I thought our Bristlenoses were not big or old enough to breed. That shows what I know about plecs. There are eggs stuck to the ceiling in their little ceramic cave, and the dad is guarding them diligently. We'd like to raise the babies.

Normally there are 2 blind telescopes with them in a 20gal tank, but I moved the telescopes out a week ago so we could use the tank to quarantine a new goldfish. We have at least another 2 weeks to go on that quarantine. And the quarantined fish is a huge fast-moving oranda that will make quick snacks of the pleco babies.

Can I move daddy plec and cave to a 5gal hospital tank without jeopardizing the eggs? (The 5gal is too small for the oranda. He would overpower the box filter in there in no time.) Or do I have to wait for the plecos to hatch?

Is it OK not to have gravel in the 5gal tank? Is it OK to put plastic plants and live anacharis in there?

Are there any other web sites you think I should check out about pleco breeding? So far, I've seen 3 different sites that gave 3 different sets of advice. I don't know who--except for folks from Koko's--to believe.

Caroline in San Jose

while im not an expert on raising plecos, it sounds as though youve got a chance at moving the eggs and the dad without so much as a hitch. especially if the 5 gallon tank is already cycled. youll need to do this quickly if you dont know how long the eggs have been there.

good luck with them! as they grow, try to get some pics and share them with us!

Like Paul,I'm no expert either, but I will tell you this. I bought 9 pretty small albino bristlenose on Aquabid a while back. I'm down to 4... They are very vulnerable to most things when they are so young.The slightest reading of ammonia,temp change etc...The five that I lost was after I had them a week or two-after I did a water change,Since then these guys have grown a lot bigger so hopefully they do okay.By the way,they are in my cory tank.The albino corys laid eggs,and I managed to get 5 to hatch before they were gone.. Good luck! I have 4 albino bristlenose-and regular because I always wanted to try and breed them too! Planet Catfish is probably one of the best sites for these fish.

Thanks, Devs and Paul.

I read your notes last night and then moved dad and eggs to the 5 gal, which I'd set up the night before. He swam around flustered for about half an hour, but then went into his "cave"--a ceramic restaurant-style sugar packet container--and has stayed there since.

I'll watch the water quality and temperature carefully. I used a sponge and some polyester fluff from a cycled filter to fill a box filter for the 5 gal, but I can't assume the tank will act as though it's cycled.

Now to wait for babies!

Caroline in San Jose

God Caroline,I just read mt post---should never type in the dark when I'm tired!!!!I have 4 Albino bristlenose,and 5 regular ones. I absolutely love those guys!!! Today at the lfs,it was hard to not buy another species!--hahaha. So when did they actually lay the eggs? Do you only have two of them? Were yours bought big enough to where they could tell male and female,or did you just totally luck out? I have three reg. bristle's in the baby oranda tank,and two on the tropical.So far,I'm pretty positive that 4 of them are boys! I'm hoping the one in the tropical is a girl. I've always heard that the female just has little whiskers-where my male s have pretty long ones.Today I just read somewhere that the females don't get any???? Tell me about yours..I am so excited for you-I can't wait until the big day!!!!

WE HAVE BABIES!

It happened yesterday. It looks like every egg hatched. For now they're living on their egg sacs.

We took the dad out because ammonia was building up. In a few days--when they start eating--we'll move the babies to a fully cycled 12gal tank.

I can't figure out how to syphon solid waste from the bottom of the tank without sucking up babies. For now, I'm just changing a couple of quarts of temperature-matched water a day from the top.

Devs, besides the 25 or 30 babies, we have 3 normal bristlenose plecs. They are all well under a year old, and none is 2" long yet. All are domestically raised. Two are from the same "litter" and the other is colored a little differently, so I don't know if it's the same species. I hope so, because the different one is the mom of the babies. The male has a short mustache so far, and the females just a few short bristles.

There's a lot of variation among subspecies about how bristly the fish get.

We also have 2 albinos. They are really young too. One has lots more of a mustache than the other, so maybe they are a pair also.

I think I know what induced them to breed. We had been feeding them lots of spirulina wafers, and they were getting some leftover HIkari and ProGold pellets too. Then, over a couple of days, I cranked the temp up from about 69 to 76, which is what the new goldfish was used to. From what I've read, the increased protein and temperature change is enough to make them breed.

