About To Lay Eggs?

[kribensis12]

I bought 2 Bristlenose Pleco's last Wednesday. I bought a Adult male and a Adult female froma friend and Local breeder ( great deal, 5 dollars apiece!). Well, i think she is about to lay eggs. She and the male ( along with some Labidochromis caeruleous ) in a 30g tank. Here is a picture of her( from today):

Her is a picture of her underside from about 5 days ago:

Also, just to show off, my male( i LOVE him!):

So, do you think she is ready to lay eggs?

 

[helterskelter]

I found that these can take a while to settle in to a new tank before they breed.

I got a proven pair once and gave them a 4' tank well filtered and they never breed for me.
I found it's best to start with 4-5 small fish and rear them my self till they mature in my tanks. Then keep a male and a couple of females.

 

[kribensis12]

Well, they were boughten frma local breeder. They have been in the same tank with eachother since they were born. Theya rent a proven pair, but i tihnk they may be anyway. There was 4 in that tank. 2 males and 2 females. 1m/1f were guarding some eggs, and theese too were just swimming around in there. She just got really big, so i was just wondering.

 

[kribensis12]

Every time the male and feamel see eachother, the male chases her. And she swims away. Does this mean they dont want to breed?

 

[helterskelter]

He's gotta lurn...... no quick way to do it.

What mine do is. male site in cave with tale showing, he knows when a female is close somehow and then displays his tail some time edging out slightly.
The female then creeps closer and then using her pectoral fin she touches his tail, this excites him and if he dashes out he'll scare her off.
How ever in the end when they get it right he'l come out let her in and then pin her in for 30-40 mins

 

[kribensis12]

kay. I dont have a actual cave. I will take a pic and show you what their tank looks like.

 

[helterskelter]

I've seen them spawn in a hollow in some bog wood but it has to just right for the male.
So give him several options, He'll select what best for him.

 

[Inchworm]

The first time my BN spawned I wasn't expecting it and it happened under their wood. The eggs got loose and were eaten by the other fish in the tank.

By the next time I was prepared and had found some ceramic tubes to put in my tanks. He adopted one as his home and has spawned in it several times. It's good to have a place like that since he will stay with the eggs and fry until they have hatched and are big enough to feed on their own. I think there are more readily available kinds of tubes you could use too, and I hope someone will post some information about them.

Here's a picture of a tube like I used, except that one doesn't have the cut out area.

What mine do is. male site in cave with tale showing, he knows when a female is close somehow and then displays his tail some time edging out slightly.
The female then creeps closer and then using her pectoral fin she touches his tail, this excites him and if he dashes out he'll scare her off.
How ever in the end when they get it right he'l come out let her in and then pin her in for 30-40 mins

Thanks for the good information, helterskelter. I'll keep an eye out for his tail now. I've been disappointed because I've missed seeing them spawn every time so far.

 

[kribensis12]

That is the whole tank/

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kribensis12

Your tank is beautiful!

 

[Mystil]

I bought a proven pair and they took quite afew months to settle into their new home and the female was had a huge stomach for quite a while...the thing that tipped me off to something was going on was the fact that the male would chase the female around alot and the female would become more active in the tank.

I did give the male different caves to chose from and I only knew that she had laid when she was up against the tank and her stomach was concave...

 

[kribensis12]

Hi kribensis12

Your tank is beautiful!

Hahaha, i wish. THe floatings plants are ugly. The tank light isnt bright enough to show the wood in there, the clay pot is cracked, the plants that are floating are dieng, the gravel is HORRIBLE, and well, i odnt particularly like the tank.