Im new with a few questions!

Hi, My name is mike. I have a 20 gallon high tank with 4 albino bushynose pleco's. 2 males and 2 females raised from infancy together. They recently have spawned and i set up a 20 long tank a few weeks ago as a grow out tank. I am currently cycling that tank fishless.

My question is, is it possible to sell these little guys after 1 inch? My local aquarium offered me a third of what they sell them for in store credit. I have really no use for the store credit and have over 100 babies.

These babies are kept in a tank with 0 ppm ammonia, 0 Nitrate, and anywhere from 10-15 ppm nitrate depending on the day. I perform several small water changes throughout the day and use API stress coat + every change. I also use API activated carbon and use 2 hang on filters. Penguin 150 and the Aqueon 20 silent filter.

Thanks for your time and appreciate any answers.
I will post pictures of the tanks when i figure out how to >

Mikeyboy2222 wrote:

Hi, My name is mike. I have a 20 gallon high tank with 4 albino bushynose pleco's. 2 males and 2 females raised from infancy together. They recently have spawned and i set up a 20 long tank a few weeks ago as a grow out tank. I am currently cycling that tank fishless.

My question is, is it possible to sell these little guys after 1 inch? My local aquarium offered me a third of what they sell them for in store credit. I have really no use for the store credit and have over 100 babies.

These babies are kept in a tank with 0 ppm ammonia, 0 Nitrate, and anywhere from 10-15 ppm nitrate depending on the day. I perform several small water changes throughout the day and use API stress coat + every change. I also use API activated carbon and use 2 hang on filters. Penguin 150 and the Aqueon 20 silent filter.

Thanks for your time and appreciate any answers.
I will post pictures of the tanks when i figure out how to >

Hi, and welcome Mike!

As you're apparently finding out there isn't a huge demand for the common colors of BN because they're prolific and relatively easy to breed. You will probably have to sell them very cheaply if you want to move a lot at once for cash. I like them to be well over an inch before rehoming, they do better.

There are auction sites such as AquaBid, which usually entails selling them piecemeal, shipping, and dealing with individual customers. There are generally a lot others for sale, so you still aren't likely to get very much for them though.

Trading them for store credit is a fairly common practice, and 1/3 the selling price is fair IMO.

Good luck with all those fry, you may want to prevent further spawnings until you decide on an outlet for them. BN can churn out babies at an alarming rate, two 20 gal tanks won't be enough room for long. Another possible concern is if you acquired all four at the same time and place chances are good they are siblings, making it a very close inbreeding.

You can save a bit by forgoing the activated carbon, it's completely unnecessary under normal circumstances.

Sarah

Hello and welcome to Bristlenose world! Are there any fish clubs in your area? If so I bet you could offer some of the fry to them. And who knows!? Maybe you like the club and join!?

I bought my juvies/fry all at about 1", seems like the minimum size to sell.

And I agree with Sarah about the carbon. I use to swear by it until I tried my tanks without it. Can't tell the difference. There are sellers on aquabid that sell "cages" for the penguins so you can put whatever you want In there. I just bought some whisper cartridges and filled one with peat moss, And foam for the other. I use the carbon only after medication to remove it all and for a couple days after because the cloudiness from medicating clears up faster in my experience.

As for posting photos, I upload all my pictures to photobucket, www.photobucket.com Then you can copy and paste the image code. That's the one that starts with [ img ] and ends with [/ img ]

Good luck! Hope this all helps!

Hi Mike and welcome to Bristlenoseworld


Bristlenoses

welcome.

a third of the retail price is normal. the average mark up on fish is 300% from wholesale. I'd take the store credit as it always comes in handy to have.

I'd use it to invest into a bigger tank as a grow out tank.

I like my fish to be over an inch, 3cms is what i aim for, minimum. anything smaller than that and i find they struggle

Heya and welcome mate!

Did you buy all 4 at the same (or near enough) time from the same shop? If you did then they are likely to be related.
Here in Australia people often sell their fry for a couple of bucks. I sell mine to my fav lfs and he tends to give me half the retail price in credit for them, though minimum size is 3cm (just over an inch long as an inch is about 2.5cm). Depending on the lfs, you'll get 1/3 to 1/2 the retail price. Credits are good because you can use that to buy more fish food/medication/bits and bobs. :P
If you want actual cash, sell to the local area by putting an ad out. We use Gumtree for our online ads, among other sites. Just be aware you won't get much for them, so keep them cheap and advertise. Quickest way is the lfs though :P

Good luck with the sale, let us know how it goes. And don't forget to share some pictures with us

They were all bought at different shops. I might just break down and bring them in to the lfs for around 3 bucks a price store credit! Means I wont have to buy anything anymore for this hobby! I will post pictures tomorrow! I think you guys will love my male! He has some serious bristles!

Mikeyboy2222 wrote:

They were all bought at different shops. I might just break down and bring them in to the lfs for around 3 bucks a price store credit! Means I wont have to buy anything anymore for this hobby! I will post pictures tomorrow! I think you guys will love my male! He has some serious bristles!

$3 in credit apiece? Um, could I have the name/location of this lfs.... just curious.. really...

That's a good price, feed those babies up to a nice size and take it! You'd be surprised how handy that credit will be, and building a good relationship with a lfs has many benefits.

Sarah

They are about 3 weeks old now and are growing fast! I notice some are bigger than others. The male is at his post again courting the females in! I am going to move them in about 2-3 weeks when they are a bit older to increase survival chances. Any ideas on how to move them with the least stress possible considering there are lot of them! I am also proud to say i have only lose 1 fry out of about 40 on a first spawn !