Caroline in San Jose

Oh wow !!! I'm so excited!!! Tell me more!!! It's as I feel as we are realated anyway thru baby orandas!!! So you think there are 35 -40 babies!! Holy c'moly!!!! I would have been very tempted to just leave Dad in there anyway...They say that Bristle dads are awesome!!!! That would be so cool to watch!!! I'm still stoked about the 5 albino cory eggs that hatched!!! I really want baby Bristles!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

alright! you got babies! i wish we gave breeders awards out for tropicals as well. thats all good though, youve got a bunch of little trophies swimming around in that tank, huh?

as for vacuuming the solids from the bottom, you can easily do this by purchasing vacuum bags for electric vacs at your lfs. while your there, get the smallest vac (manual) they have. you can stratch the open end of the bags over the vac. pull it up onto the tube nice and snug like a sock on your foot. now, when you start the syphon, you can push the tube down to the bottom at a slight angle while sliding it across the bottom. in doing this, all the solids will get trapped on the bag at the mouth of the tube. when you feel theres enough or too much gunk stuck to it, gently pull the vac out of the water while scooping it upwards so the solids stay trapped o the bag as much as possible. oh yeah, have a little pail of treated water to swish the solids off into if you need to go back in and vac some more.

i figured that little technique out by necessity. ive got a guppy tank that perpetually has fry and i need a good way to vacuum safely.

good luck with them caroline!

Paul, these guys are so tiny and I am such a wimp! I am very scared I will hurt a fry.

I siphoned the bottom with moderate success late today with an airhose that discharged into a great big beer stein. I got lots of debris out of the tank and into the beer tankard. Then I spooned the water out of the tankard bit by bit to make sure nobody was going to go down the drain.

The fry are not eating spirulina flakes or thawed zucchini rounds yet. I will feel so much better when they are through with their egg sacs and ready to forage for nutritous stuff I can give them.

Caroline in San Jose

At least some of the babies started eating yesterday. Or maybe they were just sitting on the slices of zucchini?

This morning there was lots of white slime in their tank. I don;t know what it was, but it was yucky, and the babies seemed to be avoiding it.

We moved the babies into a cycled 12gal tank with lots of algae. They are now residing with their parents, another small plec, and one platy.

I lost count, but it still seems like we have about 30. I don't think any seem to have died so far.

Devs, how are your baby cories?

Caroline in San Jose

Hi Caroline,they're doing great! I just found more cory eggs last night!!! Alot have been eaten of course,but I bet that right now theres still 30 eggs or so around the tank walls..Still trying to decide whether I should let mother nature take its course--or isolate them in another tank

Devs, is that a NEW batch of cory eggs, or part of the same spawning?

My 135 gallon oranda tank (not to be set up until after Christmas) is going to have to have a small herd of cories. What kind do I want to get?

Caroline in San Jose

Thats a whole new group of eggs! Those cory babies are a couple weeks old now! I didn't see anyone this time. It could have been the albinos again,the jullii's or even the Panda's.Who knows? I just hope a couple eggs make it.I still have the babies in the breeder's net.Didn't want to chance moving them to a new tank. Trouble is that they're still little-don't know if someone would try and eat them or not! Or I would have put new eggs in there--that's how I managed to get the 5 I got,or they would have gotten eaten too. So how are the bristle babies doing? I can't wait to see them!

I wonder if we have hybrids. Some babies--70%?--are already the brown color of their parents, and others are still without pigment.

Their mom has big splotches of color. Their dad and his sister are more solid brown with light dots. I've read that piebald ones might be crosses between albinos and normals.

I wish these guys came with tattoos showing their species. I'd rather not hybridize, but neither parent asked for my permission or advice.

Caroline in San Jose

Any more news on the babies Caroline? Those cory eggs that I found,were gone after I posted-figured someone had a good meal,but when I went to do a water change,once again I found five newly born cory's!! Unfortunately It' s my work week,and I haven't had any extra time to try and find anymore..... Hope they don't get eaten....

plecos can injure your GFs .. so if you can remove them for now, because the father pleco have a defensive instinct.. and you know GF.. they are curious.. too curious.. so separating them would be good..

As far as we know,Bristlenose's have always been fine with goldfish-it's the Common Pleco that has a bad reputation for that. Caroline, how are the little buggers doing?

So jealous! Our bristlenose was a real character and we all miss him. It would have been so great to see him raising kits

How are they doing? And devs, did your corys survive, or have you got well fed fish?

The original 5 babies are doing great!!! I just took them out of the breeder's net and let them have run of the main tank.They're still really small,but everyone is behaving! While they were still confined,I found three or four second hatch of babies-I put them in breeders nest with first batch because I didnt know what else to do with them--When I freed the bigger babies,I only saw one new hatch??? I don't know if the older cory babies ate them or not--They were use to eating baby brine shrimp so.....who knows..That crazy female started laying a 3rd batch--looks like the gouramis had a feast though-I don't see any left. I guess that's one way of keeping the population under control!!! Are you going to replace your bristle? I have three tiny albinos I'm raising-they weren't even a half inch when I got them I also have 5 regular Bristles in a couple different tanks. Out of the 5,I think I may have 1 female,and she happens to NOT be in the tank with the big boy I wanna try to breed with. I hate moving fish from tank to tank-always seems like you stir trouble when you do that. Maybe I'll have to buy another!!!! hahaha--I love those guys!

