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Hi. my ancistrus male has been in his cave nearly a month now and never left. This is the second time my ancistrus has spawned. i currently have about 30-40 fry in another tank growing. The first batch of fry was hatched the 3rd of january and left the cave about a week later.
I know there were fry in the tank as i saw a tiny one about 3 weeks ago. Couldn't been more then a week old.
Should i intervene and try to get him out as he has not left for nearly a month now. the fry should be out of the cave by this time so there has to be a problem with the "fry"/"egg". I know the male is not stuck every now and then you can see him just outside the entrence or have his tail instead of head poking out.

He has probably spawned with another female before the first batch was ready to leave. I'd leave him be. I had one male do the same thing. thought I'd lost him, didn't see him for several weeks. He emerged however around the same time the first fry started to turn up. Had lost some girth though

That would be an option if it wasn't impossible. I currently only have 1 adult female in the tank. and the fry if there is any are far to young to be mature as they would only be a month old.

They come out at night when you are not around........ even when they have fry in the cave they come out a little. I've had plecs that "never" left the cave for months...... so I checked after lights out and they do come out to eat but always stay very close to the cave when they have fry.

HTH
Chuck

Nailroth wrote: ↑10 Mar 2017, 05:02 That would be an option if it wasn't impossible. I currently only have 1 adult female in the tank. and the fry if there is any are far to young to be mature as they would only be a month old.

In my experience with albino BNs, the same female Ancistrus can spawn with the same male every 19 days.

You might eventually need a bigger grow-out tank for fry.

Cheers, Eric