How is it possible for baby bristle noses to grow without food?

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professorjimjam

Dovii
MFK Member
May 26, 2021
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Recently, I have been closely monitoring my tank with a 24/7 camera and I found that in one of the caves the male bristle nose started staying there and not even coming out once. So then I saw eggs and finally those eggs hatch and baby bristle noses came out but they are all inside the cave. Two weeks past since the eggs hatched. What really surprised me is that how these baby bristle noses getting bigger everyday but neither their father nor the babies came out of the hole not even once. Well, it is understandable that the male adult bristlenose can survive wothout food for several weeks, but what I cannot get my head around is, that how is it possible for the baby bristlenoses to get bigger without eating anything. Or if they eat anything what is it in that cave that I don’t see . Because it has always been clean and no source of food is seen there. Is it theit father that gives them some sort of food generating from his body? What is the explanation behind these small baby bristlenoses growing without food?

my last question is also that eventually these baby bristlenoses have to come out and if they do, will they be harmed by other bristlenoses in the tank I mean the ones that are not their parents? Can the parents still protect them on the outside against other plecos ?
Thank you!
 
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Firstly, yes I believe they do get some nutrient from their father at a small level, a little like discuss. But, at such a small size they are also eating micro worms and detritus film that is just too small for us to see easily. I have raised many batches in “bare” tanks even from eggs with the same results, albeit the first few weeks they grow faster with dads care than just mine.
Second point, yes they will be eaten by other none dad bristlenose.
When they leave the cave, dad will no longer protect them and at that point they are on their own.
You need to decide if you want/have the capacity to raise them yourself, which also means having the space to raise up to 140 bn and probably then a shop or society to take them. Or you decide that some will no doubt survive in your tank and you are ok to lose the others. If you decide to grow them on yourself then it is way easier to remove them from the cave around 10 days after birth than letting them leave the cave naturally around 14 days and having to catch them individually from the tank. If you do remove them from the cave then some naturally still manage to avoid capture and may survive in your tank anyway.
 
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Can the babies maybe eat some of the dads slime coat like Discus babies do? Just a thought, as I have no idea, never raised baby BN.
 
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It wouldn’t be possible for them to survive or grow without a food source. As Dave already said they can survive on detritus, micro worms, algae and slime coat. The other Bn’s in your tank will likely eat the fry if they are left unprotected. Either remove the babies or the other adults to ensure survival.
 
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They live and grow initially by consuming their yolk. They cannot eat. Once they become free swimming the yolk will completely disappear. This is when they come out and start for forage for "real" food. They are Aufwuchs feeders.

In both marine and freshwater environments, algae – particularly green algae and diatoms – make up the dominant component of aufwuchs communities. Small crustaceans, rotifers, and protozoans are also commonly found in fresh water and the sea, but insect larvae, oligochaetes and tardigrades are peculiar to freshwater aufwuchs faunas.
Click to expand...
 
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Thank you very much everyone.
just one more curiosity I have and that is, the male adult protecting them is albino bristlenose and all of these baby bristlenoses are black. How is it possible that father is albino and children are black?
 
Genetics. You will see the same thing with Long fins. I used to get about 25% standard fins from my breeding long fins.

The problem is the appearance and the genes may not match. It can depend on the parents of your fish and the grandparents and even further back.

There is a male and a female involved so it is both of their genetic backgrounds which matter.
 
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