BN Pleco Fry Growth Rate

[starfishplus]

BN Fry

I also feed mine alittle of the snail jello every few days. start out with small amount to see if they will eat it .mine loves it.

 

[abcdefghi]

I will increase the water change schedule, at the moment they get around a 50% change weekly, but I should be able to fairly easily increase that to around 3 x 50% weekly.

Makes sense given that there are 3 adults and approximately 20+ fry in there. I also started last weekend the process of turning it into a bare bottom tank to make it easier to keep clean. Currently it has a Turface substrate, so far I have removed about 50% of it. Will try to get the rest out at next water change time.

 

[jyxie]

Don't underestate or dismis this either. I had awhile back a spawn of about 60 Albino longfin BN's. I placed several of them in a couple of my discus tanks, which recieve daily 50% water changes. The rest I left in my 75 gallon which reiceves a 50% water change once a week. Needless to say, the pleco's in the discus tank are growing at a rate twice that of there not so fortunate brethen.

that might also be because of the density you keep them. when there are less competitors for food and territory, they will go faster

 

[user_name]

mine are still small and 3-4 months old....

 

[plecoman]

My albino bristlenose pleco's grow pretty fast. I had one female lay around 100 a little over 2 weeks ago and they are already 1/2" and growing. I feed mine decapsulated brine shrimp egg for the first 2 weeks, and that at 2 - 3 times per day. It really makes then grow. But I also do a 50% water change every 2 - 3 days too. After the first 2 weeks I start feeding mine algae wafers, spirulina flakes(crushed) and still the shrimp eggs. After they reach 1" which is usually around 4 - 5 weeks, I put them in their grow out tank and feed them everything that I feed the large pleco's. Also, all of my breeding tanks are 20 long's.

 

[abcdefghi]

Bringing this back up, as I have a new question. Yesterday during WC time, I noticed they had spawned again. If I had to guess there are currently around 40-50 eggs.

Now, I do not have any spare tanks, nor any money to buy a spare tank. There are currently around 20-25 fry in the tank already, and if I had to guess it will likely be another month at least until I can take those to the LFS (most are around 2cm currently). At what point is the tank going to become hugely overstocked?

It is a 29G, now bare bottom, filter is rated for a 65G, water change is as often as I can get them in during the week, and at least 50% on the weekends. I think if I can get the first spawn out soon, then I will most likely be OK, but the LFS will not take them at less than 1.5", and I am not sure how much longer that will take.

 

[pinkertd]

Is it just the one pair of parents in there and the babies?

 

[abcdefghi]

Is it just the one pair of parents in there and the babies?

Yep, well it is a male and 2 females.

 

[Bubbles2112]

Is there any way that you can seperate the male from the female? I have to do that or I get tons of eggs/babies and the dominant male gets run down. Also, concerning the growth rate of the babies--if you give them a protein based diet for the first couple of weeks they will develop at a faster rate than the veggie based diets. However, it is not advised to keep them on this diet for long.

 

[pinkertd]

I'm surprised nobody told you the best way to make any fish grow faster. Change more water more often. Waste buildup is normally the limiting factor on growth as most people feed their fish more than they really need.

Oh I never stopped to think about that SubRosa. Very good point though bro. The larger the WC's the faster and larger they can grow. =-)

While it is true that water quality can greatly affect growth or lack of it, this is only true when coupled with several feedings a day....as all fry need to grow properly. You will not see this happen if you're going to feed your fry one meal a day. Plecos eat 24/7. A lot of times I start a new batch out in a 10G by themselves and change the water every day because of all the feedings. For me, it's easier to change the 10 gallon every day because it's right on the kitchen counter.

And I agree with Bubbles on the early diet. While I do provide lots of very soft zucchini for the fry, their staple is Hikari First Bites which is high in protein.

Looks like you have about 20 older fry and the trio. So another batch of 40-50 new fry is definitely doable in the 29G tank with lots of food and water changes. I transfer all my fry over to a 29G when they are about a month old, taking them out of the 10G. I woudn't put any more future spawns/fry in there though.