Fish To Compliment Bristlenose Plecs.

[diet]

Hi All,

I have 6 Bristle Nose plecs and am looking for something to compliment it.
I have been thinking of something along the livebearer route,

Basically this tank is for me to attempt to breed and then sell on fry etc etc, Not looking to make any money, just want the challenge,

So if you have any ideas on stocking then please let me know.

Tank is currently :

180 Litres
Pump is running at 600 Lh/Hr
Temp : 24c

 

[techen]

Thats a lot of BMs if you want to breed them I suggest adding nothing else. You want the water stats prefect for the BMs and adding different fish makes that an issues.

 

[sadguppy]

Hehe I love the idea of fish complimenting the bristlenoses.., "My, those are awfully lovely nose bristles you have there sir!". I don't know many fish like that.

However, if you are in fact looking for fish that will complement the BNs, then how about platies? They are brightly coloured, will swim in every area of the tank and leave the BNs alone. A shoal of cardinal tetra would also be a good choice.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1

I've never bred BNs, but I think if you actually want to keep the fry, the best option is to keep the tank empty of others. Personally, I'd add a wealth of driftwood (big pieces) to sit on the bottom (sand substrate) and let the males dig out caves under the wood for the females to come to lay eggs in. And I'd also heavily plant the tank, to offer lots of spots for microorganisms to live that the fry can eat when tiny... And I'd also consider dosing some ferts to encourage algae growth... but, I've never tried. So, I'm far from an expert, just trying to use a bit of common sense.

 

[diet]

Thank you all,

I do not currently have the 6 bristle nose, im due to pick them up tomorrow, they are literally fryt hem selves and are only 8 weeks old,
I am getting six so my chance of getting a mating pair is strong, the plan is then to sell/giveaway the up to 4 of the BN as and when the tank becomes to small for them.

We have Sailfin Mollies at work and wow they are easy to breed... the lil things don't stop!!

Even if I have to look at getting a smaller tank in the future to keep fry this is not an issue, I just want something that will keep me busy and in the future will look at breeding or at least trying more harder species etc etc.

BTW : The tank is one I bought fully set up, I kept the media wet and took around 60 litres of water with me, I've done chemical tests and everything seems to be on par.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

All fry? Are they from the same spawn? That's not something that I would do, unless you are certain that they are from different parents...


Livebearers are simple to breed - add water and wait. Done. Literally. If you get females they can store sperm from an encounter with a male for 4-6 separate spawns - each spaced about 6 weeks apart. Meaning a single encounter with a male will cause that female to be "pregnant" for the next 6+ months - no males needed.

 

[Mikey1]

i would bump the temp up to 26-27

i would not get 6 of them, i would only get one male and one female, or at the most, one male and two female.....dont get more than one male.....

Males are larger than females and have bristles running up his snout/nose and around his lip...

Female's only grow bristle's around their lips and never up the nose/snout and in some cases they grow no bristle's at all which is perfectly normal....

i also would not get them at the same time from the same fry.....buy them at different times or from different stores

they wont be of breeding size for awhile anyway.....at least 3 inches