I was cleaning the 75 and noticed a strange lump of golden balls in the corner. I thought it was one of my 2 plecos with some strange disease but I think it must be plec eggs. What do I do now? Remove them? Will they be eaten? At the moment everyone is ignoring them. They are quite a lot bigger than goldie eggs. What do I have to do next please, any advice???

What type of plecos do you have?

I have 2 rubbernose/bristlenose. One is male and one is female I am pretty sure as one has no bristles and the other is larger and does. The larger one is guarding the eggs making funny huffy puffy movements on the tank floor. I have 2 large goldies and some fry in that tank. Should I leave the eggs or move them? Right now one pleco is sitting right beside the eggs which are under the log and I have moved 2 moss balls and a smaller log to surround them so they cannot be reached by any goldies.

I don't know anything, but isn't the male supposed to guard the eggs?
Do you want to keep them?
Plec fry must be adorable!

Hi Anette! There are only a few. Maybe 8 or less all in a clump- not separate like goldies eggs. I just don't know if the parents will eat them or not in which case I should move them...I am fairly sure the place they are is impossible to reach by the goldfish and yes the male seems to be guarding them (at least I hope he isn't eating them!!).

The male a few weeks ago

The female (shes tiny)

(the white spots are from the dirty tank glass or camera lens I think.)

I know I have read about plec fry on the swedish forum. The male guards the egg and make special movements. I will check some more!


I found out that the eggs will hatch in about 5 days and the male will guard them for 2 weeks...

Maybe thats the "huffy puffy" movements that you're seeing, Imogen.

Congrats on "fishgrannyhood", lol! I bet the fry will be adorable!

Maybe! Thanks vickie and kusacaid for answering. Anette, does that mean its safe to leave the eggs where they are do you think? That the male will guard them? And I worry he is not eating just staying there... I dont want to drop an algae wafer nearby since that will send the goldies over sniffing!

So 5 days to hatch? Any more info anyone???Please? I can't find much.

I think they will be okay as long as their dad watches them. But maybe you'll have to catch them when they come out... they will need food then.
Here is the only info I found.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/foru...ead.php?p=18642

This is so exciting! Can't you post a pic of the eggs???

Imogen, this is the best info I could find on bristlenose pleco eggs:

Breeding Activity: The bristly male takes over the tube he prefers. The female moves in during a brief romantic interlude. After she deposits her orange eggs (on top of the tube’s roof), he takes over and cares for the eggs. Give the eggs five to six days to hatch. Give the larvae another five or six days to absorb their yolk sacs and emerge as small bristle-less versions of their parents.

Once they are hatched, feed them brine worms. As they grow they seem to like zucchini, green beans, and algae wafers just fine.

With bristle nose plecos the dad needs to be left with the eggs so he can tend to them and make sure they get enough oxygen. He will also guard the fry once they hatch and make sure none of the other inhabitants eat them. You will probably need to move the fry (with or without dad) after they are old enough to start to explore the tank. At that time dad won't chaperone them everywhere and they could get eaten by your goldies.

Side note: Dad probably wont go out to eat during the weeks he is tending the eggs and gurading the fry. If you want him to eat at all you are going to have to make sure there is food right next to him so he dosent have to leave his post to get it.

Congratulations on your eggs, Hopefully you get lots of cute litte plecos to watch.

Yep, you should just leave them be. Dad will gaurd the eggs and hatchlings until they "leave the nest". All of mine grew up with goldies and had no trouble avoiding being eaten. I didn't feed mine anything special, they just got fish food and zuchinni and algea wafers mostly, they love peas to....but if you can find a way to get them something special without everyone else in the tank eating them first it might not be a bad idea. Good luck!

Thankyou so very much all four of you That is GREAT info and just one of the best things about kokos. People stop by and care enough to help you find out more!!!!!!! I realise after reading what you have all written that the huffy puffy thing he is doing maybe trying to put oxygen over the eggs? He is behaving like a mini air pump!.And the eggs are under a log so not on the air wand but the long air wand is quite nearby.

I had wondered why I had a sudden build up of algae spots...now I know why..the plecs were busy with other things!

There looks to be very few eggs. I am so glad the male is protecting them as I am sure they would not last a microsecond without him there. What a hero! I didn't want to move them as all my spare heaters are broken and I have no money right now for another. If I move them later it'll have to be a breeding box. That's if they hatch. We'll see.

OK. Next thing is to try and get a wafer or something down to him so he doesn't have to move post..I don't want him starving. I'll try at goldie feeding time

Don't let appearance fool you....last time my plecos layed eggs I thought there was a dozen at most. There are at least 30 that survived from that brood...and in the three times my guys have bred they've had over 100 babies. I had to play musical tanks to get the male all by himself so they wouldn't have more babies.

Imogen, how small is your female?

I have 4 bn plecos, 3 of which are decidedly males. The fourth is either female or permanantly stunted as it has not grown much since I got it. It is somewhere in the 2-3 inch range, including the tail.

