Starlight Bristlenose Plecos

I am hoping if someone can give me some advice on keeping what I have
now identified to be Starlight Bristlenose Plecos (Ancistrus sp.
L182), which is a butt ugly glass sucking catfish that I purchased
from a local fish store just yesterday.

My tank is about 40 gallons (I think) and has an under gravel filter
attached to a powerhead that also provides lots of oxygen input. The
gravel layer is a little on the thin side, but not too bad. A great
device none the less for keeping things healthy.

I also have a second standard sponge filter, which I just keep sitting
on the bottom of the tank, where that of course is where all the crap
ends up. There is also an extra air pump, which provides a small
stream of bubbles, but this is on the weak side.

Inside the tank I have a big smooth garden rock, which has been in
there for years. Some petrified wood and some really annoying plastic
things that should stick on the back of the tank but never do, which
is why they rest on the bottom at the back. I would chuck those out,
but as some of the fish like them, then that is why I keep them there.

My tank on the scale of things is doing very nicely at the moment,
when I have not had a fish die on me for many years. Ever since I took
over from my brother that is...

Well I learned the hard way how to keep fish, when years ago I have
had fish die every way possible, where it took a long time to work out
what it is that fish really need to keep healthy.

However, I have had a problem with algae in recent months, which I
tracked down to my mother overfeeding them (well she is the first one
up in the morning and forgot my feeding advice) and more importantly
that the under gravel filter had become full.

So a couple of months ago I cleaned the tank totally out, which took
about a whole day (damned algae), where that cleaning mostly sorted
out the problem. Still some algae left though, but this seems to die
(turn brown) just as fast as it grows.

Not to mention that I clean it off the glass each week or two in order
to keep it under control. Yes, I have now found out how to get rid of
it for good by water changing (I was just topping up before with the
rare water change), but this algae is not really a problem anyway,
being a simple natural result of tank conditions, which does not harm
the fish.

Yesterday I also picked up some new hardy plants, when the last feeble
ones did not last the algae era and being scrubbed clean. This I
figure out is my missing factor to bringing my tank back to perfect
health, which would make for another era of the snails, which I find
are even more annoying than the algae. Oh well...

These plecos I have been a little concerned about due to the fact that
the fish shop were not keeping their fish in perfect conditions. And
these ones were looking a bit unhealthy.

Well I did buy three of them to begin with, but as the guy give me one
of the really unhealthy ones that was just floating about, then that
one was hardly breathing to begin with and was dead before I got home
just 30 mins later.

Although even these were not as bad as their half-banded loaches
(acanthophthalmus semicinctus), when from owning some of these many
years ago I know how much they would hate this bright light and
nowhere to hide.

Not to mention that in the second of the two tanks containing these
loaches the other fish were having a happy time ripping them apart.

So keep in mind that this fish store with their perfectly clean tanks
were doing a worse job than what I am. As although my tank may not be
totally clean, but it is well aged and the fish enjoy it.

Anyway, the few other new fish settled in straight away, where my
existing fish greeted them as only fish can do.

These plecos on the other hand spent a couple of hours just hanging
around before they slowly began to move. This tells me that they were
not in a good state at this fish store, but anyway today they are
swimming about fine and feeding from off the glass.

They spend most on their time on the glass just below the water line,
sometimes sticking their nose out of the water. Not that they need
more oxygen in my tank, where they just seem to enjoy doing it.

Also they suck on most smooth surfaces, like the rock, the large plant
leaves and rarely the petrified wood. And today they have also been
swimming across the middle, sides and bottom, usually when one of the
other fish (usually the barbs) disturb them.

So as thing stand these plecos seem to be doing extremely well today,
when they are now back to what they should be. However, since I do not
know much about keeping this fish type, then I am a little concerned
about meeting their requirements.

My big point is what happens when I go and get rid of the last of the
algae in a no more than a few weeks from now? As would there be enough
things for them to eat in this case?

As no fish has died on me for years, except the one that the fish shop
killed yesterday of course, where I do not want to ruin my record. So
any advice on keeping these ugly fish would be helpful.

And is it true that you can really tell their gender from their
antenna? When my two seem to not have any, which means that either
they are both female, just too young, or hiding them.

The other new fish I got yesterday were some white mollies (easy to
keep), golden tiger barbs (tricky to keep, tiger barbs always die
first if things get bad...), one that the fish shop labeled "scissors"
(that I have yet to look up) and some red eyed tetras (easy to keep).

I try to keep a peaceful tank, which made it unhelpful the day that my
brother purchased a dwarf angel fish, which over time killed all the
former neon tetras (things were fine at first, then the angel fish
grew up...), which now limits my fish choice.

This fish store had some nice blue and pink fish that looked not
unlike Midas Cichlids, which I may get early next year after I have
moved to a larger tank.

Well anyway with fish it is a case of learning how not to kill them,
where these days I am doing well enough. Just need some advice on
these plecos, when I can foresee possible problems.

I got those due to thinking "hey they must eat algae...".

Cardman.