My female bristlenose is looking really heavily egg bound, I reckon she will lay the eggs in thenext couple of days! Unfortunately I'm going away now for 3 weeks and since they are in my community tank I doubt any will survive. I am just wondering will the parents protect the young and what size are they when they hatch (I know I'm counting my chickens (ancistrus ) before they hatch) but with other fish which could eat them being platies or cories is there any chance? Also should I leave any advice for the person who I am letting look after the tank as regards the young. Finally from what I've gathered bristlenoses are easy to breed (although when i asked the guy in the shop for a male he told me he'd never heard of them bred ) so how long will it take the female to be in breeding condition again?