Lots of Baby BNs

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
1,513
1
38
58
Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
Background...BN plecos had spawned several times in a heavy jungle of hornwort. Babies would get to ~ 1/2" and then start disappearing. I never was able to get past that point.

I relocated them to other tanks; the known breeder male with a a new (to him) female in a 20H with 5 2" bn plecs and some small swordtails. A month ago I had another brood, they lasted a week or two longer than before, but still disappeared. He was already at work on another batch, tho...

A few days ago I looked in the cave to see a BUNCH of fry...the next day I noticed fry on the glass in another tank too!

Soooo...today...I moved two caves with males and babies into a bare bottom 20Long.

Fry from both spawns are ~ 1/2" long. One lot is all brown (should be longfin), one is mostly brown with some albinos(should be regular fin)...counted 55 fry in the tank, probably more inside the caves. There are still some fry in the tanks they were born in...I'm leaving those as they are too hard to catch without damage.

I have been told they like it warm...how warm?
I have a 100w heater in it AND it's on a seed-starter heat mat.

Should I remove the males, or leave them in and for how long?

I have a large sponge filter ~6" x 4" in there, already well-cycled with lots of green stuff growing on it. I plan to put a power filter on the end with the intake plumbed to the opposite end of the tank...and of course a sponge on the intake.

feeding omega one pleco disks...and I'll steal some zucchini out of the fridge for them.
 

TheFishBoss97

AC Members
Feb 12, 2011
3,613
0
36
San Jose, CA
Real Name
Ritap
Congrats on tons of fry, I need to get a female ABN so my male will hopefully breed.:)

IDK on why they are vanishing. Good Luck:)
 

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
1,513
1
38
58
Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
No babies left in 1 cave and only 1 or 2 in the other...and they were from the OTHER cave!

So - Males are now back in original tanks and temp set for 74-76.

Gave 'em some raw zucchini. If they dont like that, I'll blanch or freeze it first...but raw is so much cleaner to deal with.

At last count, I had between 60 and 70 fry. 1 loss so far.
 
Last edited:

toddnbecka

AC Members
Dec 17, 2004
2,808
3
38
Cumberland, MD 21502
A thin layer of sand is much better than a bare bottom for BN fry. Some fast-growing live plants like Najas or hornwort are also very helpful for maintaining water quality. I've raised hundreds of BN fry on NLS Grow pellets fed once daily, and canned green beans once weekly.
 

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
1,513
1
38
58
Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
I guess I'll stick with the bare bottom for now...if I get anotherr batch i can put them in a 10G with sand.

The NLS grow sounds like a good idea as they could each have their own pellet. Just need to figure out what size to get.
 

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
1,513
1
38
58
Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
50% WC last night. The 2 day old raw zucchini was gone, so I replaced it. They did seem to have a hard time with it at first, so I nuked the next pieces for 10 seconds.
I also added a cube of frozen glassworms.

Came home from work today...most of them are either on the zucchini or in the pile of glassworms.
 

alan j t

AC Members
Nov 5, 2006
234
0
16
Reno NV
Real Name
alan
i have a hard time getting rid of mine.

the only time i lost all my fry was when i left a mollie in there, it was getting picked on so it went to breeder tank to recover.
other than that the pleco spawed like 3 times a month, everymonth.
keep up w/c
nice pics by the way
 

kj5kb

KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Mar 1, 2007
1,513
1
38
58
Spring Hill Kansas SW of Kansas City
Real Name
Don
They killed a whole cube of frozen glassworms in ~36 hours. Today I tried a cube of bloodworms. Apparently they are edible, but not as popular as glassworms ...that or my fishies are just full! Easy fix...I netted out most of the bloodworms and gave em to the gambusia and red claw macro shrimp...

Last count was ~58 fry (and apparently one red ramshorn snail!)

We like zucchini...

DSCF1824.JPGDSCF1825.JPG


How many plecos can you find in this pic? I found 7

DSCF1823.JPG

DSCF1823.JPG DSCF1824.JPG DSCF1825.JPG
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store