Diggly

I just found 3 Bristlenose pleco fry in the tank pics to come when they grow bigger!!

Tony G.

that's awesome!
cant wait for the 's

Diggly

Hello I would really appreciate your advice,

I found some pleco fry in one of my ornaments today, My male BN wasnt moving and as the m+f BN are new to the tank I didnt even think they would lay eggs yet, I thought they were too young!

So I lifted out the cave he was in and I saw some small orange spots around 0.5cm big wriggling around inside!! (I kept water in the cave while I held it upside down) they were definitly not snails and when I put the cave back in the male BN went straight back to the cave and resumed his postion.

Could I have done anything to endanger them? they were out for about 1 minute if that, when should I look to add in cucumber for them? I already add in algae wafers and cucumbers for my plecos anyway.

I am so shocked and excited by this!!

Diggly

well they are about 1cm big atm! I found them by accident when I moved a cave and saw them! I am so shocked the pair have only been in the tank about 2 weeks - its my new 120g.

edit: pics will be up here as soon as they are free swimming along with the new fish i am picking up this weekend!

MizRamzi

That is just too cool!! Congrats!!!

CHoffman

How exciting for you!!!. That is awesome!. Since you are feeding mom and dad anyway it will be easy to feed the babies. It doesn't sound like they are very old at all, you probably didn't cause any damage and its a good sign that dad went back in. Dad is primary care giver for the babies and when they get old enough he'll let them out of the cave. Just be sure to always have some veggie available for them to munch on. Pleco fry need food available to them at all times just keep rotating veggies out. Does the tank have algae at all??.

Diggly

Yes the tank has algae, it was matured when I got it and it is heavily planted and by a window (I have 6 plecos in there lol so I try and keep my algae up!) I am of course open to algae growing suggestions .

I really wasnt expecting this!!

I am worried though that the first thing I did was run up the stairs to share with you guys lol!

bolivianbaby

Woohoo! Congratulations!

navyscuba

yay baby plecos.

Aldric

yayyyyy congrats on the BN babies!!!!
you do know u can feed other things to ur BN apart from cucumber?
mine just love mellon and mango.. they go crazy over them

abc123d30

Congrats! Can't wait to see the pics of those baby plecos!

bolivianbaby

Woohoo!!!! Congratulations!

CHoffman

How fun!!!. Pics of babies are priceless

aquarist48

Yeah!!!!!!!! Congrats on the fry! Will be looking forward to seeing you photos. Keep us updated on their progress.
Ken

Diggly

hm actually me looking into the cave has had a small effect, the father is even more protective of them now!

I will try feeding melon and mango, I eat lots of it anyway will otos eat that aswell?

aquatic mouse

Wow, baby bristlenose plecos! Aren't they supposed to be hard to breed?

Diggly

Well from what I previously read they arent the easiest which is why I thought the male wasnt feeling well. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the babies lol.

I did an 80% water change last week, maybe that triggered it.

Butterfly

Dad most like;y won't come out to eat until the fry are ready to come out. When the fry do come out keeping food in the tank 24/7 is very important. BUT... because you are keeping food in there 24/7 you could have water quality issues. So doing frequent water changes and keeping a check on water parameters is very important.
CONGRATS!!!!
carol

Diggly

I drop algae wafers next to the cave which he nibbles on and goes back in.

I am testing the water every day and the ammonia has creeped up slightly today (it was fine until like 5 mins ago) and its somewhere in between 0 an 0.25 so I am doing a 20% change after dinner. nitrite has also creeped up to between 0 and 0.25. I cant get prime over here so what is the best thing to do? just 20% water changes twice daily?

Aldric

diggly you can buy prime from ebay.. its what I did and its not that expensive

Diggly

yes but that would take the weekend to arrive and I dont really want to wait until Tuesday.

Butterfly

Yep water changes will take care of the problem and make sure your oxygen supply is adequate.
Carol

Aldric

ok but at least u would have some for when u needed it again....

Diggly

I dont like relying on chemicals, and if I do everything right I shouldnt need them.

I have about 6 plants in the tank and both filters break the surface of the water so that should be enough oxygen.

Both levels are down to 0 this morning after doing the water changes! and I just got 2 baby budgies - today is going to be a good day

Diggly

- Update - the fry are doing well I managed to see a few earlier when I was rearranging some of the tank and took a sneaky peak in the cave! The few I saw are turning black and are almost 1.5cm big now! I almost ran for a camera lol! Pics will come as soon as I can get a clear one I promise .

Toddnbecka

I had a breeing trio of BN in a 30 long (100 cm tank) until I shipped out the adult male last week. There are presently well over 100 fry in the tank along with the 2 adult females, 6 recently added red BN juvies, and 6 L-333's growing out. There are also an uncountable number (at least several hundred) ramshorn snails as well. I have a fairly large amount of Najas in the tank to help keep the water quality up between partial changes, and generally strip out the driftwood about once monthly to do a thorough siphoning of the substrate. I feed the crowd .5mm NLS Grow pellets and 1mm All-Purpose pellets twice daily, morning and night, and zucchini (cougrette) once weekly. Even the smallest fry are always fat-bellied and they all grow well.

Diggly

I just looked up naja and I have 2 of those plants in the tank atm, I am getting more plants tomorrow. I really wasnt planning on them breeding just yet and they have bred in my 125gal tank which is only 40% stocked atm but when I do add more fish I am setting up a tank for the plecs and fry.

I will have a look around for that type of food I have already started with cucumber so hopefully I am doing ok so far!!

Thanks for the info I really do appreciate it.

Diggly

Update:

I found 2 of them with the mum and dad this morning!! they are growing nicely and pics will come! I have no idea how many fry I have unfortunately as the tank is massive with alot of hiding places, before today I hadnt seen more than 1 lol!!

bolivianbaby

That's so cool! We'll be looking forward to pics

Aldric

cant wait for pics and dont forget u can use mellon and mango aswell to feed them