Will my bristlenose pleco eat aquarium plants?

Question

I've got two 20 gallon fish tanks. One has a bristlenose pleco and 5 tetras, one has 4 corycats and 4 nannostomus and a ton of plants. I am thinking of merging the two tanks as keeping both clean is a lot of work, but I am afraid the pleco will eat all of my really nice plants! The tank he is in now has some big anubias that aren't doing great, and no algae--I think because he is taking care of all of that. My other tank has Java moss, small anubias, java ferns, an amazon sword, and a val. It has some algae here and there but I have 3 nerite snails that keep it pretty much in check.

Thanks!

Answer 1

No, they won't eat plants. And generally, nothing will eat Anubias, the leaves are too thick; there are some exceptions, though. Bristlenose plecos will eat some film algae but not actual plants. Because of their size they're one of the safer plecos for plants, as some of the larger plecos can damage plants that get algae on them, even if they aren't deliberately eating them.

Answer 2

I have observed something different in my tank. She behaved fine when I only had java fern in the tank. But then I replaced it with large amazon sword plants, now she’s having a party on my plants!

I feed her quite well, but the sword plants are becoming expensive food for her now.