prairiefire86
Mostly New Member
Hi, I have accidentally breed my common plecos for a about a yr now in my 180 community tank. (Go figure my commons would multiply but no luck with my bristle noses lol) the tank is a 180 gallon planted. They do not use a cave. They just have a area behind my drift wood they dig out. Its sort of like a cave I guess. She begins laying her eggs outside of the cave (at least the few times I witnessed it) and then the male aggressively pulls her around eventrully ending up in their spot. They are always there and hard to see without pulling my tank apart so hard to see when they have eggs. They are very active in breeding when I am feeding large freeze dried krill, I have noticed that. At first I thought all the babies where a result of my bristle nose until she started laying again and I witnessed the pictures I attached. As well as when they matured
can't find much info and breeding the commons other than that it is sort of unusual. A few observations since apparently they are hard to sex. The male grew to be very large. His nose is elongated almost like a shovelnose sturgeon. He also uses it when he is digging up my gravel. The male tends to be more secretive as well as hangs in one spot that they also keep the eggs in. He has bouts of being a bully and tends to dominate.The female is much smaller (a bulky 11 inches) the male is over 2 feet although darts away when I approach so I do not get to measure him very often. The male eats more vegetation and prefers waffers over shrimp and frozen food. Female is the opposite. Male has a very flat under belly. Female has a belly that appears softer and more extended. Female has a spot she likes to go to but will hang out in more spots then the male. The behavior, size, snout and diet seems to be the biggest difference between the two. Of course this could just be what I see in my two commons.no expert so I would love to hear your takes. I'll post pictures of the gobs and gobs of babies I have had tonight.
A few more pics since the internet on my phone is sketchy don't think they all posted on my last post.
can't find much info and breeding the commons other than that it is sort of unusual. A few observations since apparently they are hard to sex. The male grew to be very large. His nose is elongated almost like a shovelnose sturgeon. He also uses it when he is digging up my gravel. The male tends to be more secretive as well as hangs in one spot that they also keep the eggs in. He has bouts of being a bully and tends to dominate.The female is much smaller (a bulky 11 inches) the male is over 2 feet although darts away when I approach so I do not get to measure him very often. The male eats more vegetation and prefers waffers over shrimp and frozen food. Female is the opposite. Male has a very flat under belly. Female has a belly that appears softer and more extended. Female has a spot she likes to go to but will hang out in more spots then the male. The behavior, size, snout and diet seems to be the biggest difference between the two. Of course this could just be what I see in my two commons.no expert so I would love to hear your takes. I'll post pictures of the gobs and gobs of babies I have had tonight.A few more pics since the internet on my phone is sketchy don't think they all posted on my last post.
