Bristlenose Pleco

Provide a minimum of about 75 litres, with at least one piece of driftwood, which is essential because these catfish rasp and consume wood fibre for healthy digestion. Add caves and hides for daytime shelter, since they are shy in daylight, and use good filtration because they produce a lot of waste. A smooth substrate and a lid complete a suitable setup.

Although they graze algae, bristlenose plecos cannot live on tank algae alone and will slowly starve without extra food, so provide sinking algae wafers and blanched vegetables such as courgette, cucumber and sweet potato, fed in the evening when they are most active. Driftwood to rasp is a genuine dietary need, not just decoration. Offer a little protein occasionally, and remove uneaten vegetables before they foul the water.

Keep the water at 23 to 27 degrees Celsius, pH 6.5 to 7.5, and soft to moderately hard, with good oxygenation and flow. The tank must be cycled with ammonia at 0 and nitrite at 0 and nitrate low, and because these fish are messy, keep up with filtration and water changes. Dechlorinate tap water and change about 25 percent weekly.

Bristlenose plecos are peaceful and can be kept singly or in a group, and they make an excellent, non aggressive addition to a community tank. Males are territorial over their caves with other male plecos, so provide several caves and hides if you keep more than one. They coexist calmly with almost all peaceful fish and largely keep to themselves.

Driftwood to graze and rasp, caves and shady hides, and plenty of algae and biofilm covered surfaces all suit their natural browsing behaviour. Feeding in the evening and dimming the lights encourages their most active foraging, and a varied grazing landscape keeps this busy bottom dweller occupied.