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Bristlenose Pleco
Ancistrus sp.
Family: Loricariidae
📍 Amazon Basin, South America
The bristlenose pleco is the most commonly kept plecostomus in the hobby thanks to its manageable adult size. Males develop characteristic bushy tentacles on the snout used in mate selection. An excellent algae grazer, it should also receive supplemental feeding with blanched vegetables and sinking wafers.
Keeping this species
- diet
- Herbivore/Omnivore – algae, blanched zucchini/cucumber, sinking wafers
- lifespan
- 10–15 years
- max size
- 15 cm (6 in)
- tank size
- 20 gallons minimum
- temperament
- Peaceful; males territorial with conspecifics
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Tips from the community 💡
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Water it likes
- ph
- 6.5–7.5
- ammonia
- 0 ppm
- nitrate
- <20 ppm
- hardness
- 3–25 dGH
- temperature
- 73–81°F (23–27°C)
Natural Habitat Temperature
77°F — 81°F seasonal range · (Jul low, Feb high)