hi all i just wondered how you get ur males to have theses massive bristles you see , and how they can reach sizes such as theses woppas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEQDmTahBo&feature=channel

I have a male a similar size to these, but the bristles are small in comparison to my "Mr Bristles", see my other thread for details

It's all down to water conditions, tank size and feeding regime IMHO

those males are big and very mature hence the big bristles.
ancistrus tamboensis have massive bristles so type plays a part. what you will also find the dominant male gets the bigger bristles.
my main albino male does,nt have big bristles but produces males with big bristles.
imo i dont think it as anyting to do with feeding or the tank size.

Good genetics would be a good starting point - A bristlie male should produce bristlie offspring.
But there is always an exception to the rule , such as deano's albino male

Quote:

deano my main albino male does,nt have big bristles but produces males with big bristles.

J

I have a pair of brown males purchased as juveniles at the same time and a pair of albino males that were also purchased together. One of the browns and one of the albinos are in tanks with females and are raising fry. Both of these males are fully adult and have about the same amount of bristles as those males in the video. The other two males are in tanks where they are the only BN in residence. The Brown has always been the only BN in his tank and the albino was removed from my albino tank as he was the subordinate male and was picked on a bit by the dominant male. Both of these bachelor males are twice the size of the breeding males and have much more extensive bristling. I figure the reason for this is that all the food energy the bachelor males take in goes for growth and development while the energy the breeding males take in is expended largely in raising fry.

that is a very interestiong theory that needs to be tested.

good thinking

Here's my 9 inch males bristles....posted a while ago.....