Well tonight I am up after the tank lights are off and my bristlenose is very active, he even attacked the goldies!!!!
I thought they would be compatable??
Anyone else had this problem?


btw he has plants and rocks to hide in and driftwood so I do not think he feels thretened, he just went at them when they swam near him

Is he a new bristlenose? Perhaps he is just not familiar with them and thinks they are food.

Mine will make a charge towards the goldies but only at feeding time if they come to near his food.

Yes he is new
I got him after sweet talking a breeder, he gave me his best male breeder when the manager was not there
as he realised I knew how to take care of fish
He been in QT of course
I just put him in and he seems happy but........... he flared!! like the prickles behind the gills actually came out and struck Mullow!!
I read bout them but now I saw them in action, they really nasty prickles.
They say that with nets, you cant use them as they will tangle in them, I took his advice and from the baf to QT and now from QT to tank I used my hand only.
He is going nuts on the algae discs and any goldie that comes near them

I have 11 adult Bristles,and at least a hundred or so babies,and I've never seen them bother anyone.Once in a while you will see a male get a little "Territorial" with his space,but that usually comes up against another male.How big are your Goldie's in comparison? My Goldies are very "in your face" kind of fish-especially when it comes to dinner time.Is your Bristle feeding enough? If he's brand new in the tank,he may only be holding his own and letting everyone know that he's not taking any crap.

Maybe he is just extra hungry. Don't worry, my gf soon learnt to avoid him when he's eating.

I didn't know that about the prickles behind the gills. I move mine around every couple of weeks but one got stuck once in the net, I had to shake it a bit to get him loose. I don't know how you could catch one in your hand. Mine takes ages to get even in the net, once they realise they are a target they are so quick.

I actually have a net with fine white netting that I use for mine.I know they sell smaller type ones for Brine Shrimp.Anyway,it's the best for catching the Bristles.I would NOT use a regular net.It's not fun when one gets caught up in it,and you have to cut him out.Been there-done that.

Yes the breeder told me if you use a net and they get caught, best thing is to let it hang an inch above the water, they soon let go!
the prickle things I was talking bout are near the gills, not the barbles.
they only come out when they angry or upset.

Well so far he attacted Mullow, he got red bleeding patch and he got Lucy too now....I am going from puter to tank, got a torch on low light to se them as aparently they nocturnal!
Lucy now has a red mark on her tail looks like a spine is broken

Devs so sorry I did not answer your question
he is a good 4-5 inch, bout as big as they grow I think???

Good grief I've never heard of anything like it. Sounds like your guy has an attitude problem.

attitude??? gezzzzzzzzzzzzzz this time of night imma give him attitude!
hmmmm ok no I wont Im to loving

ok when he attacked he flared up the dorsal fin then turned on his side and just "rushed" at them he flicked over hiting them on the side, like he flicked his prickles out
I must admit a very impressive show...wish I got it on vid!!!

Are you going to leave him in there tonight?

Thats it I am moving Mulolow to QT

Coco and sunset are hovering at the top left side of the tank
Lucy is trying to get the algae wafer from the catfish and he already hurt her but she is persistant
he is on the bottom right hand side by his log guarding the wafer like there is no tomorow!

I only have one QT tank and Mullow has red spot where he got him
I think coco and sunset may be ok they avoiding like the plauge
as for Lucy I dont know

you can't really generalize Bristlenose behavior.The genus Ancistrus has a lot of species within it, you might have gotten one that's particularly territorial unlike the commonly encountered ones. A pic is the most reliable way to identify it.

ok thanks Man Yu (love your fish by the way)
i took a pic a few days ago as camera died I will try to get it uploaded.

in meantime I got a bucket of water with my soda as I do for water changes to I can match temp and PH

got aheater and airstone.
I got to put it all in a 5 gal
Poor Muloow thats so small for him but its all I got on hand now. My rubbermaid has a profusion of guppy fry in it! so that is not an option
ugh, this reminds me of the day I used the salad bowel LOL!!!

Good point Man Yu. The other thing is his size. 4-5" is about full grown and if he is used to being housed with other bristlenose this could account for his aggressive behaviour.

I hope that once he acclimatises to the goldfish as companions he will tone down his behaviour, as he realises they just aren't the threat he thinks they are. Also, your gf will soon learn to keep away from him too.

The other option would be to return him to the shop and get another smaller bristlenose. Mine were babies when I got them, now they are about 3" long, they aren't really aggressive as they have grown up with the gf.

