Breeding Fishforum for discussing issues related to the breeding of freshwater tropical fish. Breeding for profit, grow out tank size recommendations, breeding various freshwater species, etc. Post your questions here.
From what I can figure out no petstores by me can get BN plecos anymore and they seem to be a popular fish. So as a way to help save common plecos also I'd like to try breeding BN plecos and selling them to LFS's as an alternative for them to sell instead of common plecos since they sell those and they shouldn't. If anybody has any expierence in this and would like to enlighten me I'd love to know all there is to know. I'v heard it's easy and they lay their eggs on the inside of a cave I think.
It would be really nice, thoughtful, and responsible of you ATM, to offer BN catfish to your LFS, so that they don't have to sell common plecos that usually are way too large for most people's tanks. Yes, I also believe Carol has raised successfully some BNs
Yes I have had several successful spawnings What I did was get six or seven BN and put them in a 30G tank to grow up together a little. The reason for that many is to make sure you get a pair. They will spawn from about 7 mos to a year old.
Then when they are old enough I do a huge water change and feed them up on lots of veggies, Bloodworms,shrimp pellets etc. anything high in protein. In general BN's need a ratio of 90/10 veggies to protein, but at spawning time they appreciate a little more protein.
Carol
since dad guards the egs and mom goes on her merry way I usually move the cave , dad and eggs to another tank with a sponge filter. Dad will not eat until the fry are free swimming and out of the cave. when they are free swimming and out of the cave(Dad and cave go back to his tank) about two days then I start putting in sliced zucchini after about two more days they will discover the zucchini. from then on you need to do 50% water changes and change their food EACH day. I use a 10g tank for about 2 weeks (so they don't have to hunt so far for food) then they go into a 30G rubbermaid tub for grow-out at about 4-6 weeks they go to Dinos and into a much larger tank to grow some more
With any type of pleco the size of the bottom is really inportant rather than a tall tank. austin the 5.5G would work for about a week then they would be very crowded.
Carol
Well I called the store that usually has them and they don't have any right now so they say so I emailed the owner hoping he can tell me when they'l get some in so I can hopefully them some before my surgery and before there sale ends since they have 25% off everything, in-stock, livestock, and ON Sale items. I really like that on sale part since they usually have their fish on sale so you can get them really cheap and their good quality too.
Hey butterfly the store finally got some in and I'd like to get a female but should I buy a couple to figure out which is a female as they are probably too young to ID then give the extra males and females to my aunt?
LOL I think it's the first time you changed it since I registered.
Back on topic would a cave made out of two pieces of slate leaned against each other kinda tepee like be ok for them to breed in or do they need a flat top? Sorry for the questions but thanks for answering when you get the time.
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