Am I being mean ....

My bristlenose has just produced another batch of babies. This is batch number 5 now and ive managed to get 85 into another tank (the biggest batch so far )

Im feeling a bit sorry for the dad cause it seems like he doesnt get a break in between. Sometimes its only a week or so before he's looking after more eggs.

Is it cruel not taking the female out

You have tried the whole "removing the cave" caper with out success -correct?
Maybe move the male to your grow out tank for a month for him to get his strength back.
Hopefully in time your fish will slow down spawning - not stop just slow down.
J

Kurosaki J wrote:

You have tried the whole "removing the cave" caper with out success -correct?
Maybe move the male to your grow out tank for a month for him to get his strength back.
Hopefully in time your fish will slow down spawning - not stop just slow down.
J

Thank Kurosaki

I haven't removed the cave because its a big root so it will make my tank look really bare.

Would it be ok to move the female into the grow out tank for a couple of months with all these babies?, its just it will be really difficult to catch the male because he is a very nervous fish and swims a mile if I even open the lid.

putting the female in the grow out tank will be fine

Quote :

deano
putting the female in the grow out tank will be fine

Yup ,what deano said
J

yep that would do fine....the male will still keep his cave and sorroundings and wait for the female's...although there will be none there lol...
give him a nice break feed him up and he will be raring to go again......

Ellie wrote:

Im feeling a bit sorry for the dad cause it seems like he doesnt get a break in between.

Nice to see someone thinking about the care of there fish

I tend to split breeding pairs up after a few spawns just so they get chance to condition themselves again.

Cheers

thegeeman

thegeeman wrote:

Ellie wrote:

Im feeling a bit sorry for the dad cause it seems like he doesnt get a break in between.

Nice to see someone thinking about the care of there fish

I tend to split breeding pairs up after a few spawns just so they get chance to condition themselves again.

Cheers

thegeeman

I agree Gee....both my females look in a right state after dropping there eggs i will post a before and after pic later...
There is such a thing as burn out with the males as they dont feed for weeks and if you have 2 females to him it can be pretty god dam demanding on the poor fellow....

Thanks for your help everyone. I've put the female in the grow out tank now for a while

Its good to see the male out and about again

When my longfins have spawned, we always moved the cave with the eggs (obviously LOL) and the male into the tank nexty door.

This means that the females get some alone time to get back to peak condition, and from removal to putting him back, is approximately 3 weeks. But always making sure that he's been eating well and looks in good condition. I don't want to lose any of my fish for the sake of trying to get more fry.

He's been back for 36 hours now, and is cleaning furiously.

The other great thing with our male too is that when I go to return him to his original tank, if he's not in the cave, he lets me catch him really easily so he doesn't stress out. It's as if he seems to be aware that he's going to getting "funky" with the ladies soon and want's to conserve his energy LOL