New to Breeding Bristlenoses.

Hi there.

I'm now to trying to breed bristlenoses. I have to admit that I have not been a successful breeder in the past. I have had losts of eggs from Angel Fish & Bolivian Rams (that got to the fry level) and the obvious Guppies however I have never successfully bred an egg laying fish.

I have set up a 15Gal tank which I have filled with 3 x male and 3 x female (I got 4 from the same guy 2 x each and 2 from a shop 1 x each).

I have got 3 specifically designed breeding caves in my tank and a nice piece of driftwood that the fish burrow under and make thier own caves (well the females do). The makes sit in their respective caves and they fight a lot. They have got wounds all over their faces but they are healing now. I think it was being introduced to the tank. They are all around 7-8cm (3 inch) and seem healthy otherwise.

I regularly change the water with cold water to spurr them on but there seems to be no action.

Is there anything obvious that I am doing wrong?

I also have 4 x guppies in the tank that I am breeding (they are the fancy russian oncs that go for like 6 bucks each and I figure that they wll not damage my bristlenoses in the slightest.

Again.

thank for the help.

Welcome to the forum.
There's couple of topics where you can learn about simulating rain season, but first of all (obvious, as requested), I wouldn't put even 1 bristlenose into 15g tank. The fights are not from being introduced to the tank, it's the size. They are territorial.

hey mater and welcome. There are a couple of things I suggest. The first would be to have a read of this

www.keepingandbreedingbristlenose.com

Best guide to breeding them on the net if i dont say so myself.


Secondly, I can pick a few things that will give you a few issues. the first is that you have too many breeders in your tank. in a tank that size (which is that same size i used to use to breed in) you should have one male and either one or two females. anything more than that is going to reduce your success as the males will fight and the females will just hold their eggs. The fights you are seeing are the result of that.

The next is to give them a chance to settle in. There is no sense in trying to trigger them if they are fighting and trying to kill each other.

Thanks for the link. I have already downloaded that book and read most of it. Great read! The reason that icwent for the small tabk was on the recommendation of that book... ivdid see the bit about having 1 male and up to 2 females. I may have to move a couple back to my primary tank. Not sure if I have the room though. I never realized how aggressive they are...

Thanks for the link. I have already downloaded that book and read most of it. Great read! The reason that icwent for the small tabk was on the recommendation of that book... ivdid see the bit about having 1 male and up to 2 females. I may have to move a couple back to my primary tank. Not sure if I have the room though. I never realized how aggressive they are...

glad to hear you liked it

Yeah, they are feisty little buggers

Substratum wrote:

The reason that icwent for the small tabk was on the recommendation of that book... ivdid see the bit about having 1 male and up to 2 females. I may have to move a couple back to my primary tank. Not sure if I have the room though. I never realized how aggressive they are...

Well, I have no experience in mass production breeding. Mine just do their thing in large tanks, when they want it, how they want it. Approx. every 6 weeks. 15gal tank I'd compare to the chicken farm and have no advice on that.

the chicken farm?

Yup.
That'd be m/w what I meant:
http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/conventional-chicken-farming.jpg
It's just my opinion, open to discussion.

very much disagree.

Comparing it to that is a bit much. I am very much against the cage farming of animals, let me get that out there up front.

The reason that I suggest 60ltrs as a minimum is based on the normal territory of a bristlenose. Mature male bristlenose generally take up a territory of around 1-2sq feet of bottom space. this is not in dispute and has been recognized by breeders for a long time. a general 60ltr tank is normally 2ft by 14 inches bottom space (about 2sqft) This volume of water is also more than enough to deal with two bristlenose and for the initial stages of fry growth. It is not big enough for the fry to grow to 3cms in (thats what grow out tanks are for )

while breeding is not directly linked with fish happiness (in fact sometimes it is negatively correlated) in the case of Bristlenose I would suggest that they breed when they are comfortable, indicating a moderate level of happiness with their tanks. I have bred them in big tanks and small tanks and found breeding dropped in tanks under 30ltrs, especially in longfin for some reason.

I therefore suggest that 60ltrs in a perfect size for breeding

Bigger is better for many reasons but happiness of the fish is not one in my humble opinion

Ok.

Well things have been going pretty well with my tank (No babies yet though). I had one minor set back in that one of the males died for some unknown reason which now means that my tank has two well bearded males and three females (one large/medium/small) However I have been observing some interesting behaviour.

I followed the instructions in the afformentioned book and let the tank get grubby then changed the water and turned off the heater. the tank sat at about 20-22 degrees for over 1.5 weeks then all of a sudden I am seeing the females going into the caves while the male waits outside then the male go in and do his little jiggle. One cave even saw a second female go in after a few hours. Now both makes are in their respective caves fanning their fins (although I can't see if there are any eggs in there).

I was just about to take out a male and female to drop the number of fish down but I will see how this pans out before doing so.

Heres hoping!

perhaps my "battery farm" will work!

fingers crossed for you mate

Ok.

So instead of breeding in my small breeding tank my bristlenoses have bred in my big tank. The large male has been either in the cave or around the cave for over 2 weeks without moving. He is now facing into the breeding cave with only his head inside. I shone a torch in and could see lots of little things jiggling around (I suspect wrigglers). Now what should I do?

I obviously want to ensure that they survive however if they get outside of that cave they are toast as I have a lot of larger predator type catfish (ie: pictus) and discus.

Should I pick up the cave with them in it and transfer them to a floating breeding trap? or will that make the male never chose that cave again?

Any help appreciated.

I'd just move him, the cave and the wrigglers to the smaller tank

Well. I panicked when I saw that they were not wrigglers but full blown mini bristlenoses (around 40 I'm estimating).

I picked up the little cave and the dad fell out and transfered them to a floating fry trap.

So far I have only seen one that has escaped.

I've dropped in a piece of cucumber for the fry to eat and when I get another tank sorted I am going to transfer them across.

Currently my small tank is a bit overcrowded. 4 guppies with 30 odd fry and 5 bristlenoses with soon to be fry.

To boot we have also had a ban on selling all fish back to pet stores in my state.... I'm a tad concerned. Hopefully it will be all sorted out in a few weeks otherwise I may end up having to have bristlenose fritters... (no I would never do that..)

so far so good I've seen a few attached to the cucumber. Do I need to refresh it often?

Now my next feat of breeding is to breed peppermint bristlenose. How much harder is that?

if you cant sell back to fish shops sell privately. That is how I sold the bulk of my fish, other than commons.

refresh the cucumber every 24-36hrs.

Peps are a little bit harder as they have more specific requirements. Get the requirements right and they will breed away, not at the same rate, but they will breed

Substratum wrote:

Ok.

So instead of breeding in my small breeding tank my bristlenoses have bred in my big tank. The large male has been either in the cave or around the cave for over 2 weeks without moving. He is now facing into the breeding cave with only his head inside. I shone a torch in and could see lots of little things jiggling around (I suspect wrigglers).

Kinda proved my point

Well they have also bred in my small tank as well now

Kinda proved Doug's point

hehe