# Pleco Breeding / What am I doing wrong?



## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

I have a pair of Albino LF bristle nose plecos (M&F)
The male is about 6" long and the female is about 4.5" long.
I have them in a 10 gallon aquarium with 2 nice pleco caves (1 is deeper then the other), a gravel bottom and a nice piece of drift wood with java moss on it.
I have a small Aqua clear filter running as well as a small sponge filter. 
I have a heater in the tank at about 78ºF
I do a 33% water change weekly with slightly cooler water.
I feed them high quality veggie tabs and mix it up with the odd cucumber slice, blanched peas or 1/2 a brussel sprout.
I have a couple Apple snails in the aquarium with a few fancy guppies just to make it look "active".
What am I doing wrong?? These 2 plecos don't even look at each other?
The female stays under the wood and the male stays in a cave.
He does venture out once in awhile, but when I walk up to the aquarium he scurries back in a cave.
Could one be gay? 
Any help in getting these two to tango would be greatly appreciated.


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## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

The could one be gay had me LOL. I'd try adding a few females extra. A larger tank wouldnt hurt either. Try cooler water during water changes, i've heard that helps spur breeding. I've bred BNP lots but i almost had to fight them off of eachother it was so often


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

I have found if you leave the lights off or only on for a couple of hours a day, no water changes for two weeks, only feed every second or third day and only a small amount. When you do a water change use cooler water then feed normally as before. Try to do the water change one or two days before a low pressure system is about to hit the area. Good luck, sooner or later they get the message.


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Unless your room is under 70 degrees pull the plug on the heater. Take out the apple snails as they compete for food. Bushynose are grazers and should have food at all times. A feeding of frozen brine shrimp a couple of times a week helps the female fill with eggs. Hold your water change until you know that it will rain or snow the next day and give a 50% change straight from the tap.

I feed frozen Brussel Sprouts and blanched snow peas.


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## brycon (Aug 5, 2014)

How big is the pleco cave? When my plecos were breeding, I found the male preferred the cave that he just barely fit in.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Thanks Guys!
I appreciate your input.
The pleco cave that he mostly stays in is about 6" long. Only a bit of his tail fin sticks out. The other one is longer. He goes in it, but not for long periods of time.
I have pulled the heater off the aquarium, taken out the apple snails, turned the light off and fed them some Mysis shrimp.
I hear it's supposed to snow Wednesday. Maybe I'll try a cool water change tonight and see if they get a twinkle in there eyes?


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

How long have you had the Pleco's? The female might still be a bit young.

As for the male, six inches might be a bit long for a bushy nose. Are you sure they are the same species?

Lee


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Lee_D said:


> How long have you had the Pleco's? The female might still be a bit young.
> 
> As for the male, six inches might be a bit long for a bushy nose. Are you sure they are the same species?
> 
> Lee


I have male bushynose that are well over 6 inches. Some long fins reach 9.
It can depend on the strain and how well you feed them.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

I'll try and get pics of them, but there pretty skidish every time I come near the tank.
I'm 99.9% positive there LF BN albino plecos though.


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

I bought a pair of Bwhiskered's Super Red Long fins at the Octoberfish auction in the fall. They laid thier first clutch of eggs on Friday in a 55 gallon tank. On Sunday I noticed little black specs in some of the eggs so I moved them into a 120 gallon that had a couple of shrimp in it. I now count six little pleco's with huge stomachs stuck to the glass. If they get to be 9 inches I'm going to need some bigger tanks.... 

Lee


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Good to hear people are getting spawnings from my strain. I have only heard of one small shipment from Europe coming into the USA. American breeders used the wrong combination in trying to develop their own strains of Long Fin Super Reds.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

OK...looks like it's going to snow tomorrow. Do you think I should do a 50% water change tonight and see what happens??


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Here's a _*quick*_ pic of the Male (he came out of the cave!!)


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Nice fish. He should spawn soon if the female is fat.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Thanks guys....I took your advise and did most of the things you said to do.
Well..... a couple days ago I noticed in the morning that the female was beat up pretty good and the male had "fanned" a spot just in front of his cave down to the bare bottom glass of the aquarium.
Great!! They must have mated!!!
Now, this morning I looked and there is a mass of jelly & eggs sitting in front of the males cave.
Looks like he kicked them out??? 
Why? 

*This is the female.* *Notice the missing tail fins*.










*This is the male. See the eggs left of his tail fin.*


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

I'm going out on a limb here. 
I netted the eggs and put them in an egg tumbler.
None are grey yet...actually there pretty yellow/orange still!
I'll see what happens in the next couple days I guess.


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

I usually try and put the eggs back. I just had a spawn that I put back twice a day until they finally hatched and the fry could hold on. A tumbler is rather small is not necessary as I usually use a gallon jar with an air stone and a drop of acriflavine. Females sometimes get roughed up.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Bwhiskered said:


> I usually try and put the eggs back. I just had a spawn that I put back twice a day until they finally hatched and the fry could hold on. A tumbler is rather small is not necessary as I usually use a gallon jar with an air stone and a drop of acriflavine. Females sometimes get roughed up.


Thanks for your help Charlie. I'll give it a shot.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Unfortunately...Putting the eggs back never worked. 
They went all fuzzy. 
Well, at least I know they can do the dance!!
On the other hand, I just did a water change in my L144 aquarium and I saw 30 or more little plecos stuck all around!!! (no egg sacks...so they've been there awhile?)
Now to keep them alive....


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Sometimes they get kicked out for a reason. Often a first spawning is not good.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

How soon do you figure they will "re-spawn"?


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Once they start they can spawn every 4 to 6 weeks. Feed them some frozen brine shrimp as it helps the female fill with spawn quicker.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Frozen brine shrimp it is Charlie!! (everyday....??)
Any good tips for keeping the BN Pleco fry survival rate up?


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

Have food available to the fry at all times. They love snow peas that are boiled for 5 minutes and then frozen on a plastic sheet on a tray. They can then be thawed as you need them and will split in half so they can get at the soft inside. Kale can be frozen then a piece is thawed and held down with a stainless steel clip or a plastic clothes peg from Dollarama. The second day they jump on it as it starts to break down.


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

Thanks for your help Charlie! 
I boiled some snow peas last night and froze them.
I now have zucchini slices, frozen french cut beans, frozen brussel sprouts, frozen snow peas, frozen blood worm, frozen brine shrimp and Algae tabs.
These things are eating better then I am. 

What is a normal percent of pleco fry that you normally loose in any givin hatch?

I checked the L144 fry last night a 3 were dead out of approx. 50?? They were a good size? (not runted). 
Had food in the tank? (zucchini slice)
I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. 

5 gallon tank
No heater / 72º water temp.
Active sponge filter (running for a year in another fry tank)
10% water changes per day
Small gravel substrate w/ a few rocks in tank
Full canopy with LED lighting (turned off 18 hrs per day)


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## Bwhiskered (Oct 2, 2008)

If I give fry a tank of their own and don't crowd them my loss is often zero.

The L-144 are the weakest strain of bushynose. Angels Plus is doing some crosses to try and strengthen theirs. http://www.angelsplus.com/FishBristlenoseBE.htm


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## HighWater (Sep 15, 2014)

OK...thanks again.
I'll just have to keep an eye on them and hope for the best. 
I'll keep you informed of any problems or progress.


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