Hi

Can anyone give me any advice

I have been keeping tropical fish for little of a year. when i got my tank it ook about 3 months for my Platies to start breeding so to stem the flow (started with 6 went to 14). i bought a pygmy puffer and some tiger barb. my tank is running nicely with no problems.


I noticed over the weekend that one of my Bristlenose Catfish was missing(Male about 3 1/4 inches) had disappeared. Then i spotted him under a log. He was guarding at least 12 little yellow eggs.

Can anybody give me any advice on how to look after them and more to the point stop them getting eaten.

Any help would be greatfully received

Cheers

Lukej

The male should be able to protect the eggs himself providing they are in a secure location, they can become suprisingly aggressive when they are guarding eggs/young. The eggs will hatch after 5 or 6 days and the newly hatched fry will attach themselves to hard surfaces in the tank for up to two weeks while they digest their yolk sack, after this time they will feed on algea within the tank and algea tablets. The male will stay close to them and protect the young fish until they are around 1" long.

so when they are little and living off of the yolk sack they are still being protected by dad?

Yes, it will take several weeks for them to reach the 1" size.

good to know. I may get a dame for my male and was wondering.........so thanks lukej for asking your question! thanks cfc for your fast reply!

CFC is absolutely right.

I'v been unintentionally breeding them for a couple of years now, and 'daddy sticky' really does protect the young fiercley.

Keep an eye on things afterwards though, because the parental care is very hard on the male, and if you find he does three in a row, it might be best after that to move him to another quiet tank for a couple of months to get his strength back up.

From the point where the eggs are laid, up until the fry are very free swimming he won't eat, (or if he does it will be very little), and that along with keeping other fish away can be very tiring.

Good luck.

Ian.

How do you sex these fish? I have two bristlenosed plecos, one has a LOT of bristles on its nose, antlers, practically. The other one only has a couple short stubs. I kind of thought perhaps this was a sexing difference thing, but not sure. If it is, the male would be the one with the 'antlers' (LOL) and the female without? I don't really wish to have baby bristlenoses anyway, have no clue how to care for them. Might it happen, or do you need to do something special to get them to breed?

Thanks

wow I hadn't really thought of what would happen if they really got along and kept on breeding over and over again....that is really good advice and will really think aout if I buy a female or not.



If I am not mistaken, the females have NO bristles........am I right here?

Olive and GrullaQuarters, you are both spot on.

The male has bristles, the female doesn't. (although the female may sometimes appear to have very small bristles).

As far as breeding them goes, I can't stop mine. I don't do anything, and my water parameters are dreadful for breeding them. Very hard, and on the alkaine side.

Seems that once tey decide to pair up, there can be no stopping them. Broods can range from just a few, to over 100. Of course survival rates will depend on tank mates. Most of mine have only been three or four at a time.

HTH.

Ian.

I hadn't even considered my bristlenose catfish breeding. They were just under 2cm when I got them and have grown to just over 3cm I reckon, so it will be a long time yet before they are mature enough. I don't even know yet what sexes they are, expect I'll have to wait until maturity to tell.

It's really good to know what to look out for now though, I hope I get to see some tiny catfish one day.

Thanks folk.

Thats so kewl, what a nice surprise. Unintentional breeding lol.

My male bristlenose is just recovering from caring for 60+ eggs that he was protecting in an upturned plantpot. He kept them in the plantpot until they were free swimming, then all of a sudden there was a mass exodus and baby bristlenoses appeared everywhere. I've had to remove the female to another tank to stop them doing it again too soon . To make sure they get enough to eat I light the tank for 16 hours per day and add various vegetables ,they don't seem to like the algae wafers I put in