I was a away in London for the weekend two weeks ago and a couple of days after I returned I noticed I hadn't seen my pair of bristlenose in my 6ft tank since I got back.
Found the female ok, but took me a while to find the male. Noticed his tail sticking out of a crevice in some driftwood and that rang some bells. Surely they couldn't have bred since I'd been gone...? Sure enough though, shone a torch onto the wood and could see something orange through some holes in the wood. On closer inspection.....yep - eggs!
Left them in there for a day then realised I would have to move them. Luckily I had a 15 gallon planted tank with some baby cons in it (I'd just moved them in there from a 5 gallon!). So baby Cons got moved, driftwood with daddy bristlenose and eggs removed from 100g and put in a bucket of tank water for transfer and in he went to the new tank with the crevice facing the front so I could see what was going on in there..
Later that week I saw movement and the first little dude, complete with egg sac, had ventured out!
No idea how many there are - maybe 20 - and in the last few days they all emerged from the crevice and started exploring the tank. Amazing little minatures of their parents.
Today I removed the driftwood - loads of little guys underneath it when I lifted it out of the tank! - and replaced it in the main tank along with the male. Hope they'll breed again soon!
Any advice on feeding and caring for them? I noticed them nibbling on algae pellets this morning, but what else would you suggest?
Found the female ok, but took me a while to find the male. Noticed his tail sticking out of a crevice in some driftwood and that rang some bells. Surely they couldn't have bred since I'd been gone...? Sure enough though, shone a torch onto the wood and could see something orange through some holes in the wood. On closer inspection.....yep - eggs!
Left them in there for a day then realised I would have to move them. Luckily I had a 15 gallon planted tank with some baby cons in it (I'd just moved them in there from a 5 gallon!). So baby Cons got moved, driftwood with daddy bristlenose and eggs removed from 100g and put in a bucket of tank water for transfer and in he went to the new tank with the crevice facing the front so I could see what was going on in there..
Later that week I saw movement and the first little dude, complete with egg sac, had ventured out!
No idea how many there are - maybe 20 - and in the last few days they all emerged from the crevice and started exploring the tank. Amazing little minatures of their parents.
Today I removed the driftwood - loads of little guys underneath it when I lifted it out of the tank! - and replaced it in the main tank along with the male. Hope they'll breed again soon!
Any advice on feeding and caring for them? I noticed them nibbling on algae pellets this morning, but what else would you suggest?
