common Bristlenose advice needed.

:hi: all

Yesterday afternoon me and hubby went to LFS for some aqua safe and saw the most beautiful male Bristlenose, i did want one but they never had any until yesterday, unfortunately we dont have a qt tank ( my bad we wasnt going to buy anymore fish until the commons were in their bigger tank, we were going to use that tank as a qt, but it seemed like to good an opportunity) so he is in with our Odessa's who are healthy.

We checked him over for some time, the staff must have thought we were nuts, we checked his appearance and his tummy and all is fine. We will watch him closely in the coming weeks.

After he was settled in the tank he mooched about and did some algae eating, and is not bothered by the odessa's at all, my concern is he is still showing stress colouring and didnt have a bite of the veg i put in last night for him, at the moment he is hiding in an ornament and hubby is getting him a cave ( hopefully today or tommorrow). I have put in a slice of cu***ber today and will put courgette in again tonight for him.

Is there anything else i can do for him, i guess i cant help feeling apprehensive after losing the Gibby.

Sorry to ramble.

Considering he is still new to your tank, i would not expect the stress colouration to disappear just yet. He has to feel completely comfortable with the tank, inhabitants, water parameters. He is also likely to feel stress if he has no where that he can feel safe and hide.

I wouldn't be too concerned by him not eating the veg either. Seeing as you only got him yesterday you don't know if he has ever been fed veg before. If not it may take him a while to realise that the veg is food for him. Give it a few days to let him settle in.

Keep us all updated and if your concerned about anything else post it up and hopefully we can help you ease those concerns.

Thanks Bianca, i most def will do and will also get some pics of him here to.

Hubby would have got him a cave today but he is helping a fellow aquarist he works with, collect a new tank for his fish. I am hoping there will be a spare cave with that tank that maybe he will let us have ( he keeps Ancistrus).

I know its daft but i wish i could make him understand that he is loved and cared for.

Thanks and much appreciated.

He has still got stress colouring but at least he is now eating, he had a wafer earlier and is now eating courgette ( zuchini) : )

Where did you get him from? just curious

Congrats on your getting a Bristlenose. They are great fish and after acclimatized to your tank they can be very hardy. Mine are out all the time, they're not shy at all. Do you have any driftwood in the tank? Some people say wood in the diet aids in digestion. I dont know if it does or not but my Bn's do graze on it quite a bit.:yes: Good Luck with the new fish. :thumbup:

SmithRC said:

Where did you get him from? just curious

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Sent a PM : D

Big-B said:

Congrats on your getting a Bristlenose. They are great fish and after acclimatized to your tank they can be very hardy. Mine are out all the time, they're not shy at all. Do you have any driftwood in the tank? Some people say wood in the diet aids in digestion. I dont know if it does or not but my Bn's do graze on it quite a bit.:yes: Good Luck with the new fish. :thumbup:

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Thank you.

We had some bogwood already in the tank and we do have some in the commons tank as well. He is a great little fella, he is so differant from our commons they shy away a bit where he doesnt :woohoo: i have read they need wood on a care sheet.

Thanks again, i shall do my very best to give this little guy a good home

Here is a rather bad picture of him : ) Sorry about that.

I'm sure he will be fine just keep an eye on him until he settles in

I will do and thank you : )

Just wanted to give you an update, he is eating really well now, instead of just picking at the food, he stayed out of the cave longer this morning before i put the light on, and comes out quicker when the light goes out. He mullered the courgette i put in last night YAY!

Wow Spencer has a proper face forest going on :thumbup:

Terry Got Hip kissed said:

Wow Spencer has a proper face forest going on :thumbup:

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:hi: mate,i am so glad you noticed :lol: imo he is such a cutie <3