L-144 bristlenose pleco breeding log

I know it's early days yet but I've got my self a breeding pair,
I started off with 8 specimens in August of last year,
6 died on me when I got a bad case of white spot or velvet?
And I thought "im not off to a good start"
Anyway I was given 2 more pity fish from Dessie which were very much appreciated
And I was back on track for my breeding project,

On with the log,
I have the 5 fish in a 100ltr aquarium with 2 happy pleco caves bogwood with anubias and javafern,
150w heater,ehime pick up filter, a Lee's corner box air filter with substrate pro and a sponge filter rated for a 80ltr tank,


So yesterday I done a complete over hall on the tank as these lads cause a fairly decent mess,
The temperature was sitting around 26℃ before the water change
And dropped 2℃ after,
30 litres out and 30litres in.

Forgot to mention that I also was given a nice plump female from kev about 2 or 3 weeks ago,so thanks for her also!


Shortly after the water change I noticed my biggest male and the female I got from kev pushing around inside one of the caves,
And I said to myself they couldn't be at it!
So much so that I convinced myself they weren't,
Finished doing the rest of my water changes and locked up the shed for the night!

I came in this evening and the plecos was the last tank I checked and I noticed the male looking out,
And as soon as I got closer to the tank he darted back into the cave,
Now I know I shouldn't have but curiosity got the better of me and I moved the cave around to check if there were any eggs!
Of course the male fecked off and there at the bottom was around 20 eggs!


Delighted to say the least considering that the hole project was nearly doomed from the start
Anyway I gave Andreas a txt and he gave me an idea on what to do with the eggs in case the male didn't come back,
He didn't of course but I'm not really worried as I would have had to pull the fry with the filter I have,

Hey Ciarán

So glad the Female was fecund !!
That is a great start to a new project!!

Kev.

That was quick. Well done. I've always loved these Ancistrus.

If you think one of the filters will be a problem regards picking up fry I would change or remove it. Also I find sponge filters clog very quickly in pleco tanks. I'd add a heater guard.
I would recommend a good sized external.

IME you can get better survival rates leaving the fry in the tank but you need good filtration that wont clog, plenty of food and excellent water quality.
If you raise them artificially keep an eye on water quality.
If they are confined to small quarters like a breeding box (one's with holes in the bottom are a no,no) bacteria can build up quickly and they cant handle any spikes in Ammonia, Nitrite or raised Nitrate levels.
What way will you raise the clutch of eggs you have?

What ratio of male to female do you have in there?

Best of luck with the project. Your of to a flying start.

Cheers Darren
I've taken the cave and put it in a breeding net
In front of the outflow of the filter

I'm hoping that will keep them good,
How long would it be before they hatch?

I'm going to remove ehime later,
I would like to keep them in the tank,
There's two males three females
Would the fry be ok in with the adults?

www.ebay.com/bhp/egg-tumbler

May be an idea Ciarán and they work very well.

Kev.

That's a great idea,
I'm nearly sure I could do a diy version of those

Great stuff Ciaran, congrats on the spawn!

The egss should hatch within the week, 4+ days. The fry will be alright with the parents and will grow very well with all the space. The only concern is to make sure that they get enough food, and eventually to get them out of there:)

If I was in your position I would invest i a small air pump and an airstone for the eggs, a spare pump will almost always come in handy at some point.

Best of luck!

Andreas

Cheers Andreas
I actually have a small air pump there,
And I'm sure I have an air stone buried somewhere,
Would you reckon the eggs would be ok at this stage?
And if there not what should I look out for?

I would guess that the egss are ok but you might want to keep an eye out to see if there are any unfertilized eggs or eggs that develop fungi.
Bad eggs can be "popped" with a needle and removed.

If you would have experience with fungi, malaysian trumpet snails are great to keep with the eggs as they clean the surface.

Andreas

That's great, I have loads of mts there il put a few inthanks again

We have wrigglers

Delighted now,
I was slightly worried that they weren't viable,
And surprised that all the eggs were fertile.
Now I'm not counting my chickens either,
Because it's early days,
But I'm doing daily small water changes to keep the water quality up

Well I'm not sure how they done it
But they managed to eat over 20 wrigglers through the slits in the side of the breeder box
Just goes to show how determined fish can be when they want,
Anyway 4 left so il try and keep them safe

The adults did this? Sorry to hear that.

Never seen or heard about anything like that before.

Andreas

I know,
It's my own fault,
I put the breeder box in a way that the flow pushed the wrigglers to the far of the box
And somehow they were able to break the yolk sac and consume the young,
Lesson learned
Il know better next Time

Indeed never heard of bn consuming own fry. But better luck with next batch

Well a week on and the two lucky ones are getting big

I'm raging I put them in the breeder so early now because I'm sure if I waited just a few days more I'd have over 20.

Looking good

Great thread and hope the two you have get on well!

Good stuff Ciaran,

Don't be so hard on yourself about the putting them in the breeder, what else could you have done when the male did not care for them. The next batch can be raised by the male and you'wll have 20+ then. Hell, soon you will be swimming in them and wish you only had two

It's usually preferable to let nature have its course and let the male raise the young but sometimes that's not possible. A breeder is always a bit risky imo as there are many things that can go wrong. There is however breeders that prefer raising the young in breeders with the benefit of target feeding.

If you are going to keep them in the breeder until they are a bit bigger, it could be an idea to put some small pieces of wood/leaves/plants in there are having a shelter will minimize the stress on the little ones. This could also be an alternative food source.

Andreas

Cheers Andreas,
I would like the male to parent raise
So if they do go again il be ready as far as filters go
Thanks again

Well almost a day to the month and they have spawned again,
Hopefully il get more than 2 survivors this time around
Delighted

anglecichlid wrote:

Well a week on and the two lucky ones are getting big

I'm raging I put them in the breeder so early now because I'm sure if I waited just a few days more I'd have over 20.

Its all looking good - I wouldn't worry about occasional failures - we all do it and often things will just go wrong no matter what! Especially as fish are just wild animals after all and anything can happen with them

Just a little video update on these
Enjoy

Wow the two first lads have grown super fast, nice and clean grow out tanks you have there.

Soon you will be swimming in fishes, hehe...ehum... yes..

Cheers Andreas,
I would fall on the side of bare bottom tanks more often than not,
As grow out and breeding tanks,
Try and not leave anything to chance,
Mind you it can be a bit of a pain after a days work,
But such is aquatic life

These fish have bred once a month since they
Started,
Couple of strange things happen with the last spawn,
A female spawned in a cave and the male had
the eggs covered,
I counted about 15 eggs,
The next day I had a look in and there was twice as many,
So I'm guessing the male permitted my other female in to spawn,
Any way here's a short video of my second and third batch of juveniles
L-144 juveniles: