Ancistrus, suckermouth catfish, a skilful algea eater and a popular aquarium fish | ||||||||||
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A durable and peaceful catfish, helps keeping your aquarium tidyThe Ancistrus wants hollows and caves which it can use as rest and hiding places Facts and information about the Ancistrus
Description / behaviour The Ancistrus is a very popular aquarium catfish. It is dark brown with spots and dots in different shades. There is an albino variant, which is usually called Golden Ancistrus. It´s most alert during night, in day time it keeps away in hiding places - but sometimes it peeps out from the hideouts. If you´ve got two males of the same species in a smaller tank, they form territories, else they are very peaceful. Gender: The male develope bristles, like long aerials, on it´s head. These bristles is most sturdy under the spawning time. The female has either no bristles or a row whith short bristles. Cultivation: The Ancistrus plays in very cramped caves or holes, the female also put the roes there. The roes are guarded by the male. The roes are hatching after approximately five days. You can start feeding the fries 14 days from hatching. The fries are very easy to handle, they eat what the parents eat. They need a great amount of food, so feed them well - so they don´t starve to death. They are fairly sensitive of nitrite. An appropriate aquarium The Ancistrus get on well in big aquariums. It want hollows and caves which it can use as rest and hiding places. The Ancistrus also need a root of a mangrove tree. The catfish gnaws on it to get a better digestion. The food: The catfish is an omnivore. It eats for example plants, algea, tablet food, some vegetables and also live food. It can gnaw holes on the plants if they don´t get enough algea. To give the catfish tablet food that is specially suitable for catfishes is a good option. My own experiences If you also have Corydora Catfish in your aquarium, like I have, the Ancistrus could hunt them (but kind of unharmful). It has the habit of taking the tablet feed from them. But it ends up well in most cases. The Ancistrus is a very skilful algea eater, you will get a quite algea free aquarium (perhaps even completely). Algeas which otherwise can be a big problem in some tanks. More Ancistrus Resources The Ancistrus or Bristle-nose Catfish can be used successfully to help rid the aquarium of problem algae They will also will cling to the glass. They stay
much smaller than their cousin and much more common catfish, the Pleco or Plecostomus.
Similar to the Plecostomus, it is a good idea to keep some wood in the tank since
rasping algae from the wood provides a perfect place for more algae to grow
maintaining a constant food source for the fish. Coming from fast flowing
tributaries of the Amazon river, ancistrus species prefer well oxygenated
water with some currents. With 59 currently accepted species, Ancistrus is the largest genus of Ancistrini It is readily recognized from all other loricariids by the presence of
tentacles on the snout. In females and juveniles, the tentacles are short and
located only along the snout margin; however, in breeding males, the tentacles
are quite long and located on the top of the snout. Based on the fact that
males guard their young until they are fairly large and that females of nest-building
species prefer to lay eggs in the nest of males that
already have eggs... Why the catfishes have a flat head Long ago, when fish and animals could talk, the chief of the catfish
called council. He said to all, "Hau, brothers. I am very tired of eating things from
the mud at the bottom of the lake. I think we should have meat as do the wolves. Let us
watch for the moose when he wades into the lake to eat the lily pads and let us spear him
and kill him for meat. He comes when the sun is at the edge of the sky, so we will hide
among the lilies and grasses and spear him when he comes."
The other old catfish agreed and the whole tribe hid along the lake where the lilies and
pads grew the thickest. When the sun was at the edge of the sky, the moose came. He did
not go into the lake right away but ate at the edge where the sweet grasses were. At last
he entered the lake and...
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