Bristlenose Breeding

A while back I bought a pair of bristlenose plecs to keep one of tanks clean and eventually breed. They've been in a tank with no breeding caves for sometime and this weekend I decided to give them a cave of their own. Well they obviously approved as they have now spawned. Here's a pic of the male fanning his eggs.





I can't remember how long it takes until they leave the cave but I'll have to remove the cave with them in before this happens as they'll quickly become cichlid food if they get out.

Sam

Whey success. What cichlids are they in with?

They're in my Malawi tank with 4 M.livingstonii each around the 4" mark. I'm pretty sure the fry would be eaten and I want to save as many as possible.

I love breeding plecs. It was always something I thought was impossible when I first started out so it's always a bit more exciting when i manage it.

Sam

So the male is pretty inexperienced and unsurprisingly lost all but one of the fry. I think they wriggled past him once they'd hatched because he was doing great when they were eggs.

I've got the lone survivor in a fry saver now so it wasn't a total loss. I need some more algae cleaners for other tanks so hopefully they'll spawn again soon.

Sam

A shame you lost them Hopefully a few more times and he'll start to get it right

And great news about the lone survivor

Little guy is doing well. He's coloured up really well recently and seems to be eating the food I give him. I'm excited to get him a little larger and get him into a different tank to start cleaning up and growing.

Sam

Brilliant news Glad to hear he's doing so well ^^

Little one is still doing well and eating well. He's still in a breeder trap as he might be eaten by some of the fish in the main tank.

It seems he may have some siblings soon as the water change tonight seems to have triggered them again.






Sam

Great photos, lets hope they have more success with this batch!

hope they all survive this time mate,

Well I now have a great big clutch of eggs! Much larger than last time. I'm hopefully he will do a better job this time of keeping the fry in the cave. However, it may not matter as much as I moved some fish around and the other fish in the tank may pose less of a threat if the fry are quick.

Sam

Keeping my fingers crossed!

You might have to zoom in but here's a pic of the male guarding/fanning the eggs.




Sam

congrats mate.

Fantastic photos!

Well he manged to do it. All the eggs hatched fine, and he kept all the fry in the cave until the last couple of days when they've slowly started to leave the cave.

I think they've been ok in the main tank and I've seen them around the tank.

Sam

Grand He learnt quickly then!

He's got another load of eggs at the moment.

He hasn't been successful in his last few attempts so I will likely take these off him once they are free swimming. I am hoping that these fry can act as a clean up crew in my betta fry raising tank.

Sam

Fantastic