Mikeyboy2222 wrote:

They are about 3 weeks old now and are growing fast! I notice some are bigger than others. The male is at his post again courting the females in! I am going to move them in about 2-3 weeks when they are a bit older to increase survival chances. Any ideas on how to move them with the least stress possible considering there are lot of them! I am also proud to say i have only lose 1 fry out of about 40 on a first spawn !

Depends... are you talking about moving them into a grow out tank, or bagging them up to take to the lfs?

Sarah

I want to move them to another 20 gallon long grow out tank. I have alot of them and would like to do this with the least stress possible to them! any ideas?

When setting up te new tank use as much water as possible from the old tank. If you can spare any rocks, gravel, decor, filter media, ect that would help as well. The idea is to prevent the tank from having to cycle. Fill up the rest with water (however you normally treat it for your fish.) I'd still acclimate the babies over just to be safe. As always, make sure driftwood is available and enjoy

I have seeded the new tank with a dirty filter from the old tank and have started a fishless cycle. I was wondering how the hell am i going to catch all these baby's?

Hmmmm. I moved mine while they were still in the cave. Maybe if they attach to cucumber you could easily catch them? I think somebody else will have to instruct you on this point as my experience catching them out of the cave is 0.

Mikeyboy2222 wrote:

I have seeded the new tank with a dirty filter from the old tank and have started a fishless cycle. I was wondering how the hell am i going to catch all these baby's?

Well, it actually sounds like you would be better off transferring the adults to the second tank (they are both the same size, yes?). A lot easier than chasing down fry, esp since you said your pair is getting ready to spawn again. If they already have spawned, moving dad in his cave would probably actually still be less disruptive to him.

Catching baby BN is not easy. They are delicate, fast, and will dive in, under, behind, everything possible. Subtrate makes it even trickier. If you can move the adults instead, I would do that.

If you must move them all at once, you will need to take as much as you can in the way of driftwood, decorations, etc out of the tank. (Put it all in a bucket of the tank water, you never know how many may be clinging to or hiding in it) They will try to hide in the male's cave also, and will likely succeed, making him rather unhappy.

Then it's a matter of gently catching and netting them out.

Some folks siphon them out. I think too many can be injured with that method.
Some make various types of "fry traps" baited with food. Post something with that in the subject line for ideas on those.

I colony breed, and the fry remain and grow out in the parents tank, so I only need to catch and move the juveniles large enough to rehome. I still have to take out all the bogwood to get them, but I'm only netting the largest, stronger juvies, so it's less work and less delicate a process. Others who routinely use separate grow out tanks may have better advise for you.

Good luck, Sarah

Welcome to the forum.

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That's the easiest to build fry trap I can think of.
The hole in the cap has to be small enough so the adults won't get stuck there. Punch couple extra small holes in the bottle for the water to circulate.
Insert an algae wafer and the stone to weight it, and you're good to go.
Pull it out every couple hours.
Usually it takes me 2-3 days to catch 60-80 fry batch, but it works w/o serious demolition. Meantime adults are going nuts around this bottle.

Thanks for helping out Kaban!

That's a deviously clever little trap you've made.

I can almost see and hear how your adult BN must feel about it!

Sarah

So to my surprise i came home to about 50 more eggs. I went out and came back again and the eggs are scattered throughout the tank. Idk what happened but they are all over. Im sure they will hatch because the tank has a high DO level. So i might have to get the older babies in that other tank quickly so i bought a Fluval 105 canister and am going to put ammonia/nitrite remover in it to get them in this tank before the main tank becomes to populated

DO...??? Dissolved oxygen? I am not sure...

Mikeyboy2222 wrote:

So to my surprise i came home to about 50 more eggs. I went out and came back again and the eggs are scattered throughout the tank. Idk what happened but they are all over. Im sure they will hatch because the tank has a high DO level. So i might have to get the older babies in that other tank quickly so i bought a Fluval 105 canister and am going to put ammonia/nitrite remover in it to get them in this tank before the main tank becomes to populated

Ammonia/nitrite remover? If the tank's still cycling, I wouldn't put any fish in it yet, esp not babies. Unless you plan on setting up a larger, or more, grow out tanks, I would just pass on this batch of eggs, there will be more soon enough. Dad may be trying to tell you something by booting them

If you do want to try to save them, and don't have an egg tumbler, you can gather them up and put them in a net breeder or breeder box w/gentle airation- enough to keep them moving and clean without bashing them about. Check some of the threads about egg tumblers, booted eggs, etc for more info on it. I've never actually artificially hatched BN eggs, if Dad won't take care of them, they're caviar here!

Sarah

Hi,I agree with Sarah,if you move those fry and add that stuff you will most likely kill them.I would leave them where they are unless you have a properly fully cycled tank.

Those eggs that are scattered will not hatch if they are left scattered around,they need to be gathered up and put in a fry saver with plenty of water movement on them.Or leave them where they are and get a tank cycled for next time.


Bristlenoses

Thanks for all the help ! I will attempt to save them when i get home and place them in gentle aeration. Depending on their shape i might just leave them and see what happens. My Fluval filter is on its way and the cycle is starting. I dosed the second tank up to 2.0ppm ammonia. I will be running a Fluval 105 canister and a HOB penguin 150 on this tank both with fluval sponges to prevent fry from being sucked in.

Ya sorry DO=Dissolved oxygen.

And it is weird, the dad spawns on the side of a cave and not in a cave ever. I also noticed that both males are guarding the batch of eggs. I will take pictures when i get home!

Hi,there must be a reason he isnt spawning in a cave.What are they made of and pics of set up etc will be good.


Bristlenoses

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