# Bristlenose Breeding



## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Hi,
I am very much a hobby keeper and have a 3' community tank set up.
It contains 10 glowlight tetra, 8 leopard corydoras and a pair of Bristlenoses, it has a selection of live plants along with the obligortary snails.
My male bristlenose has disappeared in his cave for about 5 days now, I can only assume they have spawned.
My question is: how safe will the fry be, if I am correct in thinking my Bristlenoses have spawned.
My corydoras spawned last year but being in a community tank these did not survive long as the tetras had great delight in feasting on the eggs.
Will the same result be likely with the bristlenose eggs?
Thanks in advance


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

The male Bristlenose will protect them and keep them inside the cave until there big enough, mine have successfully bred in my community tank which contains lots of tetras, gouramis and corys


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the reply, I will hope to see some little bristlenoses at some point.


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## BigB (Jun 23, 2012)

Hi Bamboo, I have never had Bristlenose's breed in acidic water, I have had luck with them in a Malawi set-up though. As J said the males will protect them from any harm. If they can stop melanochromis auratus, I wouldnt be to worried about glowlights :2thumb:

Cheers Brian


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Hi Brian,
Thanks for the reassurance regards my possible fry. 
With regards to my water, the pH of my water is usually 6.8, so not very acidic.
I had no intentions on breeding any of my fish, my tank is for 'viewing' but as I have now had both my corydoras and my bristlenose spawn I can't be going far wrong with my water parameters.


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## BigB (Jun 23, 2012)

Hi Bamboo, 
No problem. Yeah your water parameters are fine. If you've had two species breed in your tank you must be doing a grand job:2thumb:


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

I am quite pleased that my fish have spawned, it does tell me that conditions are ok in my tank.
I will however now have a huge challenge on my hands when the fry eventually venture out into the 'open' tank from their cave - I will need to catch them as my tank is already at capacity


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

Just let them grow up in the tank and once there a good size you can sell them on


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## FelixM (Jun 26, 2012)

Basically, what will happen is the father will look after them for two weeks and fan them and make sure they feed and then they will emerge from the cave and appear to be perfect miniature replicas of dad. The fry are rather crunchy and nothing in your tank will be able to fit them in their mouths or want to eat them. Feed them on algae wafers, courgette, cucumber etc and they should reach about 1-1.5 inches within the first two months. Be aware that once they start breeding they continue like clockwork and the parents may become jaded and need resting and you will also need to find a suitable home for the fry. Good luck! I currently have about one hundred fry being guarded by one of my males in my calico breeding group and a small bunch (10 maybe) from one of my pairs of normals. Great little fish and breed very readily!


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Great news - I have fry venturing out and about.
Just curious - both parents are brown in colour but I have spotted several albino fry.
Thanks everyone for your answers to my initial question, so pleased to have fry.
@FelixM, I have a small 2' tank I can move one of the parents to so that they can rest and regards fry, my sister knows someone who runs a petshop which sells tropical fish so I can hopefully trade them for food


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## scottishsany (Nov 5, 2009)

*fish*

great news remember pics:2thumb:


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Might be that both parentswere out of a normal x albino pairing which, although they are normals, they would both be hetrozygous for the albino genetics. If im thinking right... that would mean that 25% of babies would be albino in your clutch (though thats not taking into account eggs that may not have hatched etc).


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

I have no idea regards parents - purchased from an aquatic shop.
My community tank is planted and the babies are quite hard to spot, let alone get photos of with my 'basic' digital camera.
I will have 'fun' when I try to catch them to move them.
Thanks every one for your replies to my questions.


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## FelixM (Jun 26, 2012)

I just had my calico BNs breed again and I just managed to get out the tank from the loft, fill it, put in filter, heater, sand, small piece of wood and the cave with dad and the eggs in ten mins. Hopefully my dad will follow my instructions and not kill them off! Good luck with your BNs! A good way to catch them is to get a very small dish, put some slate on top leaving a gap that only the babies can get through and put some algae wafers and cucumber or something like that in and then scoop the whole lot into a net and place in the next tank. Leave the dish for a couple of days though. How big is your current tank BTW? and what are the other fish?


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

@ FelixM, congratulations on your calico bristlenoses breeding again and thanks on the tips for 'catching' my babies. 
My current tank is 36"x 12"x15" and has 10 glowlight tetra, 8 corydoras cat fish and the pair of bristlenoses


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## FelixM (Jun 26, 2012)

JustBamboo said:


> @ FelixM, congratulations on your calico bristlenoses breeding again and thanks on the tips for 'catching' my babies.
> My current tank is 36"x 12"x15" and has 10 glowlight tetra, 8 corydoras cat fish and the pair of bristlenoses


You can grow them up in that tank if you don't have another tank to hand as the babies are large enough not to be eaten by the glowlights once released by dad. The cories will never be a problem. I found that when I tried to raise the first batch in my jewel rio 125l tank which was nicely planted with lots of wood and some cories and baby bolivian rams and rummy noses I caouldn't find any and still don't know if any survived. ATM I am raising them in a 60l plain tank to help keep tabs on them. I think this would be preferable in your situation. I can post pics of my tanks on monday and of the eggs, cave, newborn and two week fry.


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Thanks FelixM
I have a 24" tank set up and empty of inhabitants which I can transfer the babies to.
I will probably get a proper cave for the parents, they used a half flower pot this time so no way of lifting dad and eggs out to a different tank.
Thanks for your advice


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## FelixM (Jun 26, 2012)

By the way, all BN fry are white when they hatch and don't go brown or black until they are about 2 weeks after hatching. Could this have been the reason for your fry?


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

FelixM said:


> By the way, all BN fry are white when they hatch and don't go brown or black until they are about 2 weeks after hatching. Could this have been the reason for your fry?


Some of my fry are still albino/white in colour so I can assume they will stay this way - but thanks for the info regards the fact that all fry are white when they first hatch.


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## SwampK (Aug 7, 2012)

JustBamboo said:


> Great news - I have fry venturing out and about.
> Just curious - both parents are brown in colour but I have spotted several albino fry.
> Thanks everyone for your answers to my initial question, so pleased to have fry.
> @FelixM, I have a small 2' tank I can move one of the parents to so that they can rest and regards fry, my sister knows someone who runs a petshop which sells tropical fish so I can hopefully trade them for food


pics please? :whistling2:


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

Here's a few pics of mine, there's about 18 bn of various ages in this tank living with guppys and panda corys, but there must be hundreds of them in my main tank the parents just don't stop breeding


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## SwampK (Aug 7, 2012)

JasonR said:


> Here's a few pics of mine, there's about 18 bn of various ages in this tank living with guppys and panda corys, but there must be hundreds of them in my main tank the parents just don't stop breeding
> image
> image
> image
> ...


awww, they're so cute-in a sucker-mouthed, bristle-nosed catfishy kind of way!


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

I'm having problems trying to get photos of my babies - I only have a basic point and shoot digital camera.
Any tips on taking photos through glass to get photos?
I don't get enough light and get so much 'glare' with the flash


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## JustBamboo (Apr 7, 2012)

Ok here goes, took a few photos, they are not brilliant but do show some of the babies.

































The albino photos are not very clear - they insist on sitting on the cucumber so they can't be seen.


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

I think the main thing is to make sure the room is dark to try and avoid reflections, all my photos are just using my iPhone so pretty basic tbh


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