Baby Bushynose question..

Ok like the title says i have a question for all you bushnose breeders.. I now have a cave in my 300 with a bunch of baby bushynose plecos in it and the dad is protecting them as he should. I need to get them out of the 300 because they'll be a snack after the dad lets them roam fron the cave. My question is when is it ok for me to pull the cave and move all the babies to their new grow out tank ?? They hatched maybe late last week to early this week. I just don't want to take them from their dad too soon and have them all die off. But i don't want them to be fish food either.
If anyone has any tips i'm up for any on raising and care of baby bushynose pleco's also..

Dad should go with them if you do move them. It might not be possible for you to do in that large of a tan, but what I did, was section the tank off so that they could all stay in the tank, but safe from the other fish getting to them. After they were so big, I moved them all to another tank. You could move them right when they hatch I suppose. They wont leave the cave for a few days after they hatch. That way dad can keep them fanned and clean from fungus
This is what I did in my 55.
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So they are still at it, I presume!
They are a great pair and he is a great dad!

This is actually the 3rd time they've tried since i got them, the first 2 times they found a small hole in a piece of driftwood to breed but either the fish in the tank ate them or something. I added a cave for them and they bred right away and now i have loads of pleco babies in the cave. Pretty cool, they all look like little pleco's already..
I have a 37 gal grow out tank i'm going to move them to when i take them out of the 300. I just need to get them out before the dad lets them out of the cave and they get eaten..
I might wait until next monday or tuesday to move them out of the 300, i have 2 angels and 2 cons that are in the grow out tank keeping it cycled, and the cons are getting shipped out probably tuesday, and trying to get rid of the angels.

What kind of angels?

I might also be interested lol. Building up my group

Here's the 2 i'm looking to move out. 15 bucks takes both. Sorry the pics aren't the greatet..

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OK, back to pleco's now.. I just shot some pics of the cave and "tried" to get some good shots of dad and babies..
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Partitioning the tank sounds like a great idea. If you can't do that, I'd fill the new tank with water pulled from the 300, hold some kind of cover over the cave and lift it into a bowl, then move the bowl from the 300 to the 37. Either move the residents of the 37 into the 300 or partition the 37 until they can be moved. I wouldn't wait until Tuesday, they look ready to leave to me. My favorite partition is a sheet of Poret foam, but if you want to save this batch, I'd act quickly. When did they hatch?

I actually just set up the 37 last night, filled it with water from the 300 and moved both sponge filters that I've had running in the 300 for the past year.. So I should have good bio in there. I had to move the con's to the 37 being I need to starve them for shipping next week and moved the angels over to keep some fish in the 37 to keep the bio going. I want to move the babies now but I'm scared the con's might try and eat them. Not sure about that though, they might not even bother them At all.. As far as when they hatched I'm not totally sure, kinda lost track of time, I'd say maybe a week now.

Also I forgot to ask what's the best food to start them on ?? I have lettuce, cucumber, and lots of Algie wafers.

Well, the best food is an algae filled tank, but a new tank won't have that. Still, I'd run lights longer than usual to increase algae growth. What you have is good. Some people swear by flake and lots of it. I look for high spirulina wafers, without fish as the first ingredient. I supplement with canned green beans, cucumber, zucchini, and seaweed sheets from the Asian grocery.

I keep heavily planted tanks with soil under a gravel cap. I use no external filtration, just powerheads with sponges on the intake so little ones don't get sucked in. With lots of floating plants I don't have ammonia problems, and I seldom perform water changes. You may need to keep an eye on your ammonia levels and change water more often, but it sounds like you have a head start on the bio part. Your ammonia levels will tell you if you are feeding too much.

Keep us posted! The babies are so cute, but I've had my fill of them.

Thanks for all the info.. I just bought a 2.2 lb bag o Hikari wafers, and have cucumbers, zucchini, green beans.. I think I even have sheets of dried Algie I can throw in there too. I can't wait to get these guys into their new tank to watch them grow. I know I'll have to boost my water changes being I don't have all the filters I'm running on my other tanks. Once I put my new sump I might add my 20 gal wet dry to my 37 then I'll be set for filtration..

with the vegetables... if you cut the seeds off then they will not end up in your filter.

Well sad to say looked in the cave this morning and father was outside and cave was empty.. I was planning on moving them yesterday when the cave was still full but had family from out of town show up and had to play tourist all day yesterday.. Now i'm baby pleco-less.. Oh well i'll pay better attention next time and move them bofore all this crap happens.. Live and learn..

So sorry. But in my experience, once they start - they keep at it on a regular basis. I wouldn't be surprised if you had another batch within a month. You have a good stock of food for the parents, and time to run extra lights on the 37 to build up a nice coat of algae

I'm glad i added that cave to give them a great place to breed, that will be cool if they get going on a reular basis.. I need to go and buy a light for the 37, right now it's just the tank with no light. But i'll get working on that for sure.

That's sad, but I'm sure there will be more, like Vic said.

I'm surprised they stayed in the cave as long as they did. Mine are usually scattered all over by that size ... or maybe my male just kicks them out earlier than most.

Also look around closely. There could be some hiding in the tank -- they can be hard to find.

Those are the pair you got from me arent they? Dad was real good at keeping them in the cave.
You will have more eggs with-in a couple weeks. They were very prolific for me!

Yes, that's the pair from you.. I really like them too.. I'll be more prepared next time, when they hatch i'll be ready to move them right away instead of too late..

WooHoo, looked in the cave when i got home today and MORE EGGS !! This time i'm pulling them not long after they hatch, and not wait..