Huh - so what now?

My common male BN is sat on a clutch of eggs. Not a problem normally and I'm very excited as this is his first! Yay!
But -
I've had no hot water in my house because my boiler broke so they haven't had a proper water change for nearly 3 weeks. Boiler got fixed yesterday. As the man was fitting the part so I found my male sat on his brood. I was chuffed - even told the boiler man lol. I wasn't expecting eggs yet as my females are both still fairly small and I thought they weren't ready and my male is only about 3inches himself. He's chosen the most stupid spot using a teeny tiny little indent into a piece of bogwood as his "cave" instead of the various other better suited spots I made for him. Oh well. They will do it their way won't they?
My question is - if I do it gently am I ok to do the water change? Is it likely to upset him? Or is it best to wait until the babies are out of the "cave" - though that would mean no water changes in 5 weeks in total.
What do you think?

Question 1: Are you talking about a full on clean? or just a water change?
Just a water change should be OK , like you suggested "gently" - eventualy your going to need to find somewhere
else to put your littlies because if they are breeding you'll end up with more than you really want( no biggie)
If you think it has been 5 weeks between cleans , my plan of attack would be get your hands on a breeder net ,put the youngins in there and do a full clean, gravel included, then little guys should have a good head start.
Last question : what temperature is your tap water- if it's coming out the tap cold you'll probably inspire them to spawn again , or if thats not the desired result put the water in a bucket with an airator ( to remove the clorhine) and let it get to room temp.
J

Thanks Kurosaki
I was actually my intention to have baby plecs. Tha tank is set up around the plecos themselves - its just that I didn't expect it so soon so don't even have my grow out tank set up and cycled yet! I've had these guys since last June and like I said they're only little themselves.

As to water changes - its just a water change. I've swapped out a couple of buckets over the last few weeks but a normal water change for this tank is about 40 - 50%. I vacced the gravel just a week or so ago when I took out a small amount of water so its not too "dirty" in there

And the tap water is freezing! But my boilers working again now so I won't have a problem doing water changes with near enough matched temp

With that response - I say go forth and multiply but just hope your boiler stays fixed.
Sounds to me like your tank is fairly clean all ready if you've inspired really young bristlies to spawn all ready.
It still wouldn't hurt to get that grow out tank up and sorted .
J

Thanks!

Now I've just got to work out where my grow out tank is going!

Cherrypie wrote:

Thanks!

Now I've just got to work out where my grow out tank is going!

I have got the same problem !

Cherrypie wrote:

Thanks!

Now I've just got to work out where my grow out tank is going!

and that's with the missis no more tanks ultimatum :0)

on a serious note, when should the youngsters be removed to a grow out tank?

Not sure when its recommended to take the babies out Nick. I'm sure there's a post on here somewhere about it though. I just intend to scoop them out once they're a couple of weeks old and move them to a different tank away from the parents just so the parents' tank doesn't get too crowded. However - my eggs hatched 4 days ago and their egg sacks (yolks??) are nearly gone so they'll be coming out of his cranny soon and I haven't even got a tank yet! Oh well. I'm sure they'll be fine for a few weeks. I reckon there's only about 20 - 30 anyway and they're teeny tiny

High Cherrypie and Nick, in regards to when you could move your baby fish:
I generally watch for the yolk sacs to dissappear, then move the cave with dad to a breeder net- 14 days later your little fishes start to emerge form the cave , any time after this is fine.
All though I should follow my own stratergy , as my last batch was left to their own devices and got smashed by my Angel fish- lesson learned: Angel fish hammer baby B/N.
J

So they won't come out of the cave until 2 weeks after the yolk sacks have disappeared? I just assumed they'd come out to feed. And I've even seen one out of the cave already - perhaps it got out and got lost? Do they find their way back? I'm also amazed at how big they are. Easily a cm each already! And definitely too big for anythng else in the tank to eat!

14 days is just a ball park figure , I've noticed some batches up and ready to leave at about 10 days.
J