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I just started playing with plecos about 6 monthes ago and and have a few pairs of Bushynoses breeding currently. I have taken most of the babies out of the tanks and putting them in 10 gallon and 20 gallon tanks to grown them out. I have noticed a severe growth difference in some and was wondering what the most critical things to do when setting up a grow out tank for these guys. I am feeding all the tanks the same and changing 20 percent of the water in all the tanks twice a day. I fed baby brine and smashed food particles until they were moving about the tank more freely and then I started with zucchini, cucumber and collard greens which they all seem to love. Ok so I took 8-10 and put them into a 10 gallon tank with an algae covered tower for them to eat on and a really strong "air wall" along with a small bio-wheel filter. These guys have gotten the largest in the 3 weeks I have had them. I also put 8-10 into a 10 gallon tank with a smaller algae covered item and instead of an "airwall" I used a couple airstones on a splitter. They have alot less current and less algae to eat but the haven't ate it all yet and the ones in with the tower and "airwall" have cleaned their item clean of algae and are about roughly 1/3 the size or more bigger than the ones in the 10 gallon tank with "airstones". Is it because of the thicker air current?...maybe because of the more oxygenated water?...or was it just the algae tower? I have a couple different 10 and 20 gallon tanks setup with each some babies in them and they are all setup a lil different so I can find if theres a factor that helps them grow faster. Some with driftwood, some without. I put a powerhead in a couple to see if taht helps. Anyways, does anyone have some clues or maybe you have done this already and could just tell me what the most important things are. Would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.

I guess I should have added a ? to the end of the title instead of it now looking like a statement...sorry everyone.

IMO clean water is primary. Seems you have that covered in twice daily 20% WCs. After that, temp, food and O2 levels. I also think that ancistrus fry grow faster if you give them a meatier diet than is called for in adults. I add a small shrimp or scallop once or twice a week, always followed by a WC the next day.

Don

One other factor I have noted is that you have to constantly move the most dominant fry to another tank. There are always 4-5 fry in every batch that seem to grow much faster than their siblings. If these fry are pulled out, 4-5 other fry will take their place and grow more quickly. If the dominant fry are removed in a timely matter, all the fry will grow at about the same rate instead of ending up with a handful of huge fry and lots of much smaller brothers and sisters.
-Shane

Thanks Shane and Fish Soup. When I have been moving the babies i=I generally do try to move the bigger ones but sometimes it just turns into the first 10 I can catch. About that shrimp or Scallop Fish Soup....do you do anything pre-feeding to prepare it? Deshell it I am guessing. How long do you leave it in there? What are some of the vegetables you have had the best luck with? Thanks everyone.

It's best to feed several different kinds of vegetables (etc) as they contain different amounts of nutrients. Mine happily eat courgette (zucchini), sweet potato, potato, broccolli-stem, sugar-snap peas, beans, melon, squash. When they are small, you need to cook the vegetables just a little bit to make them a little bit softer to chew.

Algae wafers are good too, although in itself is a bit of a misnomer, as the major ingredient is fish-meal [at least the ones I've looked at].

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Mats