I cant get the pic
camera to dead to upload but I got a pic from the net and thsi info:

Bristlenoses have evertible interopercular spines at either side of the head, which appear when the fish is upset. The spines are tipped with minute hooks, which can make it difficult to extract a bristlenose from a net.

http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/f...ristlenose.html

the pics on there look mine

and another pic that looks like mine except mine has more bandings, like the spots are in bands over his body
http://www.wetpetz.com/bristlenose.htm

You may both be onto something there as when I got him he was the aquariums main breeder!!
He had another two that breeds and juviniles he farthered that he was hoping to breed from

I feel so bad he gave him to me as he knew I knew how to take care of fish!!!
I do not think he has to worry bout the guy as geeeeez he is a strong but my goldies!!!!!!!!!!!

Man Yu can you tell from those pics what type I have???

Interesting, in that second link it says the spines are only on the males. hmmn, mine did get caught in the net once but they don't have those bristles so I think they are female. Maybe that's why they are more docile too?

Sometimes mine go all dark with spots like that, usually in summer when the water is warmer. In winter they usually have the banded look.

well... it's pretty ahrd to guess with just a verbal description. (and not as if I'm an expert on bristlenoses anyway, I just put that theory forward as a possible clue). The only thing I can advise is to sit back and observe carefully. He just might become more relaxed in his new environment yet. If he continues to be boisterous though, he could probably just be a mean individual.... in which case, you'd be better off having him exchanged

Yup the males have all the bristles all over their face...like they in need of a good shave LOL. The femaes dont have so many barbles over their face.
and they got them nasty spiny things that poke out when upset.

ok ta Man Yu for all your input
I am no expert either!

Yanno I did research them before I got him to the best of my abilities.
I fell in love with Devs albino fry long ago
Everything I read say they compatible
Maybee I just got one fiesty male (reminds me of my X hubby!)
darn men!!!!!!!!

well Mullow is content, i added salt to heal his wounds.

I am going to bed! This has been a long night.

I will check in morning on other fish and hope my bristlenose has not gone to town on them

Oh, I'm so sorry about Mullow, hope he will be okay! And Lucy too! Good Luck and give us updates.

How big is the tank, LMF? I found that with my bristlenoses, size of the tank and size of the bristlenose itself compared to the goldies is often the reason they attack. Now that the tank they're in is much bigger and the goldies are much larger, the bristles never attack or even show interest in the goldies.

Its 40G tank. Mullow is as big as the bristlenose, so is Lucy.
Mullow is doing ok today I have taken his salt up to 0.2% he is clamping his dorsal fin but is active and eating. The wounds seem to have a whit layer on them and the scales a bit puffy. Hopefully its starting to heal. Lucy seems fine except her tail is bent
My bristlenose has not been out much today he hiding alot under the log. I will watch him when the tank lights goo off tonight again.

Poor Mullow, do you have any pics of the injuries? (Actually, I don't want to see, but... )I guess I want to see if he looks okay.

Well, sounds like Mullow is healing well. I hope your bristlenose settles down soon and the gf learn to keep out of his way.

You know, as Riz mentioned, I think the size of the gf makes a difference. My plecos are most aggressive in my pearlscale tank where the gf are smallest. hmmn.

If Lucy & Mullow are only as big as the bristle, I won't be surprised if he really attacked them.

How is the wound now?

Sorry OldHag I dont have pics. I have the day off tomorow as Im doing nightshift so I will see if i can grab a batery and get some.

Annette thats the strange thing, coco is smaller then Mullow yet he seems to leave her alone, or is it she is not as bold as Mullow and Lucy were?

d_golem Lucy and Mullow are bout same lenght if not bit longer but Lucy is big and fat too. The strangest thing is he didnt go for the smaller one like Coco, very puzling.

So far there are no further injurs I can contribute to him, but they all have split fins
Lucy's tail is healng nicely, no red anymore, its just bent.

I am however sorry to report that Mullow does not look at all well or happy.
He is clamping his fins, the wounds look the same, not worse so I guess thats a good thing, but he refused to eat today
I have tried 3 times even with his fav bloodworms, I hoped he would eat them for extra protein while recovering but he wont even go near the food.
When I got home from work he was just hanging near the top of the water clamped.

I went to bunnings like Jen sugested in another thread where they got BIG buckets but they had none as large as the one in that post, however I grabbed a nice 10Gal storage container (rubbermaid type thing) and I have put him in there with pristine water and raised salinity to 0.3%.Naturally he has a heater an airstone as well. He is a little more active but not eating.
Maybe he was depressed at being moved on top of the stress, after all he is used to a big tank with plants and rocks. I am hoping with the larger space and water he may perk up now.

Poor 'ole Mullow, it sounds like he's in shock from being attacked. I hope he gets well soon.

Thanks hun!
At least in the new "tank" he is not hovering by the surface. I think he likes the space to move.

I think there is something funky going on in my main tank thou
I am not sure so I do not want to jump to conclusions, but its just not right.

