First time pleco fry

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Sodakksam

Exodon
MFK Member
Nov 10, 2020
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My son bought 2 bristlenose pleco’s 3 weeks ago. We thought it was a male and female. He bought a long cave-like pleco breeding tube. Within a week the male was in there. He stayed there round the clock for over 2 weeks. This morning he left his post. My son dumped the cave into a separate divider for the babies. He had 4 left. I imagine the other community tank fish—mollies, angelfish, and tetras— gobbled the others up. If the 4 make it, that’s probably about the right number for now .If we wanted more in the future, what should we do differently. Sorry if this is a repeat topic. Thanks
 
Congrats!
No way you could save them all, just the way fish are.
It’s probably easier to have 4 plecos instead of 400.
 
My breeders are in a community tank. I watch for the male leaving or try shining a flashlight down into his cave to check fry growth progress. you can transfer once the egg yoke is consumed. I just transferred around 50 fry from the cave to a grow tank.
 
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They are it again. The male has 3/4 of his body headfirst in the cave again. Last time we waited too long. He left after at least 10 days. We nabbed 4 of the fry. We put them in a guppy breeding trap in the tank. They squeezed through the edges and the angelfish sat underneath and picked them off. Now we have a 10 gallon tank from deep in the basement that’s been set up with a sponge filter and a couple Java fern. It’s been set up for about 2 weeks. How long should we wait to try to make a move? I think the eggs were laid in the last day or two. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks
 
They are it again. The male has 3/4 of his body headfirst in the cave again. Last time we waited too long. He left after at least 10 days. We nabbed 4 of the fry. We put them in a guppy breeding trap in the tank. They squeezed through the edges and the angelfish sat underneath and picked them off. Now we have a 10 gallon tank from deep in the basement that’s been set up with a sponge filter and a couple Java fern. It’s been set up for about 2 weeks. How long should we wait to try to make a move? I think the eggs were laid in the last day or two. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks

Niki_up Niki_up
 
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They are it again. The male has 3/4 of his body headfirst in the cave again. Last time we waited too long. He left after at least 10 days. We nabbed 4 of the fry. We put them in a guppy breeding trap in the tank. They squeezed through the edges and the angelfish sat underneath and picked them off. Now we have a 10 gallon tank from deep in the basement that’s been set up with a sponge filter and a couple Java fern. It’s been set up for about 2 weeks. How long should we wait to try to make a move? I think the eggs were laid in the last day or two. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks
Thank you tlindsey tlindsey for the tag

I have had my bn plecos breed for me about 6-7 times now. I lost a few batches but believe I now found something that works for me.

I let my breeding pair breed in the guppy or angelfish community tank and after the male has been sitting on his eggs for 3-4 days I move his cave into my 10g tank fry raising tank before the eggs hatch. I leave the male in with the fry for a week or more after the eggs hatch. Then I move the male back into his respective community tank where he will then be fed lots of great foods in preparation for his next breeding. Please do note all my tanks and very similar in water parameters and the temperatures are very close. I do not anything special. Just tip his cave upright and move him and his eggs over. Take care if the cave isn’t completely full with water it will create a backwards vacuum when added into the new tank and potentially pull the eggs out.

ive only had a chance to do this twice and both times worked perfect for me.
 
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