Bristlenose Eggs

[itsybelle]

Hello!

I have a 75g tank with 725gph of filtration coming from two HOB's (one Marineland and one Aqueon). I do a 25% waterchange weekly with Prime treated tap water. There are live plants in the tank, mainly anubias and some java moss. The tank is bare bottom and I have several pieces of drift wood. The anubias grows out of many of them. I test my water occasionally with the API master test tube kit, but I'm fairly regular, so I don't do it as often as I used to. I like to keep my nitrAtes at around 10 parts. No ammonia or nitrites. I forget my PH, but it's fairly stable because of frequent partial changes.

Three months ago, I sucessfully moved this entire tank from one house to my current apartment. I had no ammonia spikes or fish loss.

Tank inhabitants are 10 Buenos Aires Tetras, one male Golden Wonder Killi, one small pleco that was sold to me as L-66, which I think is actually L-134 (I've had him for I think 5 years), 7 Clown Loaches (the largest is almost 5 inches and I've had that particular fish for years...they are slow growers and I'm aware of the size they get and how long it will take to get there), and two Bristlenose Plecos (one male and one female).

I was doing a partial change a little while ago, I'm actually still in the process.... and I noticed a thick mass of golden eggs on the underside of one of the pieces of driftwood that has the anubias growing out of it. I've noticed the loaches laying down underneath it lately, but couldn't figure out why. Initially, I tried to lift the driftwood out of the water to swish it in a bucket of tank water in effort to clean it a bit, not realizing the eggs were there... and the father bristlenose was attached and jumped off. He must be "guarding" the eggs?

My question is... If I leave them alone and they hatch ( I believe within 10 days)... Do you think my loaches will eat them right up? I have a very small cycled tank (2 1/2 gallon) that I can move the driftwood to, but it would be great if I could just leave them in the 75g. How large are bristlenose fry when they emerge? I'm familiar with the size of guppy fry and betta fry if that helps to put it into perspective for me.

Any opinions? I'm a former moderator on a different fish forum, but I worked mainly with goldfish. Thanks in advance for any opinions! I'd be happy to answer any other questions.

[PeterUK]

The male will guard the young until he thinks its safe for them to go out
The juvs usually venture out when they are about 1/4in long

[itsybelle]

Thank you for the reply back!

Don't mind all of the floating "debris" in the water. I kicked up poo when lifting the driftwood during the water change... hence the reason for lifting out all of the wood/plants to rinse in a bucket of tank water. Here's a pic of the eggs from my iphone:



The male bn looks like he's doing his best to defend his eggs. The loaches are persistent and want to lay down under that particular piece of wood. He looks to have some damage on his body and head, which makes me wonder if he's been sparring with the loaches. Either way, I'm sure he'll be fine. I just hope the eggs/fry survive. BN fry are adorable and I know that what I don't keep I can sell/trade to my local LFS!

[RIPbiglad]

I tend to put the fry into a frysaver to grow on a bit. It also helps because you can make sure they eat. Just change the water regular or have one that allows the water through it

[Suckermouth]

After I added clown loaches to my bristlenose tank I have not seen new fry. I think the CLs are getting either the eggs or the fry. I will be removing them soon to another tank.

[itsybelle]

Thanks for the responses! I won't be too disappointed if the clown loaches eat the eggs/fry this go-around. We'll see if any survive and perhaps I'll save the next batch if not. I'd feel bad removing them at this point because the male is doing such a nice job.

As far as my female is concerned... Would life be better for her if I got an additional female? I don't know how often the male bothers her to copulate...

[RIPbiglad]

leave it as it is. The male cares for the young and tends not to eat while doing this. If you added another female the ladies may take it in turns to breed with him and he may not get chance to eat between raising the young.

[Suckermouth]

I just have one male and one female and it works out fine.