Breeding Or Not ???

ive never breed bristlenose before and ive tried looking on youtube but havn't found anything to help
im curious as to if my bristlenose are breeding or not heres whats been happening .....

i have a male thats around 3inches .... he stays around the cave all the time fanning
what i asume to be females go in there with him from time to time ......
he warns all the smaller BN's away .... even my kribs

is this just flirting and inviting the females in .... or are they infact breeding ?

any help would be great as like i said im a 1st timer at breeding ..... ive read curbys "sticky post" on breeding but doesnt have what im looking for .... still helpfull knowledge though lol

will try and get a video ..... but need to get new batteries for the camera 1st

many thanks

I don't know if you've seen the video on the post HERE

It might not be what your looking for but it's very interesting anyway.

yh thanks ive seen that one but not realy a help for what im after as i myself can't see in the tubes and what there doing
ive looked up breeding behavour but found nothing that helps or shows from the outside what they do or look like etc

Peter,

sounds a little like pleco / bristlenose courtship to me mate.

mine do that usually about 3 to 4 weeks before the female is full of eggs.

I do not doubt some one else may have different advise - as all fish vary some what in behaviour.

The main thing right now is the male is fanning which means he is getting ready to nurture the eggs when they arrive,
and the female is testing the water / cave (sorry for the pun..lol).

I would not move the cave in any way as yet, some people move the cave to check it out for eggs, I from personal experience know that if you move the cave then it could set courtship back a couple of days or weeks. It will more than likely not scare the male, since moving the cave to another location in the tank I tend to do about every 6-10 weeks during cleaning the substrate.

Just observe and learn their behaviour, that is part of the fish keeping experience.

I sometimes make a note in a diary of their behaviour just incase there is any trends shown.

My female sometimes resembles the exact same behaviour that you describe, and now and again it is just part of pleco playfulness with each other, at other time's courting behaviour.....

Good luck and enjoy.....

LJ

def breeding behaviour. What you might find is that the males have matured but the females are not quite there yet. I would leave them be for the time being as they are getting there. cant rush love!

cheers guys ..... thanks for that .... i do intend to leave them to it but was just curious as to if its a courtship or actual breeding as i do know that they fan the eggs so once i saw him doing that it sorta clicked ohhhh wait could be a possiblity here ..... LJ the females that keep going in there are they batch i got from you a while back lol

shine a torch into cave so you can see whats happening i do it every day so the fish get used to it & dont spook easily

some fish wont mind the torch, others will freak out. I have both, some of my males dont care if i take the cave for a walk around the block, whiile others boot the eggs if i turn the lights on after the timer turns them off. If you are wondering what is going on, i suggest waiting for a while, torching a brand new male is not a good idea IMO, but that said i can def see the logic in Graham's idea