New Pleco Eggs.

[dylema]

After a period of my two male bristle noses showing off and making caves (one digging a great cave under a large flat rock) and starting to wiggle their fins, finally it seems the lady pleco made her choice. She chose the male that is now the largest but has very few bristles and this is his first go at being a dad. I came home from work last night to find that unfortunately he had failed to keep the eggs in his cave (not the nice under rock cave) but he seemed to be paying them some attention and fanning them well. During feeding though he left the eggs alone and in full view of all the other fish (which I unfortunately know love to eat pleco eggs) and so I thought it was best to rescue the eggs. I have put them into a breeder net in a place with good water movement so we will see how we go.

One question I have is; How do the plecos fertilise their eggs? Do they somehow have sex in the conventional way and fertilise the eggs before laying them or does the male fertilise them as the female is laying them or when she is done?

 

[dylema]

Update: They are obviously fertilised as I can see the tiny plecos forming in the eggs. I hope they hatch ok. Any thoughts on how long I can Keep the babies in the breeding net? There are 30 eggs. Thanks.

 

[smithrc]

no-one helped you

how are they doing?

as long as you have good flow in the net they will be fine - make sure you clean out un eated food though

 

[furryrabbit]

good luck with the eggs!

 

[RESGuy]

Hey good luck, you must be excited

 

[dylema]

no-one helped you

how are they doing?

as long as you have good flow in the net they will be fine - make sure you clean out un eated food though

I just thought no one loved me

I must admit I did seek help in another forum dedicated to plecs.

They are doing great at the moment. I counted 30 eggs at the start and counted 28 fry last night without looking in their tube/cave so I think They are doing well . I have a combination of dark and light coloured ones (not albino) I guess you want to see pictures and since I now know someone does care I will show you their progression.

So they were laid on 15th on july

I scooped them up and put them in the net with an airstone and the eggs got brown dots in them

Then the dots turned into dots with tails

Then the tails grew out of the eggs

Then the tails turned into tiny plecs on the yolk

Then when they had finished their tasty yolk they tried some bean and loved it

Then they grew and got darker and looked more like propper plecs

Then they got a little bigger and kept running away from the camera and so I got frustrated and don't want to post the blury pictures I took today.

Tomorrow they are going into a small tank so they can grow a bit bigger before I find homes for them.

 

[Bloo]

That's absolutely awesome ! Well done

Keep us updated with piccies!

 

[smithrc]

nice work

Any more question... bung them up... I'll mark this and keep an eye for you

 

[RESGuy]

Thanks for the pics!! They are awesome!!

Plecs look like tadpoles when they are born!!!!

 

[dylema]

Update, I have put them in a smaller tank but still in the net as there is a fighter (betta) in there as well and I am nervous about them getting eaten. I am undecided whether to release them with the fighter and let them hide in the wood and rocks or move the fighter and let him eat guppy fry in the community tank? I don't think it will be a problem when they get a bit bigger but for now I don't know. Any thoughts?

I still can't get a good pictures but they are getting quite active and enjoying all the different foods I give them (so far, beans, algae wafers, peas, sweet potato).

Dylan

 

[smithrc]

Update, I have put them in a smaller tank but still in the net as there is a fighter (betta) in there as well and I am nervous about them getting eaten. I am undecided whether to release them with the fighter and let them hide in the wood and rocks or move the fighter and let him eat guppy fry in the community tank? I don't think it will be a problem when they get a bit bigger but for now I don't know. Any thoughts?

I still can't get a good pictures but they are getting quite active and enjoying all the different foods I give them (so far, beans, algae wafers, peas, sweet potato).

Dylan

we used to use the betta tank to hold fry... untill Lorna saw 'Frank' swimming about with a tail sticking out of his mouth ... that was the last time we did it

 

[dylema]

I have done a tank swap and put the older slower fighter in the tank so there is less chance of any problems so fingers crossed. I will try and get a good arrangement soon so that the fry have their own tank. I might put guppy and pleco fry together as they should be fine and then the fast short tail fighter won't do any harm in the community tank.

The pleco fry are loving being free. They are exploring all the nooks and crannies of the tank.

Dylan

 

[smithrc]

I was about to offer you a 2ft tank af a grow out tank... then I spotted your location

How much are BN's selling for over there? most plecs are banned arnt they?

 

[dylema]

Bn are about AU$5 (2 pounds) for 3-4cm and about AU$18 (7 pound for 7 cm in the local shops. I haven't asked about wholesale price yet as I am only now thinking about getting rid of some.

I would love a 2' grow out tank but even if we lived close I don't have room for another tank. And my wife already thinks I want to start a pleco farm.

The only other plecs I have seen locally are whip tails. I know some of the guys the eastern states can get commons, sailfins, peppermint bristle nose (not too sure of the difference) and a few rarer one. Zebras are available if you know a breeder. But they are apparently about AU$1000 (6 weeks rent) for a juvinile. So you could be up for many grand to buy a breeding group if you could find someone who was willing to sell.

The chances of getting any plecs into australia are very slim as they do check everything that comes into the country and most if not all plecs are illegal to import. I believe you can import goldfish, some cichlids, discus, danios, tetras etc but there are very strict quarintine measures with every single fish being inspected before and after quarintine etc. You can only import from certain countries and no south american countries are on the list so even if plecs were legal they would have to come via the usa, some european country or thailand or indonesia with serious quarentine in between.

Dylan

 

[Elliott 03]

After a period of my two male bristle noses showing off and making caves (one digging a great cave under a large flat rock) and starting to wiggle their fins, finally it seems the lady pleco made her choice. She chose the male that is now the largest but has very few bristles and this is his first go at being a dad. I came home from work last night to find that unfortunately he had failed to keep the eggs in his cave (not the nice under rock cave) but he seemed to be paying them some attention and fanning them well. During feeding though he left the eggs alone and in full view of all the other fish (which I unfortunately know love to eat pleco eggs) and so I thought it was best to rescue the eggs. I have put them into a breeder net in a place with good water movement so we will see how we go.

One question I have is; How do the plecos fertilise their eggs? Do they somehow have sex in the conventional way and fertilise the eggs before laying them or does the male fertilise them as the female is laying them or when she is done?

Was it obvoius when the female was pregnant? Lso how do you tell if there female or male.