Bristlenose pleco breeding behavior

[Guppysnail]

I have two longfin lemon blue eye bristlenose pleco.  Although not new to fish I am newer to keeping two pleco in the same tank. This is the first time I have had more than one in a tank at a time. Got these cuties in February about 2 inches long give or take. They looked young. I didn’t care if they were both male both female or a breeding set. I’m equipped with tanks a plenty to support the fry.

i believe they are a breeding pair. He is getting his whiskers she? Is getting a much rounder belly than normal. I’m guessing them to be 8-10 months old. 
 

he has started furiously grooming not just hanging out in 2 caves one on each side of the tank both in her? hang out spots.  She? Never goes in caves has zero whiskers yet. 
 

i found tons of stuff on how to breed them I don’t really care if they do or dont. But no info on…What are their behavioral displays/ interactions when they may be ready.  I know males groom caves. What also are the female behavioral signs?  
 

would be nice to know so I can rearrange other tanks as needed ahead of time or swap some filters into an unused tank etc etc

thanks for your help in advance 😁

[Colu]

My male bristlenose fans his fin at the female and she nodges him in the side till he lets her in his cave she will go in and out of his cave a couple.before he traps her in the cave. My female is only interested in male when she wants to breed the rest of the time she keeps out of his way

[Guppysnail]

On 7/10/2021 at 8:44 PM, Colu said:

My male bristlenose fans his fin at the female and she nodges him in the side till he lets her in his cave she will go in and out of his cave a couple.before he traps her in the cave. My female is only interested in male when she wants to breed the rest of the time she keeps out of his way

Right now she stays clear of him. He gets too close she leaves. However they have been sharing green beans lately which they never do.

[Colu]

Bristlenose.are one of the easy fish to breed put. .a pair in a tank and you will get fry my pair have breeding like crazy lately I have over 100 fry just watch the female when she has nice plump belly she will be more then likely full of eggs and be ready to breed most of the time will breed under cover of darkness if your the female had suddenly lossed weight over night she will have layed eggs

Edited July 11, 2021 by Colu

[gardenman]

My males hang out partway out of the cave showing off their fanning technique to try and interest a passing female. Any female not interested just swims on by. If the male finds a willing partner the female will hang around his cave and eventually go in to inspect things. The male will then more or less pin her in there until she lays the eggs, then out she goes and he takes over fanning the eggs and guarding the cave. With just one female you don't have to worry about rival females sneaking in and pushing out the first female's eggs and replacing them with her own. That's fairly common in my tanks. Three or four times a second female will have swept in and pushed out the first batch of eggs and replaced them with hers. 

[BriannesFishFam]

On 7/10/2021 at 7:36 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have two longfin lemon blue eye bristlenose pleco.  Although not new to fish I am newer to keeping two pleco in the same tank. This is the first time I have had more than one in a tank at a time. Got these cuties in February about 2 inches long give or take. They looked young. I didn’t care if they were both male both female or a breeding set. I’m equipped with tanks a plenty to support the fry.

i believe they are a breeding pair. He is getting his whiskers she? Is getting a much rounder belly than normal. I’m guessing them to be 8-10 months old. 
 

he has started furiously grooming not just hanging out in 2 caves one on each side of the tank both in her? hang out spots.  She? Never goes in caves has zero whiskers yet. 
 

i found tons of stuff on how to breed them I don’t really care if they do or dont. But no info on…What are their behavioral displays/ interactions when they may be ready.  I know males groom caves. What also are the female behavioral signs?  
 

would be nice to know so I can rearrange other tanks as needed ahead of time or swap some filters into an unused tank etc etc

thanks for your help in advance 😁

Ok..

Males develop the bristles or whiskers and females don't typically (at least in my experience) and some may but only on the mouth

When they breed the male will lure the female into the pleco cave and trap her, and have her release her eggs (hence the rounder belly)

Good foods to feed them so they produce good eggs are veggies like zucchini and french cut green beans. 

The male will sometimes kick the eggs out of the cave if they're not good enough, so have a tumbler on hand, I would use a specimen container with airline (rigid works good)

But if he doesn't kick them out just leave them with him

They can have up to 200 babies but there first spawn are typically "small" up to 60.