When should I pull bristenlose pleco eggs

hello
I have a male and 2 female bp in my 180l planted aquarium. They have recently bred (about 4 days ago I think) and the male is sitting on eggs. I saw 3 wigglers out of the cave, and 2 were eaten almost immediately. I want to pull the eggs to ensure maximum survival rate but I don't know if I should do it at this stage as I want to avoid fungus. I have a fry growout tank with baby blue gouramis, where I would put the eggs but I would add a divider for a little while. The tank is established so there is algae and biofilm everywhere. Should I pull the eggs now or wait? Will the eggs be fine I take them out? Can I put them in the fry grow out (I don't have a breeder box)

Thank you

 

I have seen some on youtube that pull the eggs and male all out by grabbing the cave and placing in a seperate tank, then put the male back in the main tank once he leaves the cave, which generally indicates the fry are free-swimming. Mine haven't bred uet, but thats how i plan on handling it.

 

I moved mine before they hatched. The male doesn't have to be with the eggs. Use an airstone to blow gentle bubbles over the eggs and they should hatch within a few days. If you are already seeing wigglers I suspect they have either all hatched or should hatch fairly fast. If most are still in the cave using a container to move them along with the cave should be fairly easy.

I never exposed the eggs to air. I used a container to move them. I lowered the container down to the cave. I put the cave in the container and moved it over to the tank I was going to grow out the fry in. Elbert came along with it but as soon as I could get him out of the cave I moved him back to the tank. BTW: Although the eggs hadn't hatched I filled the grow out tank with water from the tank they are coming from. If yours have already hatched it is even more important. This prevents water parameter shock.

I discovered I lost more cory eggs to fungus if I exposed them to air for even a few seconds. I suspected it would be the same with pleco eggs. As far as I could tell I didn't lose a single egg.

 

Thank you for the advice. unfortunately the eggs are gone. I'm assuming it happened some time over the day as the male was still fanning in the morning. I'm guessing they went out and the fish picked them off or maybe even the male. I'm not sure if they will breed again, the male changed his cave, this one is bigger so other fish can get in easier so I doubt it will be any better. Next time I will pull the eggs out as soon as I know they are there.

How often do plecos breed? I really want to breed this fish and hope to keep as many of them alive in the future.

 

Thank you for the advice. unfortunately the eggs are gone. I'm assuming it happened some time over the day as the male was still fanning in the morning. I'm guessing they went out and the fish picked them off or maybe even the male. I'm not sure if they will breed again, the male changed his cave, this one is bigger so other fish can get in easier so I doubt it will be any better. Next time I will pull the eggs out as soon as I know they are there.

How often do plecos breed? I really want to breed this fish and hope to keep as many of them alive in the future.

I am sorry it didn't work out this time. Never fear though. Once they start breeding it isn't unusual for a new spawn each month. the next time you will be better prepared

 

I've not been removing mine at all and sadly a large number of them are doing just fine and dandy despite the various dwarf cichlid in the tank. Kind of wish fewer would make it as I'm going to have a royal mess of an over populate aquarium soon. I have at least three generation of bn frys in there and none of them want to be caught. They are in a 40 breeder - which sadly appears to be very efficient at breeding. I noticed at least 15 frys during this morning water change (er these are at least 1 month and probably 2 months old). Daddy was guarding a bunch of smaller free swimming frys in his cave. It is just a mess.

 

I've not been removing mine at all and sadly a large number of them are doing just fine and dandy despite the various dwarf cichlid in the tank. Kind of wish fewer would make it as I'm going to have a royal mess of an over populate aquarium soon. I have at least three generation of bn frys in there and none of them want to be caught. They are in a 40 breeder - which sadly appears to be very efficient at breeding. I noticed at least 15 frys during this morning water change (er these are at least 1 month and probably 2 months old). Daddy was guarding a bunch of smaller free swimming frys in his cave. It is just a mess.

As someone so graciously pointed out to me after Little Red and Evelyn surprised me with their second spawn of fry......There are ways to prevent that. I was gently reminded removing either male or female will quickly put a stop to it. Now, why did I not think of that

The second spawn so quickly after the first one really surprised me . I thought I would have more time. They proved me wrong. I ended up with well over 200 itty bitty super red fry. To be honest I don't think I will ever put a male and female together again. Daily water changes for about a year broke me from wanting to breed pleco's. Grow out tank was way to small so it took a LOT of water changes to keep them healthy.

Right now I have 3 male and 3 female full grown super reds but I keep them a long way away from each other. If I had a 2 or 300 gallon tank I would put them all together and let them breed to their hearts content though. I would have fish in there to help me control the numbers so hopefully I wouldn't end up with thousands of them. I've seen videos of huge schools of them all moving together. I would love to have a tank big enough to do that.

 

As someone so graciously pointed out to me after Little Red and Evelyn surprised me with their second spawn of fry......There are ways to prevent that. I was gently reminded removing either male or female will quickly put a stop to it. Now, why did I not think of that

The second spawn so quickly after the first one really surprised me . I thought I would have more time. They proved me wrong. I ended up with well over 200 itty bitty super red fry. To be honest I don't think I will ever put a male and female together again. Daily water changes for about a year broke me from wanting to breed pleco's. Grow out tank was way to small so it took a LOT of water changes to keep them healthy.

Right now I have 3 male and 3 female full grown super reds but I keep them a long way away from each other. If I had a 2 or 300 gallon tank I would put them all together and let them breed to their hearts content though. I would have fish in there to help me control the numbers so hopefully I wouldn't end up with thousands of them. I've seen videos of huge schools of them all moving together. I would love to have a tank big enough to do that.

Yea; it is on my list of things to do when i get another aquarium. Also the male and female in the 40 are not friendly - the ones i have in the other aquarium are pretty friendly but trying to catch them in the 40 is going to be a pain. They won't even come to the front to eat zuc like the other ones i have.

 

Yea; it is on my list of things to do when i get another aquarium. Also the male and female in the 40 are not friendly - the ones i have in the other aquarium are pretty friendly but trying to catch them in the 40 is going to be a pain. They won't even come to the front to eat zuc like the other ones i have.

I had a little female I was growing out in my big tank. Big mistake. I tried everything I could think of to get her out of there. One day I saw Elbert doing some house cleaning so I knew the little girl was finally old enough. I saw her go in the cave a couple of time to check it out. Thankfully I was able to see her go in and was able to situate a net at the mouth of the cave and finally caught her as she came back out. I was not ready for more babies even though they were.

Had they been successful I would have just removed and destroyed the eggs. I am glad I didn't have to do that. That may be your best option if you can't remove one or the other of the adults. Problem is, before long those fry in the tank now will grow up. Oh my, what fun, more babies