bn's attempting to breed?

[DJ-don]

hi guys
just yesterday night when i did my feedings i saw something very peculiar happen. my biggest female Bn started to go to the males cave. the male came out and the female went in!!
but because the male's cave is just tight enough to fit him let alone my big female, the male tried to shove his way through into th cave while the female was trying to escape (then why did she go in the first place?) but soon after the female did escape. the male got angry at him self and went into the cave. and started fanning like he had eggs but he stopped and exited the cave a numerous times so i guess they dint spawn
today it was very interesting to see that my corys started to spawn again in the tank but i didnt do anything to the water
i decided to feed the fish again after the spawning and the same thing happened!!!!!
this time i had a feeling the male might be able to squeeze himself in but after a few minutes the female managed to gout after the male tried to go in back wards so he can trap the female in.
i think the cave i made for him is a bit too small to fit the 2 but i guess thats good because the tight areas are the best areas for bn's to spawn???
this seems to happen everytime i feed them some food

any advice?

[andywoolloo]

sounds like they are getting to breed. Sounds like your doing things good.

Keep the water good. Nitrates down. Good circulation. Cover your intake so the babies cannot get sucked up. But make sure the water can still circulate up and stuff.

I am pretty sure it was Apistomaster who taught me how to cover my intakes.A mesh media bag, filled with Eheim EHFIFIX and attched with a rubber band or other water safe fastener. Just gotta watch and replace the rubber band when it starts to wear.

Oh yea and Birger or Richard B taught me about NLS Grow for the babies, as one of the baby foods, also the baby cories like it also. But the baby BN need veg and fruit also, mine loved romaine lettuce, they completely annihalated it! And zuchinni and cucumber.

Good luck!

[DJ-don]

ok thanks andy!!
because its raining here in canberra, i turned off the heater and did another water change to stimulate them and have turned off all lights for the tank. im up till new years (which is in 2 hrs 30mins) so ill plug the heater back in then

[andywoolloo]

because its raining here in canberra

seems like all my bettas build bubble nests before it starts to rain, they are like my weather channel!

I never had to mess about with the water temp or anything on bristlenoses, they bred like rabbits and I kept them at about 80-82.

But I have heard of people doing that with cories, my cories, again, breed like rabbits regardless!

Best of luck! sometimes it takes them a few times to get it right.

[DJ-don]

what is very interesting is that my male chose the most tightest cave as his home and the male is big but the female is alot bigger!!
i would like to hope thta the male would breed in a more easier are fir him and the girl but i guess they choose the tight spots for the eggs so the stay safe
thanks for the help andy!! something is bound to happen!

[andywoolloo]

Sure thing, I learned everything here. I never really did anything, just kept their water clean and fed them well. Made them comfortable tank furniture wise and that's all.

Once they start breeding the do not stop. Or it doesn't seem like they do. I had babies of all sizes of growth at all times. It was alot of work. Cleaning canisters and tubing , taking up food, changing water. But also loads of fun.

So exciting to see the mom and dad doing their mating behaviour, then the eggs then the wigglers. Just loads of work.

I couldn't barely keep up with mine! Every few months I was off to the fish store with another 25 juveniles. I kept my town supplied with BNs I 'll tell you!! But I only got 3 dollars per juvenile. But i sold alot of them. Kept me in free fish food pretty much. I finally sold my adult breeders last summer then grew out all stages of babies and sold those. I kept one male that I raised.

I do love those bristlenoses!

Mats was a great help to me as were many other people on this great forum.

[Richard B]

Common B/Ns can & will breed pretty much in any bit of shelter.

What you are seeing sounds very much like early spawning behaviour. If you offer a range of different caves they'll choose the one most suitable & go on from there!

[DJ-don]

so far so good!!!
but it seems like the female goes to the cave when i feed my fish in the tank

my mum likes to call my fish (in korean) the male: gangsta because of his behaviour and the big female: Pig because she eats alot!!

[Richard B]

I am pretty sure it was Apistomaster who taught me how to cover my intakes.A mesh media bag, filled with Eheim EHFIFIX and attched with a rubber band or other water safe fastener. Just gotta watch and replace the rubber band when it starts to wear.

Tou can always use a cable-tie (zip-tie) instead of an elastic band - or my preference: cut a piece of filter foam to make a 'jacket' for the intake...

