# Bristlenose Plec Eggs



## SunnyP (7 Jan 2010)

I found a clutch of eggs while I was messing with the tank the other day. They are strong orange and can already see small white catfish around the yolk sac with their black eyes, so they are not far from hatching. Here's the best pic I could get of them with my crappy camera. 






Tried to use a magnifying glass and the camera to get a better macro but no luck but could see a lot closer and clearer with the magnifying glass and they look so small and already has similar features as the adults bodies. Can't wait for them to hatch.


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## dw1305 (7 Jan 2010)

/Hi all,
Definitely look like Ancistrus eggs, were they laid in a cave? and is the make guarding them?
If the male isn't fanning them they are likely to fungus. You can hatch them artificially if you put them in a tea strainer or aquarium net in the filter stream as an alternative "egg tumbler". If you have any MTS? pop a couple in with the eggs as they make good egg "janitors".
cheers Darrel


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## SunnyP (7 Jan 2010)

The male is guarding the eggs from time to time. I think there may be anothe clutch of eggs as he disappear for periods of time. i have seen him cleaning and fanning the eggs aswell. I have made a small network with three caves. I haven't disturbed other caves.
this is the first time they have bred so quite excited to see if they survive. 
I have had a lot my shrimps die recently. Could this be due to the male terrortorial behaviour over protecting his eggs. Otherwise it has to be copper concentration.
By the way what is MTS. I'm guessing snails but not sure what sort (i do have some nerite snails).

I will have a look later today to see how the eggs are doing.


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## dw1305 (7 Jan 2010)

Hi all,
If the male is looking after the eggs they should hatch, they are normally superb parents. They don't usually bother the shrimps at all, so I'd suspect a water quality issue (and possibly micro-element toxicity).
MTS are Malaysian Trumpet Snails, it's quite important to have the right snail, because most of the other snail species will eat all the eggs. You can also use Asellus ("Water Hogs") or Amano or Red Cherry Shrimps as "egg janitors". I don't ever use methylene blue now, as all the "biological options" work so well. 
cheers Darrel


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## SunnyP (7 Jan 2010)

The eggs have hatched and the fry are with the dad under the bogwood. WICKED!!!. He's constantly fanning them now. There's still one that hasn't hatched. 

I fry have got good flow of water aswell as the dad has decided to have his cave near to the filter inlet.

I've had my water tested and everything is perfect with just a small ammonia spike from shrimps that died that day I had the test. Iron is fine aswell. My best bit is on micro-nutrient over dosing.
Did do a 50% water change 2 days ago and only introduced phosphates. Will do another 50% change again later this week. 
Will get cherry shrimps after a couple of weeks.


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## SunnyP (8 Jan 2010)

Hi everyone,

Just an update on my BN fry. All the eggs have hatched now and can just see their tiny white tales fanning about but Dad is keeping them covered and is constantly fanning. The fry still have their yolk sac with them, guess it will take a few days for them to digest that up.

What should I feed the fry once they start wondering out for food?

Would algae and bogwood suffice their need for growth and nurishment or would I need to feed them 'special' foods. I've seen some people feed them mango's and melons but is it really necessary. The adult plecs are feed twice a week with algae wafers but sometimes that goes uneaten.

Cheers,

SunnyP


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## SunnyP (1 Feb 2010)

Hi everyone,

My bristlenose hatched fine at the start of the month and are developing fine. They're just over a 1cm long and really cute. I think there are about 10 that survived and they are constantly munching on anything edible. They've done a better a job of removing algae than a group of shrimps have. 

Here's a pic of one of the critters with its fat belly and a little bit of poop.





Sunny P


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## roadmaster (2 Feb 2010)

I recently discovered around 40 long finned albino bristlenose fry in  a 75 gallon aquarium that my boss allows me to keep at work. They are approx one month old. I feed then spirulina pellets along with the foods they find that I offer the glowlight tetras and long finned blue danios that share the aquarium. I perform water changes twice a week of 50 percent for I am unable to vaccum the substrate for fear of vaccuming up the little ones. When I leave work for the weekend, I wrap some lettuce around a stone with rubberband to tide them over until i return on monday.
 Have made arrangements with local fish store to trade some of them(most) for store credit when they get a little larger.Will probably need to separate the adults for as I enter this,Another clutch of eggs are under the large driftwood piece and I fear I will be overrun with the little buggers.


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