amazon swords and albino bristlenose pleco: fatal combo?

[judy]

I have two juvi albino bristlenose plecos in the QT tank right now. I have a huge(two feet high, foot-wide), healthy, mother amazon sword in the main tank (and a plethora of other plants-- crypts, val, java moss, java fern, lotus) .
When I put the plecos in that tank, will I have a huge amazon sword with its leaves rasped to death?
Because if so, the plecos will be returned for store credit, or given to a neighbour...

[Harriett]

Yeah, they will rasp plants--esp young leaves, in my planted tank....
Harriett

[aquagal]

They decimated my big beautiful amazon sword.

[judy]

well, then. They're not going to get to experience The Big Tank! They're going to experience A Trip Back to the Store!

[C_of_Discus]

I have 2 long fin Albino BN in my 90 gallon Planted they are over 2 inches and been in the tank for 2 months with 3 Amazon swords and java ferns and have not had an issue?

[Blackwater Aquaria]

I have no problems with brissle or bushy nose plecos in my planted tanks. Matter of fact I never see them during the day but on occasion under the moon lites I do see them scurey around the bottom of the tanks cleaning up what the rest of the crew left around. Mike:bandana::D

[pcsb23]

I've not had any issues with BN's, albino or otherwise in any of my planted tanks. You will always get the odd leaf damaged, but my discus have done as much damage to some plants as any other fish.

[judy]

hunh. really. well... maybe... so far, they have been in the QT tank for just a few days and I haven't seen them on the anubias or the potted val at all.
hmm. perhaps i will attempt placement of a small, sacrifice, potted amazon sword (lord knows the mother sword just keeps shooting out runners loaded with plantlets and I constantly have to grow them out and sell them anyway), then stay up a few nights with a tiny penlight, watching for nocturnal rapaciousness.
So far, these little goobers haven't touched the algae wafers provided so thoughtfully (the little tank is quite clean of algae; one wouldn't want them to starve) during the day-- but they're always gone in the morning...

[Eyecandy]

Hi... I've had both the regular and abns in planted tanks for quite some time with no noticeable harm to the plants. As a treat provide them with a piece of zuccini... I just microwave it for a few seconds to soften it up and use the plant weights that come with stem or bunch plants to make it sink... I do this in the evening and by the next morning its all gone except the skin... they love it... and I'm sure that's more appetizing than your plants.. HTH Sue:angel:

[judy]

This is encouraging-- if I provide more palatable, tastier, easier-to-gobble night grazing, they may leave the plants alone?
The point behind getting them was really as sand-bottom cleanup crew more than algae eaters, as I have Siamese algae eaters who do quite a good job on the plants, and the walls of the tank don't seem to have algae problems for the most part (I can probably thank the Flourish Excel for that).
Do they handle substrate cleanup not too badly? The little nippers I've got at the moment seem to pay more attention to the bottom than anywhere else-- but there's not much for them to clean up in there. A lone betta and a few shrimp don't make much mess...

[swingdaddy]

i've got about 5 BNose babies in my heavily planted 7 gal nan with lace java fern, anubia nanos and moss. all is fine. the plants are growing well. no decimation of plants. the bNose cleaned up all the algae on the glass within two days!

[Darren's Discus]

Judy,
it's alway's hard to say whether or not they will attack your plant's,you should feed them with zuccini or pumpkin to help them stay away from your plant's.ime i have never had a problem with small bn,but on a couple of occasions i have had a couple of larger one's tottally destroy my amazon's,all you can do is keep an eye on them if you notice damage to that plant you have just remove them.

cheers

[judy]

That's why I got the albino BNs-- apparently they don't get any bigger than three inches...
I would hate to have to try to remove them from the big planted tank.... chaos would ensure. Plants would be uprooted willy-nilly. Discus would freak... that's why I want to proceed so carefully prior to introducing. Would rather avoid that unfortunate scenario... maybe I will keep them in the QT tank for a long time, observe their plant interactions, use a couple of potted swords to see what they do to them...
so, zucchini. I hate zucchini.

[C_of_Discus]

English cucumber is just as good my BN love it and so do my Mystery Snails. Once a week a 2 inch quarter and thats plenty.

The Snails I have had longer and they clean the leaves of the swords and race around the glass "they are Quick" size of a golf ball but will get like the size of a orange. and they don't eat plants but most snails will.

[GrillMaster]

Plecos will react different to any given tank! I would give em time an see what happens to yer plants... Several options have been mentioned as far as what to put in the tank.

Amazon swords are pretty hardy, and I believe that if ya put some deterrents (as mentioned) in the tank the plants will be just fine. :)

tc
Mark

[judy]

Now that's a perfect solution to the fact that I never manage to finish any cucumber I buy, and always end up throwing half of it out, alll slimy. If someone else in the house likes and eats cucumber (even if it is a couple of tiny fish), that problem's solved, too!

[digthemlows]

I didn't have a bristle nose, but adding cucumber just made my pleco eat cucumber as a side dish to absolutely destroying my swords................that pleco now resides in my sons tank with a baby red devil..................:)

[judy]

hmm. well, there are now a couple of small "sacrifice" swords sitting in the QT with the plecos. and it's dark now. and quiet...
too quiet...
If i see rasped leaves, and those leetle boogers are goin' up for sale on my local fish forum!
Even though they are cute...

[tpl*co]

I have BN in my tank with swords too. Are you feeding yours? I feed mine wafers, or cucumber, (or if I'm lazy an algae feeding block)

Tina

[Wahter]

I think this will vary from individual to individual. The abn's I have even scraped the surface of some anubias plants that I have, but I think thee algae wafers I drop in at night are fulfilling their needs, because the leaves aren't been chewed up as much now.

HTH,


Walter

[judy]

Leetle boogers loved sucking on the swords. They have been re-homed, and the big tank posse of dwarf loaches has been beefed up in lieu of plecos...
I'm not having algae issues anyway.

[Apistomaster]

Ancistrus sp 3 will not eat healthy Amazon Swords. They may be being blamed for eating leaves that were dying anyway.
I raise them by the hundreds to thousands as well as my own Amazon Swords and have BN. in all my tanks, even a small one with each mated pair of discus.
If they were sword plant eaters I would have noticed it by now. Seriously look at your lighting intensity and supplement the BN feeding with zucchini if necessary. I never use it. I raise all my Plecos on earthworm sticks and whatever algae they scrounge up.
Albino long fin BN get as large as normally pigmented ones, about 4 inch SL, not counting the long fins.
BN are never the primary cause of plant leaf damage. Look for other possible problems with your plants.

[lighter]

I have no problem with ancistrus mixed with plants in the tank.

[judy]

well, the plants are all healthy in the main tank-- and the test swords I put in the QT tank were healthy until the litte BNs got to them. And since i saw them rasping along the leaves, which clearly had damaged surfaces following the BN visits that hadn't been damaged only minutes before, I had to conclude it was the BNs on them that caused it. You could see on the leaf the path the BNs had followed-- a dull streak where the outer surface had been rasped off. When the swords were put back in the main tank, damaged leaves removed, they again remained healthy.
Can't think of any other way that damage happened, since it was immediately visible-- along with holes sucked out, which I didn't see happen, but since there was nothing in that QT but the swords and BNs-- no snails-- had to assume it was the BNs. And they were recieving their very own personalized algae wafers to suck on...
(The swords were quite small and have thin leaves).