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Bushy nose pleco fry!!!

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pleco fry
4K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  moonshinetheslacker 
#1 ·
So I wasn't trying to breed these little guys at all, I just looked in the tank and saw some somewhat odd behavior, the way it looked like this guy was guarding a plugged hole in the top, rear of my tank (use to go to an overflow for a sump, now it's a well-lit cave) And the little hole has probably 30 - 50 pleco fry in it! They're about half an inch long, and 3/16ths of an inch wide. Roughly how old does that make them? And is there anything I need to do to make sure as many as possible survive?
I've only ever bred guppies before (huge challenge, right?) and I'm so glad that my plecos have taken a liking to the tank. Nonetheless, any advice on how to make sure the little guys do well will be quite appreciated. And if you'd like, I can even reward you with some baby bushy nose plecos, once they're old enough to ship.

Er... how old do they need to be to ship?

Yeah, I need help...:confused1:

By the way... if you use your iphone to make a facebook update, and mention that you have inadvertently bred your bushy nosed pleco, check your auto correct. I was wondering why nobody responded to the post for 8 hours, until finally a friend of mine asked, "How DOES one go about breeding a bush nosed pelvis?"

:iamwithst

Haven't felt THAT dumb for a while!
 
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#2 ·
bahaha bushy nose pelvis.
try searching (haha googling what i fail) the forum though for information, i know there's at least a couple people on here who breed BNP's for sale and have started threads about it :)
congratulations, by the way!
 
#5 ·
I had several batches of long finned albino Bristlenose, and the babies are slow growing and needed almost constant feeding's of spirulina pellet's, and zuchinni wedges.
At around two month's old, I was able to trade them for store credit at LFS but they were still barely two inches long.
 
#7 ·
I'll have to order some indian almond leaves or spirulina powder then... although, these guys look like they're doing fine, and the only thing I fed them was a little chunk of an algae wafer last night. They've been doing fine without me feeding them thus far. Any idea how to get them out of this little cave thing they're living in? Not sure if I should leave them in there, or kick them out, or what. I figure if I try to remove them, then they'll get stressed. If I leave them, then I can only feed them chunks of algae pellets for food... and I'm worried I'll give them too much. The tiny place where they are at gets very little water flow, and it may have a little pocket of ammonia build up if I feed them too much. Am I just a worried parent?
 
#9 ·
If they are eating algea pellets, the rest is fine--if there are not other fish to eat them. They will likely hide in the day and come out at night. Are you flipping a few tabs in just before lights out? That is one way to get food to BN without any other fish taking it all. Got some wood in the tank? They will like that and it makes a great hiding spot.
 
#11 ·
So all the fry got eaten the day after I last posted. Hence, no replies. I was a bit down to find zero parents guarding the cave, and zero fry.

BUT!!!

A few weeks ago I saw the male guarding eggs in his same cave! The fry are swimming a little bit as of this morning. They are so funny looking. A perfect sphere with a 1/4 inch long tail. I set up an old aquarium I had moth balked this morning, and gave the job a squeeze from my aquarium filter. I'm hoping the tank will cycle relatively quick, and I'm planning on transporting all the fry to the other tank once they look like little fish instead of little white... Tadpoles.
I did a bit of reading, and I'm going to try feeding blanched lettuce along with some raw zucchini providing they survive the new tank. Regardless, the odds of survival in the new tank will be better than the fish eat fish world of my 75 gallon. Any advice is most welcome. And as soon as I have my laptops wireless card working again, I will have pics. I promise!
 
#12 ·
i never fed specialty foods to my fry, i have in excess of 100 fry in my 25g tank, the pair in there breed every few weeks, and the 1-2" babies are ready to go its just the tank is full of delicate plants. if you want healthy fast growing fry feed organic zucchini and supplement with meaty bottom feeder food like shrimp pellets from omega one. you do need to blanch the zucchini first but that is very easy.
 
#14 ·
Mostly because it floats if you don't. But it also makes it a lot easier to devour. I go a little further than blanching for my fry. I keep the zucchini whole and then boil it on a high boil for 10-15 mins or till it sinks on its own. I then freeze it still whole and then cut chunks off while frozen and thaw and serve. Super easy this way but takes practice to get right.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for filling me in on that. I just stick a fork in the zucchini and let it sink. I'm assuming I'm doing something right with my fishies, because now my angelfish have bred too. I'm starting to wonder if I need to get a pregnancy test for my wife! So I'll be heading to my lfs tomorrow for some brine shrimp eggs. Is there anything else the Pleco fry will need? Algae wafers, zucchini, and I've heard microworms? Would baby brine shrimp work instead?
 
#18 ·
High quality bottom feeder food is too easy. I have some pellets for my clown loaches. As far as the fry getting what the top feeders don't, I don't think that theory works with my specific situation. My last hatch of bnplecos all disappeared. I'm assuming they were eaten. So I altered the plastic frame of a breeder net, and rubber banded a breeder net around the fry's house.

My fry are actually living near the top of the tank. Not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but my tank was drilled for a sump, and had an overflow box. I didn't like the look of the box, so I removed it. I also got a PVC plug, and plugged the bulkhead fitting with it. I unknowingly made a shagadellic shack for the Plecos. Problem is, this shack isn't easily moved to a rearing tank. Hence the breeder net prison. I've had a couple of escapes, and those six are now living in a rearing tank until they are big enough to not be food. I also had to cut a small hole in the top of the net to put food through.

And now for the angels... So I would like to try separating the angels eggs. Here is why. My new angel (egore) is quite the stud. Paired off with one angel, but the eggs were gone 2 days later. Well, on what would have been day four, Egore has paired off with Barbie. This time eggs were laid on two separate leaves. So I was thinking I could put one leaf in the rearing tank, and leave the other leaf be. But will the 6 bnPleco fry eat the angel fry? And trying to catch these little buggers is... Well... Frustrating. By frustrating I mean i wanted to... Well... Use your imagination, but think "Dexter vs zombies"

So, try moving angel eggs? Just to have them eaten by other fry?
Leave the angel eggs? Just to be eaten by adult fish?
Move BNPleco fry back to breeder net, knowing more will probably escape?
Move BNPleco fry to big aquarium, and if those six get eaten, chalk it up to evolution?
Move all BNPleco fry to rearing tank, and put angel eggs in breeder net?
Some other idea I haven't thought of?
I guess I could get another breeder bag/box... But I don't think that would work well for angels.
 
#20 ·
hahaha! fish (healthy fish) can be a PITA!

chalk it up to evolution and the learning curve as they will all do it again.

for the angel fry you need to hatch brines so 2 BBS hatcheries.

for the bn's not to be eaten you need to get them away from the other fish.

based on the above mentioned situations I currently have 24 flooded tanks and pleco grow out pans LOL
 
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