Sorry for the delay in writing...

The babies are all fine. We haven't lost any as far as I can tell.

I'm having to guess how much to feed them so leftovers won't be spoil. They eat constantly, and I add food twice a day. They get spirulina pellets, Hikari wafers, thawed zucchini, and cooked green beans.

They are still small enough for even small goldfish to eat, so they're in a 12gal with just their parents. After Christmas I'll move everybody around and give them a 20gal.

Raith, you're right that the dad would have defended the babies, at least until they had all wandered away from the nest. I hadn't thought of that. I have great respect for those viscious barbs on their cheeks.

Devs, what kind of cories do you have? I want a small herd of them when I set up another big tank, but I don't know much about the different kinds.

Caroline in San Jose

raise the temp a little bit, plecos like warm waters. so will their eggs!

Caroline,I have Panda's,Jullii's,albino's and regular's,peppered,skunk, and a few types that I can't quite remember their names. To tell you the truth,offhand I'm not sure of the best types for goldie tanks. I know alot of people keep cory's with goldfish,but I have been a chicken because of the salt that gets added on occasion. That and the horror stories of cory's getting caught in goldies mouth's and being quite stuck! Definately do your homework though cause some cory's are a little more sensitive to colder temps & such. I have found that the Panda's have been one of my more sensitive ones. Alot of people seem to keep the albino's in their tanks. I would love to have them all in a much bigger tank so that I could make their clans even bigger!!!! They are still one of my all time favorite fish,and if possible,I would have as many as I could in as many tanks that I have. Bristlenose,and other smaller pleco's have become a close second-I adore those guys!Here is a pic of one of the babies,a possible "father",and if you look in foreground,you may spot two of the baby albino bristlenose that i have in there.

They are rea cute bugger's!!!!!

Those are indeed cuties, Dev.

Sometimes I see big corys (2" or longer) at the LFS. I'd be afraid to put anything smaller in with my goldfish. I think the big ones are usually the Bronze corys, but I've seen some big Leopards too.

I'd love to find some Giant Corys, but I've never seen them in a store.

I better make some notes to carry with me about which species will do well at the temperature range of 72F to 76F.

Caroline in San Jose

So Caroline,what's the latest on the babes? How many did you end up with? I'm dying to see pics!! By the way,the cory's are at it again!!! If it wasn't for the female gouramis eating those eggs,I'd probably have a hundred or so babies in the last month!!!!

But wait! THERE'S MORE!

Devs, we just found another litter of about 25. We didn't realize what was going on until a couple of tiny babies with egg sacs appeared in the tank yesterday morning.

I'd removed the parents' cave and hiding places so they couldn't breed. Hah. They swam uphill into the waterfall from the Eclipse filter over the tank, like trout on a fish ladder. They squeezed past the wheel and laid the eggs in the half-inch or so of space under the filter pad.

So now we have the original 30 or so big babies, plus the tiny babies, plus the parents, in a 12 gallon aquarium.

I will catch the mom tonight and relocate her. And maybe the big babies can be rehomed in a couple of weeks.

Caroline in San Jose

Heh, sounds like they need to invent fishy BCP's so they can still have fun without crowding themselves with babies!

Good luck with All your little babies! Hey, just think, you might even be able to make their breeding readily into a profitable deal. Or at least for store credit at your lfs's........

That's really amazing where they ended up to lay those eggs! Talk about determination!!!! As Toothy mentioned,so did I in your other post----Try your LFS's---I have a place or two around here that would definately take any bristle babies if I should be so lucky!!! Out of my 5 reg. Bristle's 4 are males,and I haven't figured what the last one is yet! I then have those three albino bristle babies...They're just starting to grow whiskers. One of these days I'll find a little girl!!!

How do you sex plecos?

Coyote, with most plecos, only the fish can tell. But with mature bristlenoses, the males have lots of big bristles on their heads.

Devs, my females vary. I've read that in some strains the females have no bristles at all. My 2 regular colored females have smooth lips, but the albino female has a definite mustache.

Even with bristlenoses, you can't sex the youngsters. In general males are bigger than females, so some people say to pick the biggest (or smallest) babies to increase the chances of the gender you need.

And it's easy (for humans) to be confused when they're young. When ours bred the first time, the normal-colored male had not yet developed as much bristles as the albino female has now.

Devs, I do have a good LFS lined up for the babies I can't place. And the mama fish is no longer in the tank with the father and babies. I do hope this is it for litters for a while!

Caroline in San Jose

Thanks