bristlenose eggs!!!

So...here's my story. I'm pretty green in the aquarium world and to sum up the first 6 months of addiction to my new hobby I went from a 29 gallon to 55 gallon to 125 gallon which is my current set up. I have 4 BN's in it along with 7 synodontis petricola catfish and various peacock cichlids along with a very young group of 1" frontosa.
Anyways, I bought a new female BN on the night of May 8th, and this morning (May 10) I discovered my male guarding newly laid eggs! Such a great suprise! I know that these eggs came from my new female because she is the only female I have of breeding size. Now being new to the hobby this is my first batch of eggs from any species of fish. I am just wondering if this is rare to have my new BN which has been in my tank less than 36 hours already produce eggs or if this is some sort of exceptional case. I had every intention of breeding these guys, but I didn't even have time to get my breeding cave set up in my tank, because it is still in the mail somewhere . Crazy exception or normal for BN plecos???

Another question...should I move the male along with the eggs to my fry tank at some point or should I just keep them in my big tank along with all my other fishes? I don't want them to get eaten but don't really know how to go about moving them. Will the male continue guarding the eggs if they happen to get separated for a bit during the move?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice given!

well, congrads! feels good to be a fish foster parent huh?!

to answer your question, no its not rare, in fact if a new fish is introduced into a tank it will quite often induce a spawn. its one of the ways that breeders can actually trigger a spawn. i have had eggs in under 2 hrs of introducing a new female.

secondly, the only issue with moving the male is if the water in the fry tank is different to the water in the main tank. i.e. will he get shocked by the new water. 9/10 times you can pick the cave up move it to a new tank and the male will be back to guarding the eggs in no time (if he even comes out of the cave at all, mine never do if i ever move the cave). so maybe, add some of the big tanks water to the smaller one to make it more similar then move him across, if you are unlucky and he does leave the eggs then its not the end of the world. there are many techniques for raising eggs by hand.

Doug

Good stuff Buss2k7. It is a buzz when you get your first batch.
Listen to Doug - he is the guy who shared a wealth of knowledge with me to guide me through the initial stages. I now have fry everywhere and am getting more confident everyday with my knowledge.

@ Doug
Good to see you here mate

Your gonna need another tank
Congrats on your surprise clutch, Its so much fun raising bubs...
Good Luck with your new venture
Great advice Doug...

hi mate congrats on the spawn yes this is common practice with bristlenose
you need to move those eggs and male as the synos will get them without a dout. this could be a problem for you if their not in a cave the male might not go back to them.
also youre peacocks and fronys will pick off any young fry if any eggs make it.
if you want to breed bristlenose you would be better off with a tank just for them and you will need another in no time for all the fry youre going to get. welcome to the world of breeding bristlenose

ps can you also introduce youre self in the introduction section thanks

congrats on the spawn, feels great doesnt it. hope your ready tho coz once they start breeding they wont stop

Sounds like I made the right move when I bought a 40 breeder for a fry tank and precycled a sponge filter just in case of this scenario. What I was planning to do was fill the fry tank with water from the 125 when doing a water change on the 125. Hopefully everything works great and thanks for the advice everyone!

Having mine spawn for the first time was great! I did nothing to coax them into it. Now they breed like rabbits. I'm such a pimp!

Great job on the spawn mate well done..

you can now be a pimp of the fish world lol as Bwompus so kindly put it...

CuRbY...

hey bwompus pimp daddy,
speaking of your bn spawning, how are my little ones doing?
let me know when they are big enough to pick up and i'll make
arrangements with you to come after them.