spawn or not?

hello, im new and have a beautiful pair of bristlenoses of the same species and want to breed them. they are about 10 - 11cm long, and are clearly a male and female. they are becoming "friendly" on one piece of bogwood. the male is sometimes aggressive, but the female isnt bothered in the slightest, she just comes back for more!
the pair are digging in some places. any advice would be very helpful! Also, i have had the male for about 11 months, and added the female to him around 3 - 4 months ago.

"D-caves" buddy , most bristlies love em.
J

thanks mate, got a terracota pot in there at the moment, which is around 10cm wide, and only 5cm tall, as its buried. "Mr Pleco digs in there, and makes it more open. do i need one only big enough for them to sqeeze in together? thanks for ur help!

I have slate caves, a decorative pot, 1/2 plant pots and 1/2 terracota pipe + bogwood
they will use whatever they feel like it

It also helps the cause if the entrance of your chosen spawning site is just about as wide as your male is
across the shoulders, like this:

There is easy enough room for 2 fish but then the male can jam his head out of the entrance and stop
any intruders from going in there.
J

thanks people, btw how did you make that cave thing kurosaki? it looks amazing!

I didn't actually make it MX - KID( I'm way to lazy) it is pretty easy though if you have a close look,
"think gardening".
J

hey kurosaki, what does think gardening mean? lol im tired! thamks for the advise tho!

Doesn't that cave look a brand new 4.5 inch terracotta gardening pot cut in half and silliconed to a plate of glass or perspex
J

cool cave btw! oh i get it, yeah i have that pot i told u about, a cearish pipe just big enough for the male to get into, and 2 pieces of wood with crannies and stuff. hope theyget friendly, as the female tends to "follow" the male around! lol

Alternatively you could try this one:

It's just a pot saucer with a hole chipped out the front and silliconed to glass, or even try jamming
a nice garden stone in the back of the clear tube that he just fit in to close one end off.
J

smart ideas, i need to trry some out! got the pipe up to the tank glass with some dark papre to look as though its closed off, so hopefully they will choose that one :bounce:

You only want 1 entrance for your caves, I'd get rid of the dark paper and go with stone idea , even if the stone doesn't
fit properlly you can sillicone up the gaps, or if you don't have the stones cut a piece of ice cream bucket lid and
sillicone that into place.
J

yhanks mate, btw is all slate safe for aquariums? i also havee 1 more question, can i mix more bristlenoses with each other?

Not sure about the all slate being safe - I've never put in my tanks , all though I 'd imagine it's OK if you give it a good wash.
Albinos and Calicos(marbles) are all colour morphs of the common brown and can be breed and be kept together , other "species"
such as pepps or L144's can be kept together with commons but highly unlikely they spawn with commons.
J

thanks so much for your help kurosaki!