Bristlenose pleco breeding 1st spawn

[Craig Halstead]

I finally have my first spawn!  Now what!

I am trying to decide if I should pull the fry from the tank!  I have 6 rummy nose tetras and 3 dwarf neon rainbows in the 20 long with my SRB pleco pair.  I'm concerned the fry might get eaten by the tetra or rainbows once they venture out of the cave.  It's a lightly planted tank with relatively low light.  They are in the 20 gallon long on the top shelf.

What are everyone's thoughts? Should I pull them and raise in a fry bin similar to the Dean method?  Or let them grow out in the tank?

 

P.s. the male choose the @aquariumcoop pleco cave over a coconut hut or my DIY cave.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Craig Halstead

[Odd Duck]

I typically pull the fry aiming for just before they are going to come out of the cave.  Sometimes I miss it and see a fry pop out.  Then I pull the cave immediately and transfer the fry if that happens.  If I have no fish in a tank that will eat the fry then I have to decide how difficult it will be to catch the fry from that tank later.  If you’ll have to tear the tank apart to get the fry then pulling them before they come out of the cave is far easier.

[Craig Halstead]

On 11/1/2023 at 3:04 PM, Odd Duck said:

I typically pull the fry aiming for just before they are going to come out of the cave.  Sometimes I miss it and see a fry pop out.  Then I pull the cave immediately and transfer the fry if that happens.  If I have no fish in a tank that will eat the fry then I have to decide how difficult it will be to catch the fry from that tank later.  If you’ll have to tear the tank apart to get the fry then pulling them before they come out of the cave is far easier.

Do you think rummy nose tetras or dwarf neon rainbows will eat them when they come out of the cave? I have no idea how big they will be at that time so just trying to gauge if they will be snacks or friends.

[Odd Duck]

On 11/1/2023 at 7:46 PM, Craig Halstead said:

Do you think rummy nose tetras or dwarf neon rainbows will eat them when they come out of the cave? I have no idea how big they will be at that time so just trying to gauge if they will be snacks or friends.

Rummynose would be very, very unlikely, but adult dwarf rainbows might?  The blue-eyed group of rainbows would not.  They are a little over 1/2” long when they come out of the cave but have a fairly substantial head / body compared to most 1/2” long fry.  Plus come equipped with spiky catfish fins so I think they are significantly less appetizing than most fry.

[Craig Halstead]

On 11/2/2023 at 7:27 AM, Odd Duck said:

Rummynose would be very, very unlikely, but adult dwarf rainbows might?  The blue-eyed group of rainbows would not.  They are a little over 1/2” long when they come out of the cave but have a fairly substantial head / body compared to most 1/2” long fry.  Plus come equipped with spiky catfish fins so I think they are significantly less appetizing than most fry.

Thanks!  My adult dwarf neon rainbows are about the same size as my adult rummy nose so I think I'm going to leave the fry and catch them out later when I want to move a few or sell some.  Thank you for your advice!

[TheSwissAquarist]

How are the fry doing?

[Craig Halstead]

On 11/3/2023 at 7:16 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

How are the fry doing?

So far they are growing like crazy from what I can tell.  They are still in the back of the cave with Dad.  So it's hard to see how many I have in there and how they are doing.  

I see you have tried breeding tetras.  Have you had much luck?  I have tried to breed rummy nose tetra a few times but haven't been successful yet.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/3/2023 at 1:27 PM, Craig Halstead said:

I see you have tried breeding tetras.  Have you had much luck?  I have tried to breed rummy nose tetra a few times but haven't been successful yet.

I've managed to spawn glowlights, but I only got seven fry out of their first spawn, and a variety of factors has stopped them for spawning for me again. I'm definitely gonna try them again this weekend. I have had the odd juvenile from my black phantoms, but they tend to get snapped up pretty quickly. 

Rummy nose tetras are almost the holy grail of hobbyist tetra breeders. They require some really acidic water (pH around 5) with practically no hardness whatsoever. My 7.36 pH and 16° hardness is a bit of a pain. 😅 If you're really serious about it you can try adding peat or peat moss to a spawning tank filled with rainwater with an egg trap on the bottom and hope for the best. Ive tried that setup in my Tetra breeding thread. 

+@Atitagain has tried several times. 

[Craig Halstead]

On 11/3/2023 at 8:45 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I've managed to spawn glowlights, but I only got seven fry out of their first spawn, and a variety of factors has stopped them for spawning for me again. I'm definitely gonna try them again this weekend. I have had the odd juvenile from my black phantoms, but they tend to get snapped up pretty quickly. 

Rummy nose tetras are almost the holy grail of hobbyist tetra breeders. They require some really acidic water (pH around 5) with practically no hardness whatsoever. My 7.36 pH and 16° hardness is a bit of a pain. 😅 If you're really serious about it you can try adding peat or peat moss to a spawning tank filled with rainwater with an egg trap on the bottom and hope for the best. Ive tried that setup in my Tetra breeding thread. 

+@Atitagain has tried several times. 

I have noticed them spawning several times in my 75 gallon tank but can seem to get them to spawn in a smaller tank that I can setup to trap the eggs.  I wanted to breed them because they are my favorite tetra and I have been having a very tough time finding them healthy in store/online.  

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/3/2023 at 4:42 PM, Craig Halstead said:

I have noticed them spawning several times in my 75 gallon tank but can seem to get them to spawn in a smaller tank that I can setup to trap the eggs.  I wanted to breed them because they are my favorite tetra and I have been having a very tough time finding them healthy in store/online.  

Go for it!! Here’s my basic tetra spawning template :

 

[Craig Halstead]

The fry have been out of the cave for about a week now!  They all seem to be doing well!  So far I have counted about 15.  There maybe more they are just very skiddish so the go hide when I come to take a look at them.