Male & Female BN Pleco

[FroFro]

My male pleco is finally two inches in length, nearly the same size as my female BN pleco in my 65 gallon main tank.

I bought him with the intention to breed them since she seems to get gravid quite often despite only ever breeding once... then she ate the father. He was only half her size so I'd thought I'd get her a fella who isn't easy to push around.

Well now that time has come, I've bought two of these caves and expecting them in a day or two from amazon

I also have a coconut cave, hand made cave, and large driftwood pieces for easy hiding spots my female BN already enjoys.

Forgot to mention, also treating my whole tank since my last angel died from Hole in the head, so he won't be added until this treatment is complete.

Is it common for a breeding pair of plecos to fight? I've read males are very territorial and I want to prevent any injuries/stress.

 

[Retired Viking]

Pushing him around she ate him that is a little more then pushing around. Good luck with their breeding

 

[Barry Tetra]

Pushing him around she ate him that is a little more then pushing around. Good luck with their breeding

They might be stressed.

 

[Waterstrider]

Having bred tons, mine generally doesn’t fight unless it’s a different species too near the eggs. Having said that, If she is goofing up and trying to eat the eggs, he might.

 

[JxsPxxle]

My male pleco is finally two inches in length, nearly the same size as my female BN pleco in my 65 gallon main tank.

I bought him with the intention to breed them since she seems to get gravid quite often despite only ever breeding once... then she ate the father. He was only half her size so I'd thought I'd get her a fella who isn't easy to push around.

Well now that time has come, I've bought two of these caves and expecting them in a day or two from amazon

View attachment 97702
I also have a coconut cave, hand made cave, and large driftwood pieces for easy hiding spots my female BN already enjoys.

Forgot to mention, also treating my whole tank since my last angel died from Hole in the head, so he won't be added until this treatment is complete.

Is it common for a breeding pair of plecos to fight? I've read males are very territorial and I want to prevent any injuries/stress.

When I was much younger and I didn’t know what I was doing with fish, I had a male and a female BN (without even knowing) which went on to breed multiple times. My tank was overflowing with BN babies, personally I think they are very easy to breed. I never noticed them fighting, but they are about the same size and when the female laid her egg, I would lose sight of the male until one day I found him caring for the eggs inside a huge ornament.

 

[Waterstrider]

When I was much younger and I didn’t know what I was doing with fish, I had a male and a female BN (without even knowing) which went on to breed multiple times. My tank was overflowing with BN babies, personally I think they are very easy to breed. I never noticed them fighting, but they are about the same size and when the female laid her egg, I would lose sight of the male until one day I found him caring for the eggs inside a huge ornament.

They are excellent fathers!
I had to watch out for other fish in the past. I had an aggressive barb that was trying to swipe eggs from an ornament and he was on the inside roof of the ornament, literally dropped down like a scene from alien and for lack of a better word , “threw”the barb out and across the sand. Everyone was ok, but it was jaw dropping at the time.

 

[FroFro]

They are excellent fathers!
I had to watch out for other fish in the past. I had an aggressive barb that was trying to swipe eggs from an ornament and he was on the inside roof of the ornament, literally dropped down like a scene from alien and for lack of a better word , “threw”the barb out and across the sand. Everyone was ok, but it was jaw dropping at the time.

Oh it's not the male I'm worried about, its my female. The first male I had and added to the tank they bred in under 2 days, so I was very surprised. My new male is nearly her same size, give or take a centimeter. I'm worried I have a black widow BN pleco

 

[FroFro]

Having bred tons, mine generally doesn’t fight unless it’s a different species too near the eggs. Having said that, If she is goofing up and trying to eat the eggs, he might.

I'm wondering if I place the choicest caves on one side of the tank and he gaurds the babies, maybe I could put a divider in so no other fish can get near and I wouldn't have to move his cave?

 

[Waterstrider]

Yeah you could try that just make sure there’s plenty of filtration to both sides. There’s no guarantee of which cave he will choose, but if necessary you can always move the eggs if they’re laid in a container.
I’ve even successfully move the father and eggs to a temporary 10 gallons with bubblers.