Some of my bristlenose

A few shots of males.
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These are females. It took me forever to find them! At one time I had nine BNs and all nine were male.
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After finding the females, I was hoping for some spawning action! Unfortunately my big male always kicks the eggs out of his cave and does not tend to them, so I lost the first couple of batches before I figured out how to take care of them myself.

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A couple of videos, one at three weeks old and another at 11 weeks.

good looking males, especially that albino and the last male pictured. Bristlenoses are great. Do you have them all in seperate tanks? Isn't it tricky to have so many males?
cafman

looks like your feeding them french fries lol
great looking pics

It does look a little like french fries, but those are french style green beans -- they love those!

I have the males all in different tanks. The albino had been in the same tank with the biggest male, but I moved him out and now his bristles have really grown. I wonder if subdominant males don't grow their bristles out to the fullest if there is a bigger male around?

I have read the non-dominant males have less established bristles. It's like a way a showing submission and thus reducing the need for fighting. At least that was the theory I read. Seems to go along with most of the animal world.
I've never had more than one male in a tank though so I wouldn't know first hand.
Did spawning ever happen in a tank with more than one male?

Yes, spawning has happened with another male in the tank, most recently the biggest male and the albino. I never noticed any aggression, but I know the albino must be happier now. Last summer there was also a failed spawn with two males in one tank. (Found the eggs in a filter.)

I've been trying for well over two years, probably closer to three now, to get females and to have a spawn. Getting them small and waiting for them to grow and hoping for females, seems like it took forever, so I was really excited the first time I saw eggs. I have had them in different sizes of tanks, with different types of "caves", and tried everything that I've read online. I had pretty much given up and had moved a few into a 10 gallon tank when they finally had eggs. I think I had the two males and two females in that small tank at the time.

Wow those things are crazy looking. Do you sell any of the fry? Again those tings are awesome looking!

I have smaller ones that I'm raising and will probably be selling/giving those up when the time comes. I'll let you know.

Betty wrote:I have smaller ones that I'm raising and will probably be selling/giving those up when the time comes. I'll let you know.

Thanks I appreciate it

What do you feed them in general? I have a few of them around 2 inches in a Tank but they are not looking good .. More White in color instead of the usual Yellowish/ Gold
Coloration.. I tried some Algae Wafers, plus I fee my other fish in that tank Flake/ FBW's as well but they are just not looking right. A few have Died ...
It's a BB Tank , no substrate.. Probley should try some of the Veggies here as well.

Their staple is NLS (New Life Spectrum pellets) which is what I feed all of my fish. I also give the plecos canned, unsalted French style green beans -- they love the stuff. I keep a chunk of carrot cut in half length-wise in the tank as well. They graze on that and it lasts a long time without spoiling or polluting the water. Leaf lettuce, deseeded cucumber and zucchini or squash, just about any vegetable is also appreciated.

Frequent water changes are very important! I do 50% every day or two on the small growout tanks.

Jeez, you sound like me on the WCs. I have multiple Tanks and everyday, on the WCs
or 2 x even !! ALL BB tanks........
Thanks for the heads up on the Food Betty !! I need to start concentrating more on their needs. The left over food from fish feeding is ok but what you have stated here is a smart way to go in my book !! LOL !!!

Good to know on the foods! I had been looking for more different foods to feed my guys!

Ok here is a very simple way to keep the males from kicking out the eggs. You need to elevate the open end of the cave about 1/2" that way they wont roll out when he is readjusting in his cave.

those are some gorgeous bristlenose.
I have 3 albinos but they are all female and in seperate tanks.
mine love bogwood and tend to chew on it until it's grooved, is that common for these guys?

yeah, mine love bog wood too.... and betty, cant believe your raising these guys yourself! you are the fish master! *bows down*

Deltron, mine also like to chew on the wood. And they devastate the sponges on sponge filters. I clean them often, but they are still attracted to them. I guess they are out of season now, but over the summer I would drop a peach pit in their tank with a little fruit left on it and they cleaned that right off. Watermelon was a hit too.

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Markstr, I normally don't do bare-bottom tanks, but growing out these plecos is messy business and it's so much easier to clean up all of that poop without having to deal with sand. (One pleco growout has sand and it takes much longer to vacuum.)

Fern, thanks for the tip. My male has finally figured out how to do it right, but it probably wouldn't hurt to elevate the open end.

I see you have a rock tied onto that melon, I just stick a fork in my plecos veggis to weigh it down, works pretty well and is much easier!
The guys in the pic above look to be 2 weeks old?

I can't remember their age Fern, they might have been a bit older than 2 weeks. There were two females producing eggs and at one time I had about 180 little ones that I was trying to divide up into various tanks.

I usually use veggie clips to hold the food down. There is just something about kitchen utensils in the tank that bothers me.

Did you use a airstone in the breeder box when hatching them yourself? Did any of them fungus on you?

Oh how I know how they can overstock a tank quickly!!! I'm in the process of scattering more fry as well
2 forks in my pleco tank is a pretty common thing
They really look about 2 weeks old to me, or at least 2 weeks out of the cave

I use forks as well. I use my wifes stainless steel from some German name brand that claims to be true stainless. They don't rust so thats a good sign.

Kianna wrote:Did you use a airstone in the breeder box when hatching them yourself? Did any of them fungus on you?

I did use an airstone and fortunately very few were lost. I removed any that turned white as soon as I noticed them which was not easy to do because they were all stuck together like they were glued!

My male has definitely figured out how to raise the eggs. I found a ton of brand new babies all over the tank this morning. I don't know what I'm going to do with them all.

I trap and scatter my fry from time to time! I have to or they will over stock the tank in short order
I have some in all of my 10g fry tanks and any other tanks they wont get eaten in!
I trap them using a catch container and put an algae wafer in, come back later and take it out of the tank with some babys in it. A clear drinking glass would work just as well! So much easier than trying to net the little guys!