if you got your head sticking above the tank shining a flashlight over their fish.

The male bristlenose plec's are really territorial and its best to only have 1 male per tank, but you can have as many females as your tank can handle because the male will breed with any or all of the females.

Most bristlenose plec's (bn plec's for short) are sold before you can sex them, so if you just want one to eat algae, one will be good enough, but if you want to breed them its recommended that you get 6 to 8 of these plec's and then sell or give away all of the males but keep one of them, then sell or give away all of the females except 1 to 2 of them depending on what size tank you have.

Breeding Bristlenose Pleco's and feeding the fry (babys)

Having a male & female or two females doesn't really mean they will breed. I mean sure they will breed but the dad could eat the eggs before they become free swimming if he is stressed out by possibly another male thats in the tank. Also its not a good sign if the dad goes out of the cave alot while the eggs are still in there.

Oh I forgot to mention, that the dad will be the one who takes care of the eggs and once the babys hatch they will stay in the cave for the next few days but the dad will try to keep them in as long as he can but the fry (babys) will come out even though he trys to keep them inside the cave.

You will also need driftwood in the tank and a cave like this one,

Picture take by MalawianPro on FF
The reason you will need a cave, as you can see in the picture of the cave that that is where the plec's normally breed in and keeps their eggs (see the orange spots on the back wall of the cave? Well those are bn eggs).

Also the only fish the dad will allow in the cave while he is watching the eggs is another female to spawn with, yes he can have the eggs from two females in the cave at once.

One last things with the bn babies, its a good idea if you want most of the babies to survive if you put the babys in a tank by themselves because they eat very little and the other fish will gobble up their food before they can get enough.