Novice questions

How old do bn have to be ( roughly ) to be of spawning age?

Once they are mature how long are they fertile for or will they continue to spawn?

How long do they live for ?

Sorry one more,

I have a largish tank how far apart do the caves need to be?

sorry to be the one to do it but

use the search function!!!

all of these have been asked many MANY times before. We love to help people on here, that is the whole basis of the forum, but using the search function can really save you some time. Search the issue, get the answer and you are on your way. then when you have a tricky question that hasnt been covered before we can help out.

But just cos we are nice...

bristlenose mature at 9 months or there about.

generally they will spawn regularly for about 2-3 years then begin to slow

my monster male was 10 when he passed on, but normally about 6-8 years if treated well

if you have one male then have one cave. if you have more then place a few caves around the tank, there is no real distance issue, its more a number issue, if there is 4 males and 2 caves you will have issues.

oh, and a good source of info is linked in my signature, best investment you will ever make in your bristlenose

As always Thankyou D,

In regard to breeding trios, would it then be unwise to buy them,

The larger bn older then 3 years old would obviously not be a good investment.

Would it be a reasonable assumption that those being sold are at the end of their breeding lifes

Breeding trios (1m-2f) are normally not a problem, sometimes you can get a more dominant female, and a male will often have 2 clutches of eggs or even fry and a clutch of eggs in a cave.

3 year old females are still capable of breeding, in fact I think I had my original females for 3 years before I got a male and they bred regularly.

There are often young pairs/trios for sale, I'm sure there are plenty of members in your part of the world who could supply a young pair, try the Buy/Sell/Trade section.