PlanetCatfish.com

Hey, I am from Australia and am getting a pair of these guys. They are very uncommon here, so I was wandering if they have proved to be not as hardy, or harder to raise than fry, or harder to breed or anything out of the norm in America. Thanks people

I have 1 and it is very hardy. From what I understand, they are pretty easy to breed. Where I live, we are just now getting a few at the local stores; howver, in other areas, they are very common. I would imagine that in Australia, they are very rare....you could make a small fortune breeding them

I have three that I've raised since they were babies and they all seem to be fine. I haven't experienced anything odd with them, except for their color. I really like them and I'll be breeding them as soon as they are old enough. I really like them. I hope you have the same success!

dare i ask, where are you getting them from? Which state?

nim
(an Adelaide-based bristlenose devotee)

Im sure Barbie will correct me if Im wrong.

The ones Ive lost are do to stress or really bad water conditions than anything, but otherwise I have found them to be hardy.

12 of the 13 I have are from I think the same parents and are growing fast in a 55 all by themselves. Im pretty sure I have 1 mature male Im waiting on a mature female. I dont know about fry but some of mine came really small, gave them romain lettuce and pellets, ask me tomorow what they are, and theyve grown great.

I cant believe Barbie hasnt given her great knowlege of breeding these little buggers.

Hi!

I have a trio of these at home, 1 male and 2 females, they spawn about every month.
THey are quite fast grower. I keep them in a neutral tap water , a lot of current and a T° of around 28°c (80°F) The eggs hatch in 6-7 days. Really hardy little ones for sure!

Cheers
Yann

I also breed albino bushynose plecos, and the one thing I would recommend over anything else is keep both the parents and the babies very well fed. I use a spirulina algae based wafer as my main food, the babies grow like weeds on it. Most people starve their plecos, assuming they find all they need in a fish tank, they don't!
The females will get plump with eggs and breed pretty much every two weeks if you feed them something with high protein and fat along with the spirulina algae wafers. I use frozen bloodworms. My pair produce an average of 60 new babies every spawn, I have hundreds here now, LOL! They also love raw zuchinni, and I feed it as well. However, they do not grow nearly as well on a diet lacking the algae wafers, so keep the nutrition high!
The other critical thing with the babies is water quality, they do not handle poor water. Lots of water changes and good filtration on the baby tanks, keep the nitrate down (and obviously a good bio filter to keep the ammonia/nitrates at 0). If you skimp on water changes, you will get dead babies.
Other than that, a little cave for dad is all you need! I keep my breeders at about 80 degrees, and when mom lays her eggs, I take both cave and papa out (he won't swim away, he will stay with the eggs, LOL) and I put the cave/dad in a 10 gallon. When the fry are swimming and eating on their own (couple weeks) I put dad and cave back in with mom, she usually gives him some more eggs within 48 hours (Poor guy!!).
I love these fish, and the number they do on algae is incredible! Never seen any other fish do a better job.
Fishes