PlanetCatfish.com

Everything newbies are told about the ease of breeding the common bristlenose is true. When provided with a suitable cave (I thought I was just putting in some nice rocks, but a hole in the rock suits as a breeding cave), my male albino bristlenose has presented us with four broods to date.

Here's the rub. The first, unexpected brood, wasn't carefully monitored; we did not remove the fry from the 120 gallon community tank, and I don't recall the dates. We only counted a handful, and I don't think any of them made it.

I did not note the starting date of the second brood, but the fry emerged July 1 - July 4. 75 fry in total; two females in the tank. Moved to a breeder net, doing beautifully.

We moved the females to the girl's dorm and moved our female longfin in. I thought she would need time to acclimate; I was wrong. Third brood was in the cave on or about the 13th, and 36 bouncing fry emerged on and shortly after the 24th. (Bouncing, yes. This batch proved much harder to catch; more active, less predicable, and quick learners!)

Mr. Big Bristles (the male, of course) retired into the cave on August 1, and eggs have been sighted.

Knowing only what I've read, I expected a 4-8 week rest! I expected, but wasn't so shocked by the absence of, a similar rest between broods 2 and 3; I assumed the change of females sped up the timetable on that one. Also, I clearly can't recognize a gravid female when I see one...

Is such a short turnaround unusual?

Assuming we remove the female before the fry emerge, will a not fully mature male be able to handle another brood so quickly? I'd rather let him do his job, as we've never tried to hatch the eggs separately and he seems quite competent at brood tending. However, if all this exertion and so little time to eat is dangerous for him, we will strip this brood. In my house, if you have a name (Mr. Big Bristles), you get priority over those who don't (The Fry) when and if push comes to shove.

I had a similar situation in my tank. I also have an albino male an he spawned on 10th of july (first time in life) and on july 19th (maybe even on 18th). But not with the same female. In the first one the only one egg hatched and he left the cave after 3-4 days. On the other one (spawning) he stayed for 10 days inside (60 fry). Conclusion: 5 days rest is possible but who knows how long he can stand that tempo. I'll try again with the female from first spawn again today, plus I'll put the third female together with them 'cause I heard that sometimes two females can spawn with one male in the same cave (not in the same time but only few hours between).
I heard 3 weeks is enough for female to spawn again (if the feeding is good) but I've separated female from male after first one and waited to see the big enough belly. Both times spawning took place in 24h after putting females in male's tank. When the female initiating chasing and playing with male it's a good sign she's ready.

Lucky you to be able to get that long fin Ancistrus, there ain't a chance to buy it in here (Serbia). I would pay a lot (three digits $) for 4-5 young ones. What is the exporting low for live fish in your country? Where did you get yours? What was the price?

Dermogenys wrote:I heard 3 weeks is enough for female to spawn again (if the feeding is good)...

That's what I expected... apparently Lady Longfin disagrees. There are no other suspects -- she was the only female Ancistrus of any sort in the tank.

Pity, since I was counting on her inability to spawn again right away to give the male a rest, which he surely needs by now!

Lucky you to be able to get that long fin Ancistrus, there ain't a chance to buy it in here (Serbia). I would pay a lot (three digits $) for 4-5 young ones. What is the exporting low for live fish in your country? Where did you get yours? What was the price?

I had no idea I was lucky at the time... I think they are not that uncommon in the U.S. but must admit, I haven't seen any others since. We got her from an aquarium society auction last year, as a very young fish -- maybe an inch long, not counting the fins.

Bit of a test case actually, my husband loves long fins but I wasn't sure if such were a good idea on a pleco. And when she was tiny, the fins looked VERY out of proportion. But I agreed to give her a try and let her show us whether she could be as active, easy to keep, and healthy as the normal-finned albinos we got at the same auction.

She has grown into her finnage to some extent, and as far as I'm concerned she's proven her point.

Pity about that ocean in between my country and yours. I'd be pleased to share some albino X longfin youngsters otherwise. Aren't there some in Germany or even England? Still a bit of a journey, but much more possible!