Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Species => Catfish => Topic started by: Littlefish on April 16, 2017, 10:36:34 PM

Title: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 16, 2017, 10:36:34 PM
To celebrate Easter Harri and Bertie have decided to provide some eggs of their own.
I've had a quick rummage around the internet for some information, and I was hoping that you guys could offer some advice.
Harri is the standard bristlenose (dark with light markings), and Bertie is yellow (not albino). What colour are the offspring likely to be?
As they share a tank with lemon and black neon tetras I'm guessing that I will not end up with any fry if I let nature take its course. I've read about removing the wood with the eggs attached, and transferring it into a smaller tank (along with some tank water) to hatch the eggs. Does anyone have any experience of doing this? Any handy hints?
I've got a few days to decide what to do, and any advice will be appreciated.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 17, 2017, 09:14:30 AM
Bertie is guarding the eggs. I'd feel bad about disturbing him to remove the wood if I was going to try to hatch all the eggs in another tank. Would it be better to just leave things as they are, perhaps add some more plants, maybe some floating plants for the fry to hide in and just keep my fingers crossed?
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: MarquisMirage on April 17, 2017, 11:56:17 AM
Exciting times. :)  Some more plants will help fry hide.  If you do decide to move the eggs to another tank take the parents along as from what I've read the male will usually sit on them.

They will breed again.  If you want to raise a brood you can look at doing it in a separate tank later and leave these ones for now?

As for colour I'd assume genetic principles would apply.  Without knowing the parents genetic backgrounds it'd be impossible to make an accurate prediction especially if the yellow and standard are different species.  Skin colour usually mixes using Mendel squares.  So you can possibly make a hopeful prediction that the fry will end up predominantly lighter standards with pale yellow markings.  Then possibly some dark orange ones with the markings.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 17, 2017, 04:41:16 PM
I'm going to leave the eggs and parents in the tank.
Bertie looks so cute guarding the eggs I couldn't bring myself to disturb him. The eggs are also a lot bigger than I expected, and the tetras are still quite small, so I think the eggs are quite safe for now. The tank does have quite a few plants, lots of wood, a few small rocks, and a large catappa leaf on the floor, so there are quite a few places for little ones to hide. Perhaps a few floating plants and maybe another catappa leaf or two will give them enough places for at least a few offspring to survive, as I would be interested to see what colour patterns arise.  :)
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: fcmf on April 17, 2017, 08:44:48 PM
Very exciting development indeed! I think you've made a wise choice, at least this time round. Fingers crossed for a successful outcome.
 :fishy1:
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 20, 2017, 07:25:23 PM
Bertie is still guarding the eggs and fanning fresh water over them.  :)
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: MarquisMirage on April 20, 2017, 07:39:48 PM
Yay!  Just out of curiosity what pH is your water at?
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 20, 2017, 07:50:00 PM
Currently at 7.8, which isn't ideal as I'm sure they could do with it being a bit lower. There's plenty of wood and catappa leaves in the tank, but my basic water conditions don't seem to take any notice.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 21, 2017, 06:36:30 PM
All the eggs have gone.  ???
Bertie was still guarding the nest area, but when he moved to get some food I couldn't see anything in the nest. Could he have eaten all the eggs? Could they have all hatched on the same day? And digested the egg sacs since 10.30 last night?
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: MarquisMirage on April 21, 2017, 06:40:34 PM
No idea, did you have a good look around for tiny fishies?
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 21, 2017, 07:14:50 PM
Can't see anything lot of plants, wood, leaf litter, etc. in the tank.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 21, 2017, 08:33:52 PM
Bertie seems to have abandoned the nest, so I'm guessing things may not have gone well.
Oh dear.
Still, Harri and Bertie are young, and it was their first time.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: MarquisMirage on April 21, 2017, 09:05:23 PM
At least you know they're willing and ready.  :)  A spare 60 l would probably be enough to breed them alone.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 21, 2017, 09:22:25 PM
Perhaps it's all for the best.
Nature is a weird and wonderful thing, even when it seems as if it makes no sense.
Perhaps Bertie was saving me the bother of a tank full of babies.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 22, 2017, 08:05:01 AM
I think it's possible that I'm a complete doofus.  :-[
I don't have any objective evidence for this, but my theory is that Bertie ate the eggs because I turned the tank lights on and frightened him. That tank doesn't have a dimmer on the lights as they are quite bright fluorescent tubes. Both Bertie and Harri tend to scoot off under the wood pile when the lights go on, and this hasn't really been a huge issue before because they come back out after about 15 minutes. Unfortunately the eggs were laid in a hollow on the front of a piece of wood, around half way up. This meant it was closer to the lights, and further away from the heaviest planting.
When I'm absolutely sure there are no survivors from the eggs I think I'll need to put more wood in the tank, perhaps a small terracotta pot or something, and get another set of lights in there that can be dimmed, so the dim lights can come on before the main tank lights.
I guess we live and learn.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Sue on April 22, 2017, 10:23:02 AM
I use a small blue LED strip on a separate timer from the main lights to get round this problem. Being small it is not very bright. It is set to turn on half an hour before the main lights and turn off 10 min after they come on; then switch on again 10 mins before the main lights go out and turn off half an hour after the main lights.
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: Littlefish on April 22, 2017, 12:53:11 PM
Blue lights on a timer sound like a good idea for this tank. Thanks @Sue, I'll get some and sort the tank out.  :)
Title: Re: Bristlenose plec breeding
Post by: fcmf on April 22, 2017, 05:34:39 PM
Fingers crossed for second time lucky!
 :fishy1: