Breeding Tanks - Community vs barebottom (newbie questions)

Hi Guys!

I have myself a trio of common bristlenoses that I would like to breed. The male I got from my LFS and the females I got from someone online who told me they had breed before.
I currently have them in a standard 3 foot tank with driftwood, gravel and plants. Other residents include a baby murray cod and 3 guppies. Just wondeing if they usually spawn in tanks with other fish or is it best to put them into a tank of their own?? even a barebottom one? Also wondering if a 3 foot is a big enough tank for them?
I have concerns about my male as he is VERY shy too, never comes out of his cave, only at night to feed, but if he sees me she shoots straight back into his cave. Is this normal? Are there particular 'temperments' that are easier to breed? The girls are alot more active.
Any other information about breeding these guys would be awesome, have read the sticky above.

heres my male when i got him:


ETA:
In the breeding sticky is says:
"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..."

Does this mean i need to keep dropping my water temperature, even down to like 20'c?? how far do you drop the temp by?? alil confused by this statement? Are the water changes done with cold water?

Also lighting......
is this a big thing when it comes to breeding? I have a UV light but my tank is next to the window which i open right up so during the day they have natural light. then when i get home after work at 5:30pm i turn on the UV lights until about 10:30pm then all lights are off. is this OK?

Hi heidi,

first off you males behaviour sounds normal to me and i would be more worried if he wasnt in a cave and was alot more active...
My males never come out there cave untill they have raised a batch of fry then they feed for a 3-5 days thats the only time i see them...

a 3 ft tank sounds fine to me for one trio....if you added another male then it would become an issue...

as for the other tankmates the guppys should be fine but the cod fish you have ?? i aint to sure never heard of one before....

Also the statement in the breeding article means keep your temp about 26.5 'C...at all times.....
But when you do daily water changes of say 20% you temp will drop a few degree's for an our or but will then rise again back to 26.5'C...

If you imagine a pond in your garden and the temp is lets say 20'C and it then rains your pond temp will drop untill the rain stops then it will rise back to the outside ambient....does this make sense for you???

So what you are trying to achieve is a rainy season...a fake one lol....

cold water in variation stimulates your fish...FACT......i would try and do a 30% water change every other day in a 3 ft tank.....

And your females will always be more active than your males, as they fatten themselves up ready for spawning.....

i hope this helps you with understanding what i wrote in the article a little better....

thanks CuRbY.....

thats sound addvise from curby.
i just want to point out though if your going to be doing a false rainy season in your tank you need a good mature tank fillter.
constant water changes over a period of time will break the bio down and you will end up with probs.
before you go for the rainy season to make them spawn you need to make sure your females are nice and plump turn the heater down a few degrees for about a week then set it back to were it was then start the water changes. and had a bit of protien to their diet a couple of times a week i use raw prawns twice a week to condition my females if they need it.
good luck

lots of questions there.

Curby has good advice and i would follow it.

The thing i will mention is if you have a spare tank then use that if you want to breed them. having other fish increases stress on the fish and will decrease the chances of a spawn.

In terms of bare bottom or gravel, there are people who will argue til they are blue in the face one way or the other. Me, i dont think it matters. Having gravel does give the goob bacteria more places to live and makes you tank a bit more ressitant to ammonia spikes but it does make cleaning harder. I use a smear of gravel across the bottom of mine. best of both worlds, bit of gravel to get the bacteria but not enough that the gunk builds up in it.