Bristlenose 2 weeks old and having trouble.

[Tony Scott]

My two week old bristlenose fry are having trouble today. About 10 dead just today. They are in a 10 gal grow out tank by themselves. The tank was cycled with a bottle of stuff from API, molly fish. Water tested great after three weeks with the molly fish and still good. Feed them cucumber yesterday and little flack food. The tank gets a 8L change each day out of 38L tank. There is a sponge filter and heated to 26 degrees.

[tike]

I feed baby plecos every 3-4 hours, let them feed for and hour and change 70-80% of the water. but i am aiming for maximum growth. I am thinking you're not feeding enough feed at least twice a day. I use algae wafers, powered baby brine shrimp, and eathworm pellets. Hope that helps.

Edited November 9 by tike

[nabokovfan87]

Yeah great point about the amount of feeding needed above. Fry you just want to feed a lot.  Add an airstone to increase oxygenation.  Do a water change, 20-30% to give them some fresh O2 as well.  As long as you see them active, not stressed, I think you're ok.

[Tony Scott]

1 hour ago, tike said:

I feed baby plecos every 3-4 hours, let them feed for and hour and change 70-80% of the water. but i am aiming for maximum growth. I am thinking you're not feeding enough feed at least twice a day. I use algae wafers, powered baby brine shrimp, and eathworm pellets. Hope that helps.

They don't go to the Fluval Bug Bite. Is it because they are to young? I see on YouTube people dumping green beens into aquarium, is that good?

[tike]

8 minutes ago, Tony Scott said:

They don't go to the Fluval Bug Bite. Is it because they are to young? I see on YouTube people dumping green beens into aquarium, is that good?

Use magic nano feed from aquarium co op. Bug bites don't work for me very well with any of my tropicals. Also crushed algae wafers. Using green beans I feel, can foul the water quicker

[Tony Scott]

UPDATE All but two fry died last night.  So about 50 fry died in two days. Why? I believe that they didn't like the Fluval Bug Bites and flake food. So I have setup another tank to grow our fry. It is a 20 gal and will use large sponge filter in display tank. I will purchase a different food, Northfin looks good which is available in Canada. Any other tips would be great?

[Colu]

Fluval bugbites aren't ideal for bristlenose fry you want an algae based food with a high algae content  I feed mine a combination of tropical high algae discs with 52% algae from 5 different species of algae repashy super green or Solent green ebo youngster grow paste  tropical  super Forte tablets with 36% spirulina tropicals gel formula for herbivorous fish with 5 species of algae sak spirulina pellets  they get everything my adults get and i  do two 50% water changes a week  I  have never had issues with my fry I'm also trying ebo youngster booster which is decapsulated artemia eggs   @Tony Scott

[vespula13]

I find a little bit of wood in my grow outs helps, allows them to constantly graze in between feedings. I also try my best to grow them up in a more bioactive/seasoned tank or tray system and if in doubt I just leave with the adults if they're the only inhabitants of the tank.

[Tony s]

On 11/10/2024 at 12:39 PM, Tony Scott said:

UPDATE All but two fry died last night.

situations like this kind of suck. But you're learning and bristlenose are highly prolific. with a few attempts at this you're going to have more bristlenose than you know what to do with. Good luck on the next batch!

[Tony Scott]

UPDATE I now have Bristlenose Fry once again. They are hatched with the yoke disappearing today but still in a group. They are in a breeding box inside the tank with two pieces of wood, half of aged leaf, frozen baby brine shrimp, green bean cut down middle with seads removed, and crushed Northfin Kelp Wafer. Anything else required? Help if can thanks.

[Odd Duck]

With that much food in the breeding box make very certain you have plenty of water flow, through the breeder.  It’s good to have food all the time but too much will pollute the water if there isn’t enough flow through.  An airstone inside or below the breeder box will help flow through and keep the box from getting stagnant and icky.  Mine always love to get in the layers between pieces of IAL or oak leaves, sometimes a bit of mulberry leaves, or a bit of all.  I don’t press the layers down, just let them fall.  I do also keep a small bit of wood in the breeder box but the leaves help also.  I usually boil the oak or IAL a bit to start them softening.  The mulberry leaves are much softer than oak or IAL, and don’t need to be boiled.  The mulberry leaves last better than veggies and don’t get as rotten as the veggies that need to be replaced at least every 24 hours.

[tike]

I feed this brine shrimp. I mix it a little up in water and just pour it into the tank.