Here is a quick and easy guide to breeding/spawning your Ancistrus Pleco....
From the beginning......
Tank setup has to be spot on......
You will need an aquarium no smaller than 60 Litre's for just one pair, the more bristlenose plecs you add the more litre's you will need..
The tank must be well cycled and well established to house your plecs...
Constant PH and water Test's will ensure you have a safe aquarium...
PH level's will need to be between 5.8 and 7.2 i keep mine at 7.0 which works perfect.....
Temperature of the water for a bristlenose plec should be between 23-27 degree's Celcius...
Breeding temperature of my tank is set at 26.5 no higer no lower......
You will need to select the correct cave's for the job which is very important, there are lots on the market that will do the job...
Ie...Slate Caves, home made caves such as plant pots cut in half..small orniments with holes in them...
Cave size is also very important and depends on the size of your bristlenose, to pick the correct cave you first need to know the size of your bristlenose so lets say he is 4 inches long and an inch wide i would then get a cave that measure's 2inch high x 2inch wide x 6inch long..
So that there is just enough space to fit him and another bristlenose his size in there...a nice snug tight fit is what you are looking for...
Bristlenose Selection......
Selecting your bristlenose plec is also important espeicially getting the sex right...
Males are larger than females and have bristles running up his snout/nose and around his lip...
Female's only grow bristle's around their lips and never up the nose/snout and in some cases they grow no bristle's atol which is perfectly normal..
Here is a common male albino ( Note the bristle's).
And here is a common brown Female.( No Bristles atol).
So make sure you have one of each to begin with or 1 male and 2 female's.....never 2 males and 1 female....
Males can be fully mature and ready to breed at around the 3 inch mark as does the female......
Another side note to think about is when you select your bristlenose pair make sure they are from UNRELATED PARENTS otherwise you will have problems with the fry due to bad genetics.....
So now you have your tank setup and your bristlenose pair in there what do you do next?????
Sometimes the spawning process can take place by itself without you lifting a finger and other times it takes weeks or even months of water changes and feeding to get this right....
Here's what i do.....
I keep the temperature warmer than normal say 27'C......
I then begin to fatten the female up over a period of 3-5 weeks untill she has a big plump round belly and it turns a reddish/yellowish colour...
During this time you will notice your male has decided to stake a cave out and he may have been in there for a week already..(this is normal)...
I then drop the temperature to 26'C and start doing partial coldwater changes everyday....20% of your tanks water will do fine....
This then simulates a rainy season and due to doing the water change with coldwater it also drops the temperature in the tank...
As bristlenose plecs in the wild are said to spawn like crazy in the rainy season's in the rivers were they are from then why not immatate it!!..
If you are succesfull after a few days of water changes you should notice your female as gone into the males cave with him...
This is were she will lay her eggs for the male to fertilise..this generally takes a few hours but the whole spawning process can take up to 2 days sometimes so a little patience is needed.....
If they have been sucessful you will see the female emerge from the cave with a flat ot sunken stomach, if you have been watching her during the fattning up process then you will see the change instantly....she will then head off to lick her wounds and become very greedy again for another 3-5 weeks or in my case just 3 weeks....
Here is a pic of the female (Gravid) Before Birth..
And after she has laid her eggs she will look like this....
This is were the male does his job, the female plays no further part in bringing up the fry or watching the eggs...its all left to the male...
Another sign that they have spawned is when your male is fanning away like mad in his cave either face first into the cave or the other way around he will use all his fins to fan the eggs which provides oxygen for the eggs which is vital...
He should fan away without eating for around 2 weeks, you may see the odd tareaway sneaking out now and again but the majority of the young will remain in his care for around 2 weeks....
This is also when you male can become agressive towards any other tankmate...he will defend that cave for his life and even big fish wont stand a chance when he's fanning......
Now and again males can Kick the eggs out his cave, sometimes because its his first time and he doesnt no what do with them and other times because they are fussy.........
So have yourself a frysaver handy in case this happens, with a spare pump and air-stone and supply the fry saver with its own oxygen supply(O2)..
If any eggs turn white and loose their orange colour then remove the white eggs As soon as poss as they will be in-fertile and could damage your orange fertile eggs...
Once your wrigglers are out and about then feed a diet of Courgette/Zucchini and Algea wafer's...
They will be ready for moving on to another aquarium or selling around the 4 CM mark......
Thats pretty much the whole process.......
Thanks for reading and good luck trying....
CuRbY..............
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