Breeding BNs

[seangee]

It's 19 years since Billy (the bulldozer) plopped through my letterbox in a plastic bag inside a padded envelope. He seems in perfect health but obviously can't go on forever. So I was thinking of getting him a friend and a plant pot.

Could it really be that simple? I accept it may not work out and he has no experience as a parent. My biggest concern is his ability to keep the herd of permanently ravenous, and completely fearless, corydoras paleatus at bay. That is without causing too much stress for himself or the rest of the tank. I don't need a high survival rate but to date they have had a very high success rate against any eggs that have happened by accident although there has never been anything in the tank that will actually care for the eggs.

 

[connorlindeman]

Wait. The BN came in a plastic bag in a padded envelope? Something about that doesnt seem right...

 

[seangee]

Wait. The BN came in a plastic bag in a padded envelope? Something about that doesnt seem right...

Actually there were 4 in there - I had asked for 3 and the person put an extra 1 in for luck, it was from a forum member - possibly even this forum. At the time posting fish was not allowed in the UK (although posting fry was - I believe). They were tiny and in 2016 when I downsized my tank I re-homed his 3 siblings. Not the recommended start in life but that means after 12 years 4/4 were still thriving.

Not suggesting its right but I never even had to pay for them, today I am looking at over £50 for a breeding size female including shipping.

 

[seangee]

Well here is the new lady friend. She's settling in to what will be their new home, that way they won't be bugged by swarms of cories. I guess I will have to stop calling this one the Thai tank.

They haven't been introduced yet. I do have one tiny little challenge. That is to persuade Billy out of the country estate where he went to retire 7 years ago without having to destroy the place - he is quite set in his ways so what happens next is anybody's guess...

 

[seangee]

After only 36 hours in I managed to lose her. How do you lose an 8cm fish that is in no way camoflauged in a lightly planted 20G. As you can see she has already started uprooting stuff

She's hiding under the piece of wood in the centre

 

[seangee]

Oh my word. This one's a digger. That pic was last night and this morning the tank looks like a war zone. My lovely smooth substrate is full of craters and mounds and I seem to have rather of lot of floating ambulia and hygrophila. Once Billy arrives I may just be filling the top with frogbit and leaving them to decorate the bottom as they see fit

 

[seangee]

Hopefully this helps reduce her instinct to dig her own caves. I also added two others - although one, an anubias on a pot sold as a BN cave, is nowhere near big enough to accommodate Billy when he moves in

 

[Freshyfishy]

wait- your pleco is 19?!!

 

[seangee]

wait- your pleco is 19?!!

Yes but not that one. This one (pics from 2020)

Last time I persusaded him to lie in front of a tape measure he was over 7". Watched an informational video on youtube the other night that assured me that in the right conditions they can live as long as 5 years - also that they are unlikely ever to reach 6" in an aquarium

He is currently lurking an the back left corner of my signature tank behind the heater, and refusing to come out for a photo.

 

[seangee]

Hopefully this helps reduce her instinct to dig her own caves.

Fat chance. This morning when I couldn't find her I went hunting. She had dug a hole under the front cave and was clinging to the underside of it. Here is the full tank with most of the overnight damage repaired, she's remarkably placid about having my hands in there and not at all fussed. Excuse the bubbles I have just done a 75% water change

OMG I had forgotten what efficient poop factories they are. I get shielded from this in the big tank because its big, has a lot of plants and the ecology has had several years to adapt to the bioload. I could hardly believe what came out of the filter sponge. I only have a thin piece of coarse sponge in there as I rely on the plants to do the heavy lifting for nitrogen removal. Added some more sponge to assist with the mechanical filtration . The mucky filter was probably not helped by the fact that every inch of the substrate has been dug over since the last water change. I could swear the plant growth has visibly accelerated with all that extra fertiliser.

 

[AquaBarb]

Sean, Thai tank...didnt you have Microdevario Kuborai in this tank?

