A Few Questions Regarding Bn Plecs.

[TimNorwich]

The story is: Bought a pair of Brown Ancistrus from my LFS the other day, asked the chap how much they were and he said 4.95 each (score!! I thought) bagged the female up no worries, spent about 20minutes getting the male out of his cave and gave up in the end. So I told him I'd buy the cave aswell (an additional £3) so he bagged that up. Got them home and to my suprise were about 40 babies wriggling around in the bag (obviously what he was protecting). So a full size breeding pair and a cave for £13! Win.



1) The babies are mixed race, some gold looking and some brown - is this unusual?,

2) Day 2 and the female doesn't look to have eaten anything and her belly looks empty (I am worried if she carries on she'll pop her cloggs) - I have tried cucumber and sinking pellets and am waiting for algae wafers to arrive off eBay,

3) How important is it to keep the substrate as free and clean of uneaten food/poop as possible? - I did what you said and got rid of some sand and left a thin layer,

4) How many breeding pairs could I get away with keeping in my 110L tank?


EDIT: My fish tank is a Rekord 80 and I soon hope to just have plecs!

Think this is all!



Many thanks,



Tim.

 

[KittyKat]

1) The babies are mixed race, some gold looking and some brown - is this unusual?

Colour morph, not race. It means that both parents have the gold gene (or lack a brown one, not sure about exact genetics of BN). 1/4 of the fry are gold, 1/4 brown, 1/2 are 50/50 (one brown, one gold gene).

2) Day 2 and the female doesn't look to have eaten anything and her belly looks empty (I am worried if she carries on she'll pop her cloggs) - I have tried cucumber and sinking pellets and am waiting for algae wafers to arrive off eBay,

Give her time. Also, courgette doesn't decay quite as fast, and keep in mind that they are nocturnal (so feed after lights out), with time, they are more likely to eat during the day.

3) How important is it to keep the substrate as free and clean of uneaten food/poop as possible? - I did what you said and got rid of some sand and left a thin layer,

See reply in other thread, just keep it clear of old food.

4) How many breeding pairs could I get away with keeping in my 110L tank?

In a 3ft tank: one male, two females. If the tank is shorter, I wouldn't keep any at all. Males are highly territorial, so two would fight in any tank smaller than 4ft.

 

[TimNorwich]

Great, thanks for your answers this is very helpful!

 

[Rynofasho]

Agreed with everything said. My BNs just spawned for the first time -- both are the common coloration, but I have a ton of gold / albino babies! I was going to suggest zucchini (courgettes on your side of the pond) as well as my BNs have never fancied cucumber. They really like sweet potatoes too!

For the fry, they too will eat the veggies mostly. Try french style green beans with no salt, or courgettes and sweet potatoes. Mine have been munching happily on all three!

In all honesty, be happy you have ONE breeding pair and stick with it. From what I've read, they can spawn as soon as 3 weeks after theyre done protecting the first batch, so you would really have your hands full with a fry factory if you got more spawning pair. See how you do raising these fry, then perhaps move on to bigger and better, but prepared to have a bigger and better tank then too.

 

[KittyKat]

3 weeks? Mine usually spawn the day the fry are out of the cave!

By the way, if the gold fry have black eyes, they are probably leucistic, if they have red eyes, they are albino.

 

[TimNorwich]

It's hard to tell if the babies eyes have any colour, they just look grey!

Thanks for all your answers much appreciated, are there any fish that won't pick off the babies as soon as they become free swimming?


Thanks again.

 

[KittyKat]

[...] are there any fish that won't pick off the babies as soon as they become free swimming?

Yes, most common community fish are fine. For example, tetras, rasboras, Boraras, guppies (I'd stay away from guppies, actually).

 

[Icantquit]

4) How many breeding pairs could I get away with keeping in my 110L tank?

Answer would be 1 pair, two pair would be a distraction to the breeding male. You could add another female or two, but no more males. I have albinos, Calicos, browns, greens, blue eyes, and reds. I breed mines in a 20 gallon long with 1 male two females..once they start breeding expect a few hundred frys a year....