Growth rate of BN pleco fry.

[Turbosaurus]

Pinkertd, I am sorry I should have updated the thread before I posted the pictures. Couple things- these pictures were taken on or about 1/24 of fish who were born in October and fish that were only a couple days old.

My original post around Christmas references a Summer spawn, but with the parents spitting out babies every 3 months I had to do something! I gave away 53 at my last aquarium club meeting on 1/17, including all of the remaining fish from June. These are still small for their age I think, but the larger fish in these photos are only about 3.5 months old.

There is another 20 long under this one and I've already removed ~half the babies to that tank where they are cleaning up the left over BBS from Apisto and Angel fry and keeping the glass clean. That's where I noticed the more rapid growth. That's as good as it will get. I am not putting up any more tanks for ABNs in my house. I think I might even separate the pair- they're a little too amorous and this baby-making has got to stop or at least slow down.

I will stay up on the feeding- can I feed them in the dark? Aren't they somewhat nocturnal? The parents seem to be out more when the light isn't on.
The lights come on at 7:30 AM and I feed them on my way to work, then again around 6PM when I get home, then its lights out. I can feed them again before I go to bed if they eat at night. When I put in a clump of spinach or zucchini its takes them 2 days to finish it (or I take it out) so that's almost always an option for them if they're hungry.

 

[pinkertd]

At least you saw first hand that the extra feedings result in better growth. and yes, they feed all night long too. BN plecos grow rather quickly the first several months and slow down considerably by the time they are between 6-9 months. Sometimes not really achieving full adult size until they are well over 1.5 years old, although they will begin to breed around 9-12 months. Yours were cutting you a break only spawning every 3 months, mine spawned every 6 weeks. I wound up moving mine out of a 30G into a 55G.

What I do with young plecos is feed them before I go to work which is 5:00 AM, feed them as soon as I get home which is 5:00 PM, and drop more food in at lights out at 10:00. They eat 24/7 including in the dark. The only other fish I feed in the dark are otos and cories. Zuchinni is a staple in the pleco tank at all times when growing out fry. What I found with the young fry was I had to start blanching the zuchinni for them, otherwise it was not soft enough for their little mouths to suck it up. But this meant I had to remove it every 12-24 hours since the softer it is, the faster it gunks up your filters. With bigger plecos I don't blanch and I can keep it in up to 36 hours, but I put big wedges of it in the tank.

I am currently growing out some L144 long fin bristlenose. The oldest ones I have I got in September at 1-1.25" and they are well over 2" now not including their long tails and their bodies are broadening out nicely.

Discus it seems are the one fish that other hobbyists are very vocal about with regard to frequent small feedings of the young fish, but it's not just discus....it's all growing fry and young fish. You may not notice the results of inadequate feeding in other fry the way you do in discus, but they won't be as strong, long-term. Raising fry properly means more food, which means more tank cleaning, and overall it's a lot of extra work, but necessary to ensure the best outcome for the fish.

 

[Turbosaurus]

Thank you, what do you feed your BN besides zucchini?

What temperature do you keep them at? The ones in with the angel and apisto fry seem to still be growing faster. It may just be that they got a jump on their siblings, but I wonder if the warmer water (84 vs 76-78) also has an effect?

 

[pinkertd]

Temp can have an influence on it too. For instance, eggs will hatch out on time in a tank with the proper/required temp for that species. Lower it a few degrees and hatching will take longer. I keep my pleco tanks at 80-82 and in the summer they hit 84.

In the first few weeks I give them lots of Hikari first bites and they can help themselves to whatever I feed the adults that dissolves to their size. My adults get lots of Kens veggie sticks, earthworm sticks, shrimp pellets and I'm sure they get their share of any microworms, live whiteworms, and frozen bloodworms that may get sucked in while they are browsing. I used to use more algae disks but find all of my fish love the veggies sticks better.