Stop Ancistrus from hiding behind filter (have caves)

[Nailroth]

Hi i have a question to you more experienced catfish keepers on how to keep my albino ancistrus male from hiding behind the filter all the time. I have an approximately 100 gallon tank that i keep fry in or am, sold my old fish and redid the tank for fry. I want some ancistrus in it to get some fry off. Right now there are 2 adult albino in the tank male+female that have spawned once but nothing came from it, i have a 7 month old male that ill be adding as well and ill keep 6-8 of the 72 fry i currently have that i got when they were 1 month old and hope to get at least 4 females of that, hopefully more and add those in as well.

Now when i redid the tank i added a new substrate in form of sand instead of gravel and built 2 caves that are burried with a small opening so they can access it, and a few pots scattered around the tank for even more hiding places for them to spawn. The albino male keeps hiding behind the filter and i would like him to stop since the female can't spawn behind that, the eggs will just be sucked up. Is there a good way to get him to stop hiding there and move to another safe place like the ones i built and put in for him? It's not that i don't want him hiding i don't care about that i just want him in a place where the female can come and spawn so i can get some fry in the future.

Right now im trying to scare him into thinking the filter is a dangerous area by chasing him away with my hands and such but he just keeps returning after a few hours and keeps sitting there, the female is the opposite she can't even slow down it seems she hasn't even checked the whole tank out yet always seems to find new places and is eager to explore, she always comes flying to the front glass when i arrive to look into the tank like most other fish when they think food is coming very amusing to watch her.

The tank is just a few days old but for about 6 month that i have had him he never left the filter in the other tank more then to eat for a few minutes when i dropped waffers into the tank.
I don't expect the pair to spawn this year since the tank is quite crowded with 150 fish in it, just 2 adult fish though rest are just fry that will be leaving by the end of December and late January.

[Syno12]

What does your other Ancistrus female prefer? I'd add more of her favorite hiding places throughout the tank, and add some shading plants, such as Echinodorus. May I also recommend a bunch of rock work, and if possible, place a background so that the filter is blocked, but the flow still goes out into the tank, or even a canister filter or two, then there would be not hiding places beside the pots, caves, wood or rocks, etc. for the male to hide behind or in.

[Suckermouth]

What do you mean, behind the filter? What kind of filter is this? Do you just mean behind the intake tube on a power filter?

If you mean behind the intake tube, that's somewhat odd. Usually plecs don't go to the back of the filter as their ideal spot if there are other better hiding spots available. Either the hiding spots you've provided are not very nice, or he's just a real oddball.

I'll have to agree with Syno that the simplest way is probably just to block the area behind the filter if possible.

[Nailroth]

I use a Fluval u3 filter in my tanks, i would like to hide the filter but it's quite expensive to get a background to cower it, i think ill keep trying to make him so scared for the area around the filter he won't even dare to come close to it again.

I have tons of hiding spots in my tank since it's a fry/grow out tank, i nearly can't see into the tank because of all the plants and rocks, i put a lot of hiding spots for small fry so i can put them in there as soon as they can eat for them self.

I have 2 underground caves that i built for my ancistrus one for each male i was going to have in there then i put down 3 pots 3 days ago to see if the caves was just not good enough for my male ;D

[Suckermouth]

How small are the caves you have provided for the male? He'll like something that's quite tight, but of course he also likes flow, which may explain being near the filter. Ancistrus usually aren't so picky but if the caves you have provided are not tight fits then he won't like them at all.

I guess this should go without saying since you have already bred them before...

[Nailroth]

I have never really bred them it just happened once about 2 weeks after i bought the albino pair, the caves are small but not really tight fit but they were not sealed good so it got in tons of sand so if he wants it tight he can have it if not he will have to move the sand.

My uncle said they breed easily in pots as he have "bred" them in pots for a few years my 7 month old and my 72 fry i have i got from him, the small fry i got since he retired a tank were he had a pair and they spawned and he already had tons of fry and nowhere to put the new ones. ill have to see what happens, i got spawning places for the pair i just have to force the male to take one of those as his and leave the filter alone ;D

When they bred the one time it was behind some stone plates i put in for my angle fish to breed on and there it was a tight squeze for him to get into.

Thanks for all the help ill see what happens in a few weeks hopefully that stubborn male will fall to my stubborness,
Excuse all the wrong spelling and grammar i have done during this thread hopefully you understood it all.