I've had my two about a year I think or maybe more. The female hasn't grown much at all. The male grew quite a lot.
I think you must have a female as besides the more prolific bristles on the male, the male seems twice the size nearly.thicker body too. I suppose the female is about (*goes to look) she is approx 2 and perhaps a teeny bit inches tail included. Face shape is slightly different which is why i had thought she might be a rubbernose and he a bristle. He is a lot more prickly. Her color is much lighter too. Does your female look similar?

How's the eggs doing? Has the male eaten yet?

I think this is exciting, I would like plec fry. But both my plecs are males!

Yeah it is exciting. Still there. He's still guarding although when I put a wafer down beside him, he scuttled round a bit. Don't know if he ate as I had to go out and couldn't wait..it was gone when I returned.

I totally didn't expect this. I was in shock when I saw those eggs. Hidden under the log there..GOLDEN eggs like some fairy tale. Hidden treasure gaurded by the big crocodile I wonder if they will hatch? It's only 20 degrees in there..

Whoo Imo what a nice surprise! And you got Albinos also! Maybe u can sell them babies to the fish shop for a neat amount of Yen

Yes that would be nice - I really don't need many plecs with green water tanks and the carpet algae I like - maybe one or two would be nice to keep. Anyway..they haven't hatched yet and there are so few eggs, unless more than one hatches out of each!!

Hm, sorry, I would sooo much like to see a pic of those eggs.... is it even possible?

I'll try tomorrow. Its dark , evening here now. The problem is the position. They are right deep at the back of a fairly wide tank ..under a black mopani wood log - with the zoom I still think I'll get distorted reflection from all the water in front + they are under the log and I have to lie on the floor to see them myself...but I will try... just for you!!

Ok thanks! Looking forward!

All 4 of mine are albinos too. However even between the males there is coloring differences. I have two darker toned males and one that is lighter. The small one (female) is also lighter, but without any pattern markings along her body either.

Perhaps I will move the most docile male into the tank the female is in now. Perhaps I could get them to spawn for me. They have resided together before, but in the livebearer tank which had both shrimp and a small group of kuhli loaches that shared the underside of the driftwood...continously. The tank the female is in now, she only has my single 8 1/2 month old goldie fry for company. It would make my grandma happier as the remaining algae on the tank sides would vanish.

In case you can't get a pic of yours heres a pic of mine from the second time my guys spawned, the eggs were just about to hatch...I think some had started hatching. You can see dad's fin in the bottom of the ornament.



I got over 30 babies from that little bit of eggs

Woo, great pics Nichole. I can see the tails pushing out in that pic. GUESS WHAT!! Some have hatched out this morning and I have pics..will post soon. I can see at least 3 climbing around the tank like tiny balls with tails on.

Heeeeeeeeeeere's BABIES!!!!!









They have all hatched I think. Here's Daddy though still huffing away One baby is under his back fins.

oh yay!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
how exciting!!!
haha they do look like little balls.
little USO's hahaha.

CONGRATS!!!
Are they all albino?

Can't wait to see them grow!
Cuties!

Awe, cute little babies. I would like to find an albino female but I've only ever seen albinos for sale once, and that's when I bought mine, he turned out to be male and is a great specimen. He has lots of bristles and some of them are forked. My female is a regular colour and just lays batch after batch of eggs. My dwarf gourami used to eat most of the new hatchlings but since he's gone there has been a population explosion in my tank, lol.

Good luck with your babies, I don't take any special care with mine and end up with around 6-12 surviving from each batch. If you can keep them until they are around 6-7cm they will have better luck surviving once you take them to the lfs. Also the larger ones are more expensive so hopefully only serious fishkeepers will buy them.

At the moment bns are expensive in Sydney, the 6-7cm ones would sell for anything between $30-50. A full grown male with bristles is over $100 and that's just the regular coloured ones, fully grown with no bristles are about $65. Nevertheless, I did some research on the net and the wholesale price for that size is between $5-10. I traded mine for credit at the koi farm.

ps. don't forget to cover filter intake with stocking or net, the babies are drawn to the smell of the filter and get sucked in. I have rescued a few from my hob before I covered it, I don't know how they survived the impeller. (nemo revisited)

Thank you Annette. I have immediately turned off 2 filters, internal canisters after reading this (completely forgot that risk) and will put stocking over them in the morning..the overhead filter has a very fine filter mesh anyway so should be okay. What I am concerned about is they are "flying" recklessly around the tank now. Getting caught up in the current and then thrown onto the glass and trying to stick with their little teeny tails wagging. I don't know what else I can do to lessen the current right now...I hope they survive till morning as I am bushed and have to sleep soon and can't do any more now. There is one clever little one who has located the suction clipped cucumber and stuck himself on it. So sweet.

Don't know what dad is doing still puffing there. Looks like all the babies have flown the nest already.

So plecs are expensive over there huh? I suppose here too. My two were set at about 1.000 yen but I got 2 for the price of one in a holiday sale. You have no idea what you are getting when they are small, as none have bristles, I chose these two because they were hanging together on a log. Seemed like a team..I would of course wait till the babies are big enough to sell and that is only if they all make it. Considering the aerodynamics going on here tonight I really wonder how many will. I can count about 6 but there may be more.

