Bristlenose Pleco's

[cichlidman29]

now, ive heard from a few people that these plecs are easy to breed one put it as "there like swordtails or guppies, so long as you have a male and a female just add water and they do the rest"...
my lfs have 2 pairs of these catfish, im thinking of getting a pair to possibly try and breed.
so my question is, just how easy are they to breed?
and what size do these pleco's get to?
also what else is needed for them to breed, what are the vital breeding signs, how many eggs are laid, and how easy are the fry to rear?
and will these eat anything the other kinds of pleco's would normally eat?
also what size do they tend to breed at?
any in particular?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

so my question is, just how easy are they to breed? Very Easy.

and what size do these pleco's get to? About 5-6 inches max.

also what else is needed for them to breed, Caves. A feeding of blood worms may help.

what are the vital breeding signs, The male will trap a female in his cave.

how many eggs are laid, Early spawns are 20-25, later in life when they are big 100+.

and how easy are the fry to rear? The dad does all the work in the cave until free swimming fry are ready to be released. Unless viable eggs are accidentally booted, you don't have to do anything.

and will these eat anything the other kinds of pleco's would normally eat? BN are primarily vegetarian and algae eating, but they do take some meaty foods.

also what size do they tend to breed at? I have had them spawn at about 2 inches and 10 or so months.I had a trio that became a pair and which spawned for 9 years for me. I lost them both before their time.

 

[cichlidman29]

awsome - thanks very much "2 tanks admin"

last thing can they go with firemouth's and blue acara's?
and really at just 2 inches...thats incredible!

think i need a pair myself lol
with a cave in the tank, will the bn's allow other fish to go into the cave aswell?

 

[Liquid skills]

Yeh i agree

Altho the one thing i would say is that bn (in the wild) are onivours and eag meat and veg like stated above some fish keepers dont realise that bn benefit alot from meaty foods mine get it once every other day they also grow alot faster with the added bloodworm then without

I done an experement where i fed two with blood worm and two without the blood worm ones grew big quicker then the ones without