Ancistrus: Nature finds a way!

[Fish Folk]

Doing big water change on my 55 gal mbuna tank today, and found a baby pleco. Then another. And another. And the male ancistrus would not leave the conch shell. So I moved him in the shell out into a little plastic tote using water from the tank. Pretty soon a bunch of baby Plecos started scooting all around. So I lightly boiled some zucchini slices (which helps them sink in aquarium water), added a couple to the bin. Later added heater and sponge filter to the bin. And... having extra zucchini slices... I shared with my discus & rams, corys, Goodeids, and guppies. 

Edited January 1, 2021 by Fish Folk
(added photos)

[Paul_Obermiller]

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me in the fish hobby, always waking up and not knowing what you'll find today. What kind of discus is that and how much do they go for, I love the blue and black combination. 

[Fish Folk]

Cool! Thanks. Yeah, it’s awesome to just find stuff going on. The discus is just an assorted. We keep 6x in our 55 gal Amazon tank. Paid about $25 for each one. We actually exchanged a ton of stuff we’ve bred and raised for them. No one in our region keeps discus. So... the one LFS who orders the discus basically just sells them to us at cost, because no one will buy them. One came through a Florida supplier, and the others came from a California supplier. We’d never be able to make money selling these discus to our LFS, because... they just don’t sell! But the bristlenose Plecos will sell like hot cakes. 

[Fish Folk]

Update: 23+ Ancistrus fry doing fine in makeshift tub. Water change day! 

Plastic bins work fine. Add small primed spong filter, and a simple “stay-put” 50-watt heater.  
 

Wood is a favorite of bristlenose Plecos. We feed variety of finely crushed flake foods, some baby brine shrimp, and lightly boiled zucchini.