Author Topic: Breeding bristlenose (Read 2942 times)

GlassWalker · « **on:** April 16, 2013, 07:56:34 am »

My male bristlenose had been digging up my tank since I got it, trying to make a cave under the bogwood it seems. I recently put in a reptile cave and he has settled in already. Last night I also saw the female in the general vicinity so I wonder if there's going to be babies soon. The previous owner said they produced eggs regularly while they had them, although previous to this I hadn't seen any signs of that.

Thought I'd get prepared now. Since moving out the barbs, the other occupants of the 125L tank are:
11 cardinal tetra
6 black neon tetra
5 black skirt tetra
1 black phantom tetra (will be increased sometime)
1 orange swordtail

Any of those likely to have a go at fry? Or do I need a fry tank or similar? No, I will not get a 6th tank...

(isn't that what I said about the 5th... and 4th... etc...)

Apart from the adequate provision of food, which I gather is pretty much the same as what adults eat, is there anything else I should consider?

TropicalFishForums

bwarwicker · « **Reply #1 on:** April 16, 2013, 09:17:41 am »

The swordtail, black widow and black skirt will probably have a go. It might not be a bad idea to set up a fry tank if your wanting to keep them as they have hundreds of fry hatch generally.

GlassWalker · « **Reply #2 on:** April 16, 2013, 01:01:48 pm »

Hmm... maybe I should put my cherry shrimp tank plans off then! Tank 5 was going to be converted once the temporary residents have finished their current treatment, guess that would do instead.

My intention was to raise "some" up until they're big enough to go into other tanks. Not sure I want to go for hundreds!

GlassWalker · « **Reply #3 on:** April 20, 2013, 02:58:15 pm »

I has eggs!

If Mr BN would stop blowing the sand so much, the cave would be sealed to the sand.

I'm not sure when the eggs were laid but hatching could be any day now? Wondering what's the best way to ensure some survivability.

11 cardinal tetra (adult)
6 black neon tetra (big enough)
5 black skirt tetra (adult)
8 black phantom tetra (1 adult, rest young)
1 orange swordtail (adult)
White spot

Above are the tank contents. I suspect the white spot happened due to the ammonia spike I had about a week ago after a cardinal died, but it seems stable again now. Two black neons showed signs of white spot which are gone now.

Alternatively, could they be moved into any of the other tanks? I assume tank 2 and 5 are out since they have tiger barbs. Tank 1 might not be the best as that has gravel substrate and I'm still battling algae. What about tank 3 with a fighter and shrimp? I could move the fighter into tank 1 if it isn't going to get stressed from the schools of minnows and harlequins.

Or any other ideas to keep them safe for longer?

Euphoria · « **Reply #4 on:** April 20, 2013, 04:14:49 pm »

Could you place the eggs in a breeding net or something? I think if you remove the eggs, theres a big risk of fungus. The parents will waft the eggs with their tails to prevent fungus from growing on the eggs.

I have seen people treat the water with meth blue when keeping the eggs from parents.

And tetras love free swimming fry, im not sure if bristle noses guard the eggs?

GlassWalker · « **Reply #5 on:** April 20, 2013, 04:36:59 pm »

If such a thing exists, I could net off that corner of the tank so the male and fry can still move freely away from everything else in the short term. Longer term I think I'd still need to get them out. Bit late to pop out to LFS today but could have a look tomorrow. Or make something up myself from old net curtain!

The whitespot treatment I'm using at the moment contains methylene blue.

Trisha · « **Reply #6 on:** April 20, 2013, 05:19:03 pm »

Have you got an outlet for the fry if they do survive? My experience is that once they start to breed they do it very regularly

The first few times mine had eggs, none of the fry survived (but I do have Congo tetra in the tank), but since then they seem to be being more successful. Now I have varying age ranges of young and the male is in with eggs again.

Got to the stage that some are going to have to go to the lfs, but I am finding it very difficult to part with them as they are so cute and I do worry about the homes they will end up in

As soon as I can I am going to separate the male and female.

GlassWalker · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2013, 05:36:36 pm »

I previously asked my LFS if they had bristlenoses as I wanted to get some in other tanks, but at the time they didn't have a supplier for them. I might reverse the question next time I'm in.

My short term goal is to get some for other tanks. Beyond that I haven't thought it through... I wonder what the previous keepers did, since they did say they had eggs about monthly.

Trisha · « **Reply #8 on:** April 20, 2013, 05:51:51 pm »

Quote from: GlassWalker on April 20, 2013, 05:36:36 pm

I previously asked my LFS if they had bristlenoses as I wanted to get some in other tanks, but at the time they didn't have a supplier for them. I might reverse the question next time I'm in.

My short term goal is to get some for other tanks. Beyond that I haven't thought it through... I wonder what the previous keepers did, since they did say they had eggs about monthly.

Maybe the fry just got eaten, or perhaps their water quality wasn't too good. I believe the fry like the nitrate to be kept quite low. Thinking about it, the survival rate has gone up since I got a HMA filter and started doing daily partial water changes.

plankton · « **Reply #9 on:** April 21, 2013, 08:49:36 am »

Don't move the eggs, the dad will be fanning and protecting. If you want to specifically breed them and keep the fry then you'll need a separate tank for them. They are one of the better parents

GlassWalker · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2013, 10:34:18 am »

I've left them well alone for now.

The short term problem is they are in a tank with lots of other fish. Would a betta be interested in the fry? Actaully, he doesn't seem to be interested in much of anything at all. So I'm thinking my existing betta/shrimp tank could hold the fry after they hatch. If the betta does have an interest in fry, then if he doesn't mind being in amongst the minnows and harlequins, he could get moved over a tank.

Longer term, after the tigers have finished their medication, I was going to reconfigure tank 5 as a shrimp tank which can also hold BN fry.

GlassWalker · « **Reply #11 on:** April 27, 2013, 12:05:34 pm »

Just shone a torch into the BN cave and I can still see a group of babies in the back. No idea how many there might be in total.

Today I will finally be moving the tigers out of tank 5, and will re-scape tank 5 with sand. My question for now is, when should I move the baby BN? I don't know when they were hatched exactly, but they were still eggs on the 20th, and out and about on the 24th so would be around then. As I understand it they don't need feeding for a few days after hatching, but that time must be near an end if it hasn't already.

plankton · « **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2013, 12:50:58 pm »

I wouldn't move them too early or the rate of survival will be lower.

GlassWalker · « **Reply #13 on:** April 28, 2013, 01:10:55 pm »

Managed to see one earlier today by shining a torch in the cave. It was perhaps 1cm long.

I know moving will be a risk, hence I don't want to do it too early. While I have emptied the tank 5 yesterday, I need to re-fill it today and get everything in place anyway.

GlassWalker · « **Reply #14 on:** May 04, 2013, 07:55:05 pm »

Not sure what happened but the babies are out now. Maybe dad finally kicked them out of the cave? Think there's at least half a dozen I can see at any one time. They're on average maybe 1.5cm long.

Sponsors

Recent Topics

Ammonia Calculator

Articles on TFF UK

Advertisements

Author Topic: Breeding bristlenose (Read 2942 times)