Bristlenose Plecs

[scottca]

Hi All,

Im thinking seriously of breeding BN's in higher quantity, would like to get a bigger tank (lots of filtration!) and start with maybe 3 trios and see how that goes, I have bred BN's before in my community tank (had a spawn hatched yesterday!)

I dont want to breed them for high profit making, purely for hobby reasons but at the same time i do want to see the little fella's go to good homes and I dont want them overpowering my breeding tanks (a little made here and there is always helpfull tho!)

Is there a market to sell BN's on? I contacted my lfs but they seem to only be interested in giving store credit, I buy alot of my food etc online bulk so it isnt too helpfull to have store credit ?

Can you have little BN's with adults that are spawning in the same tank (it will be filtered accordingly and have enough space) ? How long does it take from hatch to point of sale as such? and then how long to sex?

or is it worth me not going for BN's but attempting an alternative plec?

Thanks in advance,

Craig

 

[windy 1958]

theres always a market for b/ns
dont expect to get to much for them i trade mine for store credit
yes it is ok to keep youngsters in with breeding adults
you could try breeding the more expensive b/ns like 183s, piebalds, LDA08s

 

[scottca]

Cheers Windy,

Dont mind not getting much for them, just ideally looking for something other than store credit

if you dont mind me asking, how much on average do you get per plec and what size?

Cheers.

Craig

 

[windy 1958]

not much about £1 a fish at 40mm

 

[geo7x]

BNs are great to breed as despite them breeding like guppies there is quite alot of demand for them.

 

[scottca]

cool thanks windy and geo,

think im going to start breeding them a bit more serious, just need to find an lfs that will pay cash rather than credit

How old do they have to be before you can sex them?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There are a variety of bn. Chocolates, albinos, calicos/marbles as well as regular and long fin. As a general rule. lf sell for more than reg. fin, albinos for more than chaocs and the calicos seem to be the hot ticket here in the states and they are selling for abssurd prices. There are also other types of bn besides the more commonly found ones. CHeck out L-144s (a black eyed albino).

I have traded 65 lf choc babies at 1.5 inch TL for a pair of DD Black angels. However, I sell the mine at anything from $3-$7.50 depending on size and type ( I wont pay what the typical asking price is for calicos as they sell at grossly inflated prices here). I finally either sold or seperated my breeders as they are too prolific and I have too many tanks dedicated to bn growout.

If you can get hold of any of the striped hypancistrus, I would try them as they will bring more money on sale.

 

[geo7x]

I think BNs can be sexed at 1.5-2" if I recall correctly.

 

[windy 1958]

ive just got rid of a breeding pair of piebalds that were only 2 inches long

 

[scottca]

Thanks for the replys everyone - Im going to start searching for some alternative BN varieties too

My fry are now starting to come out of the cave but I think im loosing quite a few to other fish

im thinking more about getting a growout tank.

What sort of tank size should I be looking at, to house Bristlenose Fry from a Trio at a regular spawn rate

Taking all that into account, and having constant fry being added, what size / spec growout tank would I need. I know I would probably need to massivly overfilter but wondering on the general size. I have a limited fund but dont want to underspend if it means im not treating the animals right, would rather stop the breeding. At the same time, i dont want to overspend

Thanks in advance

Craig