Oh no, poor Mullow, (I love shubunkies...)

Is your bristlenose settling down at all yet? Perhaps you could try feeding blanched zucchini. I put several chunks in my tanks that house bristles with goldfish, every couple of days. This seems to keep them happy and not as rambunctious about the goldfish food.

How is Mullow doing?

My bristlenose was well behaved last night while I was watching
Thanks for the tip touchofsky.... I dont have any zucchini on hand but I have lettuce and I put a leaf of that in there, he does not seem interested in it, he hordes the algea wafers thou. Do I need to blanch the lettuce? I just put it in fresh.

No improvement in Mullow he even lists to one side slightly. He did however eat today, so I was pleased with that.
Could the salt iritate him and make him lean over?

You can either freeze the lettuce or blanche it in a bit of water in the microwave. That way it will sink and be more palatable for the bristlenose. If you can, though, buy a zucchini and try that. My bristlenoses (and goldfish and other bottom feeders), just adore zucchini. I cut in in wedges, then microwave in a bit of water until soft. When it is cooked enough, it will sink.

Have you tested the water in your hospital tank? Is there a light source only coming from one side? High nitrites will sometimes make a fish list, as will light coming from on side of the tank.

I haven't seen salt cause a goldfish to list. Generally, they tolerate it very well, although some long finned fish will show some fraying of the fins at higher concentrations.

oH i really hope your fish are getting well, i was thinking of getting a Bristlenose or some hillsteams but after this thread i'm starting to wonder if it's a good idea

If you are worried about bristlenoses after reading this, I would suggest you get a female. They are not as territorial as the males. You can tell the difference between the two by the barbels. The females have only tiny "bristles".

Hillstream loaches are very passive, but they are not really good algae eaters like the bristlenoses. They are very sensitive to water quality and like a good current in the tank with lots of aeration. They are funny little things to watch. Mine chase each other around the tank, but never bother the goldfish at all.

My female bristles will defend their food, but have never been a problem with my goldfish.

Oh, please let us know how Mullow does.

Thanks for that, I sunk it with a blunt knife lol
He ate some but not much, I just picked up zucchini this morning so Im cooking it now

The hosp tank is 10Gal curently PH-7.3 nitrIte and NitrAte - 0 Amonia - 0
Yesterday Amonia was 0.05 so I did a waterchange last night of 50%
I did think of the light as its one of the first things to note and yes there is slight light from a window on the side but he is not leaning towards it, the side with the largest wound is the side he seems to lift, maybe because the scales were a bit puffy?

Today he has eaten breakfast well and the wounds are not as red, the white layer on them has gone, but he has some streaks at the base of his fins.
I am uploading pics I took last night so will post them soon.





He has settled down a bit, I guess he had to establish who is boss and his teritory. I would still recomend a bristlenose, they have such amazing characters. It is not common for this to happen, mine is just a bully I thinks some of the problem was the particular rocks he claimed as home happen to be where the goldies hang out the most as it is the side I feed them. He has another 3 foot of tanks and rocks to choose from but noooooo he decided he had to have "their" section LOL

Poor Mullow

And the culprit:

Mullow doesn't look too bad, I hope he gets better soon.

Ooooh poor Mullow... I hope he will be okay

Thanks Annette that is reasuring
There is a definate improvement in the redness for sure, and the puffy scales are going down. Its his behaviour that concerns me but I think you were right when you said he was in shock. Today and tonight he is eating and generally does not seem so "depressed" as he was at first. 2 days ago I was very woried but often "not worse" is a good sign so I did not intervene anymore and so far he has started to respond to the water and salt.

The reason I put him into QT/Hosp was so he had pristine water and salt to heal naturally and not have any "natural nastys" around him that may decide to become opotunist (SP?) on the wounds from the main tank water.

OldHag...thank you so much for all your concern, I know you love shubunkins As you can see from that last pic Mullow has grown a very impressive long tail, we all love him and my son is constantly checkng on him, I dont know if you remember, but it was my son that got and named him originally to cycle the tank and he just grew and grew and became family

Edited due to typos: waterchanged 5 tanks , 2 to go, I think my hands have gone numb!

I just read about it in an old post, Aug 12 2005 was it? How did he come up with the name Mullow, sounds german? (Müllow!) Kind of cute!
We had a beautiful shubunkin named Buse (swedish, means something like rascal ) it was my sons, he disappeared last summer in pond, someone/thing took him and we were devastated.
Btw my name is Anette too!

hehe another Annette

My son named him after a nickname the kids at school gave my son when he was in dire need of a haircut,,,mullow , mullet hair LOL

You are so right about pristine water and salt - it does wonders. I can relate to your numb hands, I had one of those manic water changing days yesterday.