Hi everyone,
thanks for all your past help, so I need advice as I have a marble/calico bn male in a US20g /75litre tank. His tankmates are 2 platy as this WAS a q-tank , now his home. I need ideas about natural scape for him... what is he used to ? rocks, wood , what types and what else would make him happy ? Plants ? Is there any pics of natural bio-scape for this guy ? This tank will be for him (maybe a female in future) so I need to re-scape it.

Also, is there an L# for the marble/calico bn ?
Adult size 5'' ? any info appreciated. I got this bn by accident and decided to keep him, couldn't return this cutie! hope you can help . thanks
Georgie

the marble/calico bristlenose is the same as a common/brown or albino bristlenose. they are the same species, as are the super reds.

in terms of setting up a tank for the big fella, wood! lots of wood. it provides lots of natural hiding places as well as something for him to munch on. It also helps get the water softer and more acidic which he will like as well. in terms of the biotype...something like this



throught to something like this



(images have been borrowed)

basically they like lots of places to hide, oddly enough, the more places there are to hide, the more likely you are to see him. give him one spot, he wont leave it, give him 10 he will feel safe and confident to come out and play.

here is a pic of my shrimp tank on my desk at uni. I used to keep my male calico and an albino female in there til they spawned now its just shrimps. its a bit smaller than your tank but you get the idea. there are two bits of wood as well as plants and rocks to hide in.

Hiya Georgie,

Definitely have wood in there as it is a part of their natural diet. Wood will slowly make your water turn a more natural yellow/brown in colour due to the slow release of tannins but in a planted tank, that natural appearance is just awesome. If you don't like the water becoming that colour, regular water changes will keep the tank as normal (the tannins are not harmful to fish either). Mine seem to love rocks with a lot of surface area on it (bumps/holes/pockets) as there's extra areas for algae to grow and good bacteria.
Have lots of caves and hidey-holes, as Doug said, the more spots they can hide, the more confidence they have to roam around the tank. (Very nice picture of your tank as well Doug )
Sand is a preferred substrate but gravel works just as well. Have fun with the designing of your tank. Post a pic of the finished design if you can, would love to see!

~Tegan

thanks Doug and Silva,
This is kinda what I was envisioning , but needed to be sure, great,yeah I have lots of wood , already boiled the tannins out and had already put a few pcs in there as I assumed he needed it for digestion . I have some great rocks, good size , already tested with vinegar ,so ok for tank , and already boiled to clean them ..so this is great. I have a java fern in q-bowl, almost been 2 weeks ,so will be safe to add end of this week. Great. Plenty hidey places,but I think I will add some different wood and rocks. Cool, so glad you answered ! So I guess I will need to get him a lady ---do I wait , or look for a female soon ,so they can grow together ? Or can he live alone as bachelor all his life ?

many thanks , Georgie

There would be no problem with keeping him on his own. Unless you want to try breeding them, Bn's will often breed without a trigger so adding a female will more often than not result in fry, which in turn will need a grow on tank, more of your time and the problem of moving the fry on.

You're welcome Georgie

Take as much time as you need in getting him a female, but getting one isn't necessarily needed. It's just more fun to watch the tank with 2 BNs then just 1 in it. :P
Just be prepared for little ones if your male decides to be man of the night.
But it's all in the experience of things!

Have fun!
~Tegan

ok thanks guys for the replies, think I will wait , no babies for now and he is still young , plenty of time if I change my mind , good to know he will be ok without a female. ... thanks, Georgie

The thing is with bn, they have enough personality for more than one fish anyways lol. I'm starting to mis my commons, albinos and longfins. As much as I love the look of my Peppermints, they just aren't as sociable as the rest

well this guy is pretty cool, still a little shy,but he eats any veggie I put in the tank for him ... I just finished medicating his 20 USg tank as he got a few burns and singed his side bristles ...ughhhh... seems he was finding trouble in the 54g tank all the time.. finally , moved him when i found him in the hydra-sponge outtake tube...he was in there head-first . Now he is in a better place, he is the only plec, and his skin has healed nicely. I have put plenty of rocks, caves , slate, wood and plants in there for him . I can't be sure , but I think the 2 L128's may have been beating on him... he was always at top of the 54g tank ,scushed behind the heater, even when I was not near the tank. His 20g has a heater w/cover
So, again,thanks for all your concern and advice to get him a happy ,calming tank/scape. Appreciate it big-time !
Georgie

Yay, good to hear he is doing well!
Maybe your L128's were being a bit territorial and didn't like him invading their well known space.
Would love to see a pic of your new tankscape if you are able to.

Always happy to help!
~Tegan

hi Silv, yeah ,will try ,been wanting to get some pics of the bn and the newly scaped tank...prob is that I use my work computer and I think there is a block to post pics off campus ...gave our home computer to mother in law. she enjoys the games..so doubt we will get back soon...so will try to get my nephew to post some pics asap....
thanks again , Georgie

Hmmm, normally there is a block for the downloading of things, not the upload, but if there is, you can always use what's called a proxy at work if you want to. I used to use one when at TAFE as there were a lot of sites that were considered "dangerous" (msn chat even came under this) so using a proxy basically bypassed the some restrictions on the network. It isn't something considered bad, but obviously don't use it for the wrong purposes. All's it does is mask the sites you are going to, but even it has its restrictions and free ones do have their limitations. As always, make sure your antivirus is up to date! :P

That's one way to do it, or you can email them to a friend who can post them up for you, unless your nephew is willing.

Can't wait to see these pics ^_^

~Tegan

humm, interesting. I will ask a co-worker about this, I am a little concerned they will block me if I try to bypass something , the students try to do it and get blocked often. When my students try to bypass on this computer ,which I use, I also get blocked for about a week or so ..ughh... so now I will ask my friend and perhaps I can do it using your suggestion. thanks... Georgie

using a proxie server is not technically illegal however, many companys will hand out large punishments for using them. Sounds like you are at a school and I would suggest they would def frown upon it. especially if one of the students saw you!!