How long have you had the Rasbora? Im looking into them atm for one of my tanks. How do you find them?

 

[seangee]

Sean, Thai tank...didnt you have Microdevario Kuborai in this tank?

How long have you had the Rasbora? Im looking into them atm for one of my tanks. How do you find them?

Yeah I had those as well as a small group of sids (dwarf chain loach). Unfortunately I lost the entire tank shorlty after I added the lambchops. I assumed it was related but I have no evidence - and never lost a single rasbora. Actually one of the m.kubotai survived. After an extensive quarantine I have put him in with the CPDs and everything seems well in that tank. Much as I loved them I'm not replacing the sids at the moment - if nothing else a decent sized group would be bl**dy expensive. I got the trigonostigma espei from Tropco. I took the last of their stock though, they were unable to fulfil my entire order and sent the 8 they had left. Ironically I asked them to use the rest of the money I had paid for them to add some more microdevario kubotai.

While I was deciding what to do with the tank I thought I would try to breed some bristlenoses as Billy must be close to the end of his road. Well that idea is off the table now because I was right - I found Billy dead around an hour ago. After 19 years in my life I'll miss the cantankerous old beggar - but he has had a good innings. No foul play and no signs of disease or infection. So the 8cm girl can go into the big tank to try to fill the 8" gap he has left, and I can go back to trying to figure out what to do with the thai tank.

 

[AquaBarb]

Oh no!! not billy sorry to hear that Sean, 19 years is one hell of a life for a Bn pleco, so he had a damn good innings indeed.

Real bummer about the Thai tank too sad news all round m8. Ive heard a few mixed reviews about Tropco. Ive used them twice without issue luckily but these things can happen from anywhere tbf.

 

[seangee]

Real bummer about the Thai tank too sad news all round m8. Ive heard a few mixed reviews about Tropco. Ive used them twice without issue luckily but these things can happen from anywhere tbf.

In all honesty I am not blaming them. When I saw what was left in my tank all covered in mucous and struggling to breathe I added salt and upped the temp to 30. The lambchops were already in by then. The water did heat up but at the next water change I noticed the water was way too cold to be 30 degrees. Turned out the probe was faulty. I have had probes fail before and usually it causes the heating to shut down and triggers an alarm, but this one was just sending random temperatures. So my best guess is that either the lambchops are more tolerant of temp extremes or (more likely) the damage was already done before I added them, because they appear to be in prime condition now. Either way I have now replaced the probes on all of my tanks as a preventative measure.

Interestingly the new Inkbird controllers come with replaceable probes - plug and play rather than the cut and solder required for the old ones. The aquarium specific ones also now have 2 probes, the idea is you place these close to each other and if a variance is detected it shuts the heating down and sets off the alarm. Guess I will be upgrading mine at some point.

 

[AquaBarb]

In all honesty I am not blaming them. When I saw what was left in my tank all covered in mucous and struggling to breathe I added salt and upped the temp to 30. The lambchops were already in by then. The water did heat up but at the next water change I noticed the water was way too cold to be 30 degrees. Turned out the probe was faulty. I have had probes fail before and usually it causes the heating to shut down and triggers an alarm, but this one was just sending random temperatures. So my best guess is that either the lambchops are more tolerant of temp extremes or (more likely) the damage was already done before I added them, because they appear to be in prime condition now. Either way I have now replaced the probes on all of my tanks as a preventative measure.

Interestingly the new Inkbird controllers come with replaceable probes - plug and play rather than the cut and solder required for the old ones. The aquarium specific ones also now have 2 probes, the idea is you place these close to each other and if a variance is detected it shuts the heating down and sets off the alarm. Guess I will be upgrading mine at some point.

The new ones are pretty good tbf. I added one to one of my 5fts a month or so ago. You can control it from your phone and get alarms if the temp goes below or above your settings.

Didnt know you had to put the probes close together tho, ive got mine at either end