Yes Anette they are all albino/gold unless I am missing some brownies on the log or somewhere dark..

Hsi-Hou~ USO's? Unidentified sucking objects? Yes. Lol they look a lot like goldfish lice actually- very round.

haha i was thinking unidentified swimming objects... but since they're plecos, sucking would be appropriate too.

congrats Trinket !!!!

They are so cute. Congrats!!!

These plecs are river fish and tend to like the areas of a tank with the most water flow. I am laying odds that most if not all will be ok. You can modify the return of your hob filter with a piece of a 2 liter bottle so the water gets redirected to the back of the tank. This would cut the current going across the middle of the tank a lot.

I thought the little ones were supposed to hang around for at least a few days after hatching. If they all snuck out the back door, dad may not even realize that his charges are gone yet.

Congratulations, Trinket!



Wow, I didn't realize that bristlenose plecos could be so expensive! The one I got last week is a full-grown male (about 4 inches) with a very bushy nose (many branched bristles). I paid $9.95 for him. He is just a standard brown one, but I didn't realize I was getting such a deal!

Dad may still be huffing and puffing with more eggs that haven't yet hatched. Funny that the fry are all over the place swimming around, mine tend to keep a low profile most of the time, try putting a piece of zucchini in the tank and they should all congregate around it.

Bristlenose haven't always been expensive over here, I saw them around $10 a few years back, I guess it just depends on availability.

I have eheim cannisters- you can redirect the spray any which way- so I have them now pointed at the front of the tank and splashing off the front glass. Its funny they have all kept to the back half of the tank (where the spray originally was). I think the flying I saw was their attempt to reach the surface as I saw a few hanging at the very top back water surface perhaps filling their air sacs- I presume they have some kind of swimbladder like goldie fry must do before they can survive at deeper levels .

I have looked for them tonight and can only see one (the one stuck on/behind the cucumber). I presume they are like their parents and good at hiding..otherwise ...well...don't want to think of the alternative. Dad has now moved onto the log. Seems he has finished guard and got hungry.

I read that plecos can gulp air at the surface like cory cats and I've seen them do it, then they pass it out their rear end. I'm not kidding, I've seen them pass bubbles of air from their backside about 5 minutes after a surface gulp.

Congrats Imogen. Breeding is always exciting.

It is Fred, and something special about the first time when you aren't expecting it I never imagined in my fishiest dreams I would get pleco fry. I was so focused on the goldies. Wow. I panicked last night though, couldn't see ANY. But this morning early I spotted 2 at the surface again in the bubbles in a corner. So there are one or two for sure managing to survive. There is quite a build up of tiny algae spots on the glass too which they can eat + the cucumber in there. That's funny about the air in one end and out the other. I haven't seen that, but i have noticed my plecs do white poop or black poop. Never brown. Funny that.

Update

I think there are only 2 now. One of the problems must be I don't have a cave. Only corners to hide, under the log, under the bubble wand etc that the goldfish can't get them If I get fry again, I'll put in a cave or maybe I should put one in now...

I found one in the filter box, still alive and fine and grown big. I let him back into the tank and he landed on the clear pond area where I feed the goldies. I wasn't quick enough to stop Noddy from immediately sucking him up So sad. I whipped Noddy up to the surface and his little mouth opened wide...but I dont think a baby plec shot out....I am not 100% sure as I was panicking a little and it may be that he did escape but I doubt I was in time.

The last few days I have spotted 2 more. Thank goodness these are thriving. Here are latest pics. You can see how the body has lengthened out now. Real tails and I can see all the little fins complete and red eyes.

How exciting Imogen! I am so happy for you. You are right, it is always the coolest when it's the least expected. Please keep us updated with more pics!

Thanks Jenny, I'll be sure to

I'm so excited for you Imogen!

Cute pics! It's great that some of them made it!

Sorry to hear about you losing one. I think I would have been in a panic by all that too.

But it's great that you have a few left. They really look like proper fish now, but so tiny!

Couldn't you put them in a fry net?



I don't know anything about pleco, but I think they should do fine in a safe net without dad? And they have yolk too

That's a good pic and a good idea for goldie fry, the thing is with plecs is they really like to hide. If that were to work it would have to be filled with dark hideyholes like pieces of log and so on, and have some smooth surfaces for them. They're nocturnal creatures so a lot of light and space might freak the babies. And putting log and cucumber etc in there would weigh it down some. Plecs dont really seem to swim, they move by gliding- at least mine do!! really not fish like at all. They like slippery or flat surfaces to shimmy along. That's where the glass tank sides are so perfect for them to suck onto and slip along.

I have re-arranged the logs (again) to make a corner that is "safe" and I did see one baby on the back of the cucumber today so, well, fingers crossed he and any others survive

I agree with the hiding places for plecos. However, from experience I will tell you the plecos have no trouble whatsoever clinging to any part of a breeders net. When I had WCMM fry in my trop tank the pleco would be the first inhabitant to notice the food in the net and he would work his way up and cling to the bottom of the net and eat whatever the fry missed.