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Bristlenose breeding didn't happen?
Posted: 03 Apr 2011, 23:42
by betta blue
Hi! Been awhile since I posted here. I put a female albino bristlenose(no whiskers) with a normal male bristlenose (whiskers). It's been close to a year and no babies. I do weekly waterchanges. Am I sucking up the eggs? Is there a chance that an albino bristlenose without whiskers could be a male or that a normal bristlenose with whiskers could be female? I thought breeding these two would be easy? and actually wanted some of their offspring for some of my other tanks. The common plec and the albino chocolate plec are in the bigger tanks but I love the bristlenoses cause they are small enough to take care of my smaller tanks. Is there something more I should know about breeding bristlenoses or am I doing something wrong. Thanks.
Shar
Re: Bristlenose breeding didn't happen?
Posted: 04 Apr 2011, 00:51
by Taratron
Do you have caves in for the male? What else is in the tank?
Re: Bristlenose breeding didn't happen?
Posted: 04 Apr 2011, 01:28
by Suckermouth
Taratron wrote:Do you have caves in for the male? What else is in the tank?
Indeed. Bristlenoses are cave spawners, so require some form of tight space that they can shove themselves into. There is no way to suck up the eggs when doing a gravel siphon since the eggs will be laid in a cave.
Furthermore, other fish can eat bristlenose eggs, even with the male protecting them.
Re: Bristlenose breeding didn't happen?
Posted: 04 Apr 2011, 07:44
by betta blue
Thank you for your quick replies. There are no other fish in their tank. I have a castle ornament that has a tunnel through it. The albino lives a lot in that tunnel. I'm loosing track but they were one of my first fish...think that was 4 to 5 years ago. Are they too old to reproduce?
Thx,
Shar
Re: Bristlenose breeding didn't happen?
Posted: 04 Apr 2011, 08:22
by MatsP
Shouldn't be too old, my female is about 7 years old and spawn a couple of months ago.
The cave needs to be a proper cave in the sense that it's got one entrance, and is a "dead end" - a tunnel is not what they look for in a cave. The cave also should be tight enough that the male can trap the female in there - and contrary to popular believe, the male doesn't have to fit in there at the same time. A piece of 1.25"/32mm or 1.5"/40mm plastic (water/waste) pipe with an end-cap fitted will do absolutely fine. A drilled out piece of wood or pieces of slate in a rectangular shape also works.
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Mats