I don't think I have had to touch my tank since I got my bristlenose, the sides are spotless. ara, do you keep just the standard bristlenose or the long fin albinoes as well? at the moment I have some guppys, bristlenose, fighters, snails, balloon mollies and normal mollies.
Just the standard bristlenoses, Jesse. I tried to make a start with albinos but lost them. Maybe they are a bit more delicate. I'm not the most conscientious of tank cleaners, and my normals seem to thrive in my reasonably dirty tanks. I've got two 3 foot (90 cm.) breeding tanks, each with 3 pair of adults and plenty of broken flower pots and other hiding places. I feed them lots of boiled zucchini and flake food, and I have a few bits of driftwood in there which they seem to chew on. (Supposed to be good for their digestion.) I scoop out the little ones and grow them on in a 4 foot (120cm.) tank. When they get to a size acceptable to aquarium shops I sell them. Mine sell pretty well because they are hardy and don't die (whereas they buy from some breeders and lose a lot of them within a few days.) I can't really take the credit for this - I guess I'm just lucky that I started with strong foundation stock.
a lot of breeders and fish keepers in general seem to go overboard with there cleaning and then wonder why they have lost their stock.