Oh yea and Birger or Richard B taught me about NLS Grow for the babies, as one of the baby foods, also the baby cories like it also. But the baby BN need veg and fruit also, mine loved romaine lettuce, they completely annihalated it! And zuchinni and cucumber.

Birger i think, on this one

[DJ-don]

if it does happen and they lay eggs i plan to after a few days of seeing the eggs if i see one fry in there i plan to wait a few days for the others to hatch and i will put the babies in a fry saver or a grow out tank

[MatsP]

I find that moving the fry is more dangerous than leaving them with "dad" - unless you have something in the tank that will predate on the fry, that is.

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

I find that moving the fry is more dangerous than leaving them with "dad" - unless you have something in the tank that will predate on the fry, that is.

--
Mats

would you say bronze corydoras as a predator on fry??
other than that i was hoping to get a small tank with a heater and sponge filter established in my main tank so i was thinking i could use that sponge filter in the new tank with the main tank water then put the babies in thee bu i could always syphon them out

but im thinking ahead of myself!! first they have to spawn!!!

[MatsP]

Thinking ahead is a good thing.

I doubt very much that corys will eat the fry. They come out a lot larger than cory fry - about 10-12mm long. Certainly my lone C. sterbai don't appear to eat the much smaller

Sturisoma aureum

fry that I have.

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

they seem to eat the eggs they layed today with gusto but i guess eggs are a different matter and then agiain i leave cory fry in the tank and they have high growth rate.the only thing im worried about is the filter-i have to change filter media once a week because my tank is filled with cory fry and i mean alot!!!!
i plan to get more sponge filters into the tank for fry and get some fine mesh for the bigger filters

[[email protected]]

...my tank is filled with cory fry and i mean alot!!!!

Bigger tanks or more tanks.

I used to grow out cories in a kid's swimming pool, about a foot deep and four feet diameter.

Jeff

[DJ-don]

just today i thought that my male was lying in his cave face forward like he does sometimes but underneath him was a female. i didnt notice until i put some brine shrimp (frozen) which might have caused the female to get out of the cave and go eat and she did manage to go out

and i also realised that the cave i gave them cant fit the bigger female with the male!!
should i remove the cave and give him another one? i would think there would be a higher success rate if i gave them a bigger cave which i have
i dont know what the small caves size is but the bigger one is 12x3x3cm this has definetly got a bigger widening for them should i use that?

[MatsP]

Why not let the male choose a cave - have two or three?

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

there is about 5 caves in there including the small and the bigger cave i mentioned before he doesnt even move into the other caves

i wish i could post a oicture but my sister lost the camera charger for our good camera and only have camera phone now

so ishould i remove the smaller caves? the other caves are bigger with a bigger opening

[andywoolloo]

well then, seems like he has picked one. I think they do prefer a bit of a tight squeeze so he can trap the female in there.

But obviosuly not so tight that they get stuck. Do your caves have removeable lids? In case? Can you post a picture and maybe someone can say if they are too small since you're worried?

My BN caves are about less then 2 inches wide by maybe 6 inches long or a bit less? Just guessing as they are in the tanks now occupied. Next time I take one out I will measure it.

[DJ-don]

its not that tight of a squeeze.
i really dont know how to say this but there is around atleast 2mm of room for him to move around like he cant move around to the point where he can do 360' if you know what i mean.
the cave is 12cmx3x1.5-2cm height

[Carp37]

My bristlenose caves are quite large for the size of the fish- about 6" long X 2.5" wide X 1.5-2" high (15X6.5X3.5-5 cm), and they don't seem to adversely affect the male's ability to care for his eggs/fry, with the exception that in tanks where there are a lot of apple snails, he'll give up trying to defend the eggs against half-grown hordes of apple snails (I've actually removed most apple snails from tanks where I'm actively encouraging bristlenose to breed)- if there are only a few snails the males will defend the caves determinedly (and successfully).

[DJ-don]

this night the male trapped the smaller female in the cave and stayed in the cave with the female for around 30 mins and during the 30 mins i never saw the female i could only see the male and his big head

to elaborate more on the cave being used there is enoguh sideward space for him to spread his pectoral fins but the height is about his height with an extra few cm

the male is 9-11cm long
smaller female 6-8cm long
larger female 10-12cm long (very fat just manages her self into the cave)