Bn Plecos May Have Eggs

Hey so my Bn is sitting in its little fake log and it looks like it may be fanning something so on the odd chance that it is eggs I would like to know how to car for them because I can’t find anything on the internet, They are in a community tank aswell so that’s one of the reasons why I would like to collect them and put them in another tank instead of leaving them there to be cared for by the father

 

The father is better of caring for them himself. Grab a flash light and take a peek inside the log to see if there are any eggs. After eggs are laid it takes about 4ish days for them to hatch then another 5ish days before they are free swimming. They will be eaten in a community tank, no doubt. Take the log, father and fry, and place them in a separate tank for rearing. I'd move them a day or two after the eggs hatch.

At the moment I have my male with his many fry in a 20gal tank full of dried (well not anymore) oak leaves and a hunk of drift wood. Bio film grows on the leaves and wood that the fry can feed on between feedings. I've been feeding them algae wafers, green beens and DIY fish jello. So far so good. They've been getting about 3-4 water changes a week.

 

Yeah ok awsome Thankyou, I’ll see if I can spot any and will try move the lot of them into my smaller fry tank without disturbing them hopefully

 

I’ve actually just noticed it’s the female sitting in there fanning her back fins could that mean she is laying them ready for the male to come along and fertilise them?

 

No, but you can often see any pleco fanning its fin when they are in a comfortable cave. When they spawn they will both be in the cave together.

 

I’ve actually just noticed it’s the female sitting in there fanning her back fins could that mean she is laying them ready for the male to come along and fertilise them?

In my experience, the female leaves the second she lays the eggs. In fact, the male kind of forces her in there a bit and then forces her back out again. lol

I don't think there are eggs if it is the female in there. But Hey, I could be wrong!!

For raising them, I also remove them while they are stull tucked in a cave. Once they leave that cave, its virtually impossible to catch them all. Dad will stay stuck in the cave too and he will live with them in a 10 gallon for a few days. You can leave dad with them longer than that if you want, or remove him immediately. In my experience, they are great dads.

As for feeding, I have never done anything special for the babies. Just veggies and wafers. (but I do things like shrimp wafers, not algae wafers, because they need protein to grow. )