Aldric

when i got my tank i got a breeding pair of bristlenoses they r both just over 3 inches long and i was wondering how to get them to breed as everything else in my tank is breeding ( the guppies the snails the shrimp the plants growing like mad )

any help would be apreciated and in case ur worried about room im getting a 4 foot long tank soon

CHoffman

Hi Aldric,
That's awesome you got a Breeding pair with it. What kind are they?? Brown or Albino. I love BN. They are pretty cool little things. You'll want to give them a good diet of veggies and protein. When your conditioning them (getting them ready to breed) you'll want to feed them 80% vegetable and 20% protein instead of the 90/20 that you usually feed them. Give them lots of food and often, since they will be eating and pooing machines you'll need to do lots of waterchanges, which will also set them off to spawn. ONce they are conditioned Do a water change and when refilling the tank make the water a couple of degrees colder then what the temp is in the tank. This makes them think the rainy season has come (like it would in their natural environment) If they don't spawn just keep feeding and keep doing the waterchanges. They are a fairly easy species to breed. You'll want to have some sort of cave for them to spawn in. They like tight fitting places with a closed end and only one opening. Here is a pic of my pleco breeding tank. Good luck with them. Most of the info (if not all) I learned from Carol aka Butterfly here on fishlore. I'm sure she'll come along with some great advice for you as well.

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Aldric

i actualy have 3 now one male brown one female brown and a female albino and yes i have a nice slate breeding cave for them at the moment they are devouring the cucumber i put in there tho the female brown seems to be going off it i also give them the alge disk things as for protean i feed them bloodworm pellets

CHoffman

The bloodworm pellets is a good one. I've read on another pleco forum that cucumbers really aren't all that nutritional. I would maybe try feeding them zuchini, squash, green beans. You can buy the frozedn zuchini and squash already sliced up, just dethaw them in tank water then put them in. Green beans you can feed the ones that come out of the can but they need to be unsalted. The disks are also protein. I feed mine frozen brineshrimp and they gobble it up. The water changes really do a big part too.

Aldric

ive tried mine on green beans and zuchini and they didnt like them the guppies had more of a go at them than my bn

CHoffman

LOL..Yup guppies are little piggies and will gobble up anything, including BN fry,
But if you drop them in at night after lights out they might get a chance to eat them.

SWilkins

My albinos have not bred yet but they are little hoglets. All of my catfish love Kens catfish pellets. The cories pounce on them as soon as I put them in and the BNs go after them as soon as I am out of their sight. I can see them by peeping but they can't see me. I don't know the protein/veggie ratio but I am sure it is right on the package. I think the unsalted canned green beans are their favorite of the veggies.

CHoffman

Hey, good to hear. I just bought some of this food from kens!!. I put the order in. Spent $170.00 but mom ordered allot too.

ATKINSON

Good info guys, I was about to ask the same question!!

Aldric

i use a thing called a screw cumber to waight down the veggies to stop them floating the zuchina and beans were in there for over two days and the bn nibbled them once and that was it. oh and my bn arnt shy at all they r out and about thoughout the day eating and "hoovering" the glass of the tank

SWilkins

Well I had to go and get the shy ones huh. They like to hide in their driftwood and caves.



Cesch you are gonna love the catfish pellets. The peppered cories LOVE them and they are actually still for a minute eating them and you get to really look at the little buggers. Yeah it is time for me to put in an order too...I am debating on the no carb foods just have not decided yet.

Aldric

lol well if u look at my avatar you can see two of them out and about eating a chunk of cucumber