Bristlenose Plecos

[sparkypenguin]

Hi all,

Hopefully an easy one....
I have 2 female Bristlenose plecs in my 4ft tank and was wondering if it would be OK to introduce a male?

Kind regards,
Mark.

 

[ghyti]

If the tank is big enough for three yes add a male. Be sure to add a cave or two for him if you do. Males like to stay in or near a cave.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you put most male and female BN together you will get babies. You will get them every month or so. The bigger/older the fish get the bigger the spawns will get as well. My final bn spawn was over 100. Usually the better pleco ratio is 2m/1fm. The reason for this is that the female can often produce eggs every two week but it takes about a month from the spawn to when the dad kicks the free swimming fry out of the cave and is prepared to spawn again.

If this is a community type tank you might have other fish which will gladly eat the fry and that would help. But usually a few will survive given enough cover in the tank. If you get spawns and have a good survival rate you will need a plan for what you do with the kids.

When I moved on from bristles to other pleco species I brought about 65 assorted size BN to CatCon and sold them to a store for a song. I was happy to be rid of about 65+ fish.

Plecos are neat fish and the bn are great algae eaters. So if you do not want to get spawns, stay with the two FMs. If you want a male for the bristles but do not wan babiers, move out the FMs. Bear in mind males do need a cave to claim. Females will use caves but do not usually claim them.

 

[sparkypenguin]

Thanks for the replies.

I do have a couple of half coconut shells in the tank with a doorway cut in them and I have another 4 to which I was going to add a section of 40mm pipe to the entrance to give a bit more privacy.

I'm happy to have babies as I have a couple of LFS that will take them off my hands for a store credit and I already have some experience with the fry of my live bearers so should not be an issue.

I had read that you should only keep 1 bristlenose unless they had been brought up together, is there any truth in this?
Ideally I would like a few more so could go to a 4m to 2f ratio if that would be acceptable?

Also is it possible to cross bread them with other types of bristlenose?
I ask as a local guy has some blue eyed long fin lemons and mine are the common short fin brown type.

 

[DoubleDutch]

If you put most male and female BN together you will get babies. You will get them every month or so. The bigger/older the fish get the bigger the spawns will get as well. My final bn spawn was over 100. Usually the better pleco ratio is 2m/1fm. The reason for this is that the female can often produce eggs every two week but it takes about a month from the spawn to when the dad kicks the free swimming fry out of the cave and is prepared to spawn again.

If this is a community type tank you might have other fish which will gladly eat the fry and that would help. But usually a few will survive given enough cover in the tank. If you get spawns and have a good survival rate you will need a plan for what you do with the kids.

When I moved on from bristles to other pleco species I brought about 65 assorted size BN to CatCon and sold them to a store for a song. I was happy to be rid of about 65+ fish.

Plecos are neat fish and the bn are great algae eaters. So if you do not want to get spawns, stay with the two FMs. If you want a male for the bristles but do not wan babiers, move out the FMs. Bear in mind males do need a cave to claim. Females will use caves but do not usually claim them.

The reason why I only keep females.

 

[Byron]

I don't know if BN will do this, but some loricariids certainly do. A male with two females will spawn with both. My Farlowella vitatta spawned with one female, and it was a day later that he spawned with the other female, using the same spot so he could easily guard the clutches of eggs.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Double spawns do happen. But just as often a secondary female will try to sneek into the cave if the male slips out for a bite to eat. If she can, she will eatthe eggs or wigglers. One they are gone, the male is available to spawn again and the original female has not yet produced more eggs. I watched my alpha male zebra pleco on eggs defend his cave from several lower ranked females in the group who were trying to get into the cave. He would have none of it.

I have never have a double spawn, but I know folks who have.

 

[sparkypenguin]

Any thoughts....

I had read that you should only keep 1 bristlenose unless they had been brought up together, is there any truth in this?
Ideally I would like a few more so could go to a 4m to 2f ratio if that would be acceptable?

Also is it possible to cross bread them with other types of bristlenose?
I ask as a local guy has some blue eyed long fin lemons and mine are the common short fin brown type.

Or 2m / 2f?

the male is available to spawn again and the original female has not yet produced more eggs

Is the male being available to spawn whilst the female has no eggs a problem?