winkle
Fish Fanatic
I noticed that my male albino bristlenose was suspiciously absent at feeding time yesterday morning and evening, so today I set about finding him. I did; he was hiding in a shell, acting as if he was trying to fan water deeper into the shell (his pelvic fins were going like the clappers).
Now I think the albino bristlenoses have tried to breed in the 180L community tank before; the male vanished for a while and then one morning at 6am I'm convinced that I saw a <1cm baby bristlenose on the front glass of the tank when I switched the livingroom lights on. I'd been surprised as all of my albino britslenoses are 3ins long or less, so I'd presumed them to be too young and too small still. None of the babies (if there ever were any) survived.
So this time I removed the shell (it holds water like a cup so it was easy to keep the eggs submerged at all times...if there really are eggs somewhere around that spiralling corner) and added it to the sectioned fry tank. When I came back to catch the male, he was searching around for his shell so I popped him in a tub and floated it in the fry tank, ready to re-unite him with his shell. Within 10mins he'd escaped the tub, found his shell and was back on duty, fanning water and re-scaping the substrate around the entrance.
Excuse the very nosey juvie guppies; he's sharing with only 5 of the little guys and they usually hang out in the surface canopy of plant leaves but they were chasing the hand that feeds. I'm not sure how successful this will be for the bristlenose; having moved the eggs into a different tank. The water is the same temperature, comes from the same tap, is treated with the same tap-safe, has the same concentration of aquarium salt (0.1% as it keeps the sailfin mollies happier) but I'm sure there will be some variables between the two. At least if they do hatch in this tank there's some algae growing on the glass for them to graze, the juvie guppies aren't too interested in algae tablets so they won't have much competition and most of all, there's no big fish to hunt them. The 180L has got a peacock spiny eel and some boeseman's rainbowfish in it that are particuarly interested in little wriggly things.
I'm also aware that seashells don't make good ornaments; I'm slowly sneaking the horrible things out of the 180L one by one. Unfortunately everyone else in the house likes them.
My main questions are; if there are eggs in there, do I need to remove the male before they hatch or leave him with the fry for a while? If my bristlies are all 3ins or smaller, what sort of quantity of eggs are likely to have been laid (as I can't see them to count them)?
I'll update as/when anything happens, with pictures from my rank camera phone if they are worth posting
Now I think the albino bristlenoses have tried to breed in the 180L community tank before; the male vanished for a while and then one morning at 6am I'm convinced that I saw a <1cm baby bristlenose on the front glass of the tank when I switched the livingroom lights on. I'd been surprised as all of my albino britslenoses are 3ins long or less, so I'd presumed them to be too young and too small still. None of the babies (if there ever were any) survived.
So this time I removed the shell (it holds water like a cup so it was easy to keep the eggs submerged at all times...if there really are eggs somewhere around that spiralling corner) and added it to the sectioned fry tank. When I came back to catch the male, he was searching around for his shell so I popped him in a tub and floated it in the fry tank, ready to re-unite him with his shell. Within 10mins he'd escaped the tub, found his shell and was back on duty, fanning water and re-scaping the substrate around the entrance.
Excuse the very nosey juvie guppies; he's sharing with only 5 of the little guys and they usually hang out in the surface canopy of plant leaves but they were chasing the hand that feeds. I'm not sure how successful this will be for the bristlenose; having moved the eggs into a different tank. The water is the same temperature, comes from the same tap, is treated with the same tap-safe, has the same concentration of aquarium salt (0.1% as it keeps the sailfin mollies happier) but I'm sure there will be some variables between the two. At least if they do hatch in this tank there's some algae growing on the glass for them to graze, the juvie guppies aren't too interested in algae tablets so they won't have much competition and most of all, there's no big fish to hunt them. The 180L has got a peacock spiny eel and some boeseman's rainbowfish in it that are particuarly interested in little wriggly things.
I'm also aware that seashells don't make good ornaments; I'm slowly sneaking the horrible things out of the 180L one by one. Unfortunately everyone else in the house likes them.
My main questions are; if there are eggs in there, do I need to remove the male before they hatch or leave him with the fry for a while? If my bristlies are all 3ins or smaller, what sort of quantity of eggs are likely to have been laid (as I can't see them to count them)?
I'll update as/when anything happens, with pictures from my rank camera phone if they are worth posting
