Bristlenose pleco caves

I've tried a few different types of caves or logs and I have found that my bristlenose that aren't fully grown, (but are still mature enough to spawn) prefer these stone caves. I don't think a fully grown pleco would fit inside and I'm surprised that mine at their sizes still fit in there. There is a lip around the opening and I haven't seen any eggs get accidentally kicked out. I have four males and three of them fight over these stones. I have more than enough, but they still have to squabble over them. I think it might be time to separate them.

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This video shows two of them fighting over a cave. The invader gets a cave in the end.

Those pics are awesome. I think I will try one of those stones for my pair, they are much smaller than the reg BN.

On a different topic, sorta. lol Is it possible that my male pleco gathered up all of the little ones and took them back into the log? When they all began hatching I had around 35 wigglers all over the tank, now I see 1.

I haven't seen mine do that, but I suppose it's possible. I imagine it would be difficult to get them all gathered if they were scattered all over the tank. I know that mine will keep the babies in the cave for quite a while, even after their egg sacs are fully absorbed. I take a flashlight and shine it down in the log to be able to see if there are any in there.

Most of my little ones manage to stay out of sight until I feed. There have been times when I thought they were all gone, but when the food went it, they came out from everywhere!

What do you feed them?

I feed them the same foods the adults get. NLS, canned French-style green beans, fresh veggies, just about anything really. The first few days I will sometimes use a little bit of Hikari First Bites and swish that around in the water to settle around for them. I've never known them to be picky.

Here are a couple of older videos of feeding times.
The first one they are eating NLS pellets; the second one the canned green beans.

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I dont know what is is but my plecos love NLS too.

DMD123 wrote:I dont know what is is but my plecos love NLS too.

It makes feeding time easy when all of the fish can eat the same food.

Madness, did you locate your other babies?

I found another way to get all the babies out in the open. This morning when I went to feed the tank, I noticed thousands (slight exaggeration) of fry covering the glass on all sides -- something they never do. I had no idea there were that many in the tank! Anyway, the tank is filtered with two sponge filters and the pump had died some time during the night. I had to make an emergency trip to the store and did a big water change. They all seem to be okay now.