PlanetCatfish.com

Hi everyone. I'm new here as I just registered today but I have been reading the forums here for monthes. Just a quick question here. I have a 20 gallon tank with a pair of Albino Bushynose plecos and than I have a 29 gallon tank with a trio of Bushynose plecos. I have been feeding them heavy and changed the water with part R.O. water and tap water to trigger them and sure enough I triggered them both in the same week. This is my first time breeding anykind of catfish(I have done cichlids of all sorts before). Ok heres my question....in the 29 gallon tank the male has done a tremondous job of keeping all the babies in the cave with them but in the 20 gallon tank all the babies are out and sucking onto the glass at the top of the tank...right where the water is moving fast from the airwalls I have in there. So is this normal? The ones in the 20 gallon that have exited their cave look a little bit smaller than the ones in the 29 that are still in the cave. Will I lose some of these babies that have exited their cave? Should I go about moving them to a small 10 gallon tank?...or just let them ride that oxygen rich current that they all seem to like. Ok my one question turned into alot of questions...sorry all. One last one and I will leave you all alone for a bit...I read by Mats and Jools that you can coat fish food onto a rock using an egg paste and that the babies will eat it? Anyone have luck with this? Is it better than zucchini? Thanks again all and I can't wait to start posting with you peeps.

Yeah, it's normal. The larvae will migrate to where the strongest current is. In my aquarium the newly hatched ancistrus tend to gather where my 1500L/h pump hits the glass. I guess they like the movement & the oxygen.

The egg-trick & zucchini are not mutually exclusive. Use both. Give the young ancistrus as much food as you can without ruining the water quality.

I have only ever had 1 spawning of bn's.So I am just a novice too. My baby bn's are also all hovering around the waterline where the current is strongest.I wonder if this is because the current is associated with the movement of food? I also use zucchini for food as well as shelled peas. But I must say I like the sound of the egg white & fish food mixture painted on rock,I am going to give it a try myself.I will let you know how well it goes. To keep the water at its best I try to do 25% changes daily if time permits. On ocassion I end up skipping the odd day I hope this is sufficient.

Hi thanks for asking these questions I am in the same position. Have been going crazy counting heads to see if this was causing any problems also it appears I may have lost eggs in third tank, eggs have come out of cave and are sitting on tank bottom

Have been reading this forum for a couple of months now and have leant so must but still know so little

Alan

Frydaddy- mine do that also. I think as long as there are some fry down close to the bottom or on the sides of the tank going about their business(eating) then I wouldn't think there is a problem. If all of them were up at the top or scooting out of the water then I would do a water change to make sure all is well. I do 50% water changes everyday anyway so rarely have a water quality problem
MrT. my L45's kicked eggs out also so I scooped them up in a net and hung the net in the water current. They hatched and went fre swimming just fine. You might could see if that will work for you.
Carol

hi butterfly thanks all is fine plus eggs that were kicked out I just left seeing they had been out for 2 days hatched as well but will use your method next time.
Nearly vaccuumed them up a couple of times

Alan

Thanks all for letting me know my fish weren't acting weird. I added a post today about having luck with growing out these little fellows. I moved many out of the original tanks and into others and I also left some in the original tanks and have expeirenced quite a growth difference depending on how I set the tank up. All tanks have been fed the same and get the same water changes. I was wondering what are the optimal conditions to grow these guys. I'll try to add photos to the other post tommorrow of the size difference. Thanks again everyone and good luck.