pleco's banned in S.A?

Just wait till you get into the fancy side of pleco-ing, you won't miss the great lumps at all :blink1:

Start with some bristlenoses!

*Edited to add: But PLEASE run your tank for 3 weeks to a month more before doing so! Just checked out your tank thread and I really think your filter isn't ready yet. Have patience and your fish will reward you by surviving! Repeat it to yourself in the mirror... patience patience patience...

 

How long do baby bristlenoses take to mature? I've seen some teeny tiny ones at the lfs that havent seem to grow at all in the past month or 2 that they've been there

 

They take a good while to reach a decent size.

They are slow at first and then they suddenly just grow.

I have 40 fry at the moment that I'm trying to grow out a bit. They have blue-eyed genetics and normal green bristlenose in them. I've had them 2 months or so and they are now around 2.5 cm on average.

I've kept one from a previous batch. He's about 7 months old and 9cm long.

I'll be taking them for sale soonish

 

Fish will mature in a suitable, unstressed environment with the correct foods available and good water condition. Smaller ancistruss species will grow slower than larger plecos. Shops can't provide these kind of conditions due to high turnover of fish. Their focus is usually on keeping the fish alive on a minimum of food, to prevent over feeding and resulting problems.

 

Exactly. Ancistrus though are definitely not the fastest growing fish around.

 

Only the Hypostomus plecostomus and Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (Sailfin pleco) is illegal due to their size and invassive nature in rivers.

 

And yet you still see them in every petshop you walk into