Breeding fish with bottom dwellers

[Rbishop]

good advice above

 

[Turbosaurus]

I know I'm late to the conversation - but I've kept BN plecos in ALL of my breeding set ups for more than a decade- with apistogramma, angels, kribs, rams, and discus- I've never lost eggs in a tank with only the parents and BN plecos.
You've got the wrong culprit. BN are the LEAST likely of your tank mates to interrupt your spawns.

 

[Turbosaurus]

Rbishop- I'm surprised at you...
BN will take over that cave in a second, for preference and breding- Rams on the other hand will neither hide in caves nor will they spawn inside them- on top? probably. Inside? never.

 

[Dreti]

hello, do you still have the axolotl??

 

[Rbishop]

hmmm...caves with narrow slits will allow some slim body fish in but keep wide plecos out... and will admit most my pleco thefts were young fish not older ones.

 

[fishorama]

I'm thinking otocinclus rather than corys; but really, determined cichlid parents should be able to fight off casual incursions from BN or corys with lots of hiding places. I've had small cichlid breeding survivors in planted tanks many times, not many fry, but some. That worked for my way of thinking & wanted survivor rates. That said I didn't try Bolivan rams...maybe they're just too wimpy vs apistos etc? That's kinda the way I hear it around the web, not to say all Bolivians are that lesser parent-wise? I dunno...

Is your tank as heavily planted as you've said? There's some debatable issues there...lots of caves, roots?

 

[evil wizard]

If otos don't eat cherry shrimp then I don't think they would eat eggs.

 

[Chicxulub]

Cories are worse egg eaters than bristlenose. TBH, all fish will eat eggs if given the chance. The rams will usually protect their eggs and chase off any predators. Failing to do that means they're crummy parents. Best bet will be to move the parents to a tank of their own.

^This.