It figures that the one fish that I keep that I would like to see spawn and won't are my albino bristlenose plecos.

Maybe they are not mature enough yet. The male is about 3 inches and the female a little smaller. There is also one more that is about 1.5 inches, but I'm not sure if that one is big enough to sex yet. If it is, then I would say it's a female.

I have them together in a 20 gallon long. Lots of driftwood and hiding places and real plants clinging to life. I feed them all sorts of veggies and NLS. Temperature is 80.

Do you think they are mature enough to breed? Is there anything special I can do to help them along? Or do I need to be patient and let them grow more before I can expect to see any spawning?

Any tips would be appreciated.

Aura,,,myself and Les have successfully bred these and I am sure others have to. But I will help you from my exp.

If these are in a tank by themselves or not,,it doesnt matter,,you may already have fry. You may not see them UNTIL you start moving things around.

Maturing size,,,,,not sure but mine have bred at about 3-4'...be patient,,it will happen soon anough.

When it is time,,,you'll notice a pinkish/red spot on top of the males forehead.

The male will protect tham better than the mother,(go figure) Giggly

Heres a couple pic I dug up for ya.

AP.

Picture of dad...mom is hiding somewhere.

Protecting his fry.

Cool pics and info, AP!

Hang in there, Aura, time will tell soon enough!

Thanks for the pics, AP. My male does show that red spot on the head, but my female might not be ready yet. She's lagging behind in growth.

I'll be patient and see what happens. Tres Bien!

I found our females were usually larger than our males when they spawned...I have the same situation right now, just waiting for the girls to mature enough to do the job. You will also notice the females will look very full of eggs just before the spawn.

I have to disagree with AP on one thing, though...To raise a clutch successfully, I wouldn't want them in with other fish...

And, we found them to be very sensitive to water changes - it almost seemed as if they thrived on a dirty tank.

Kim

They are alone with the exception of two tiny little hybrid fry.

I have been doing frequent water changes, though. All of that poop is too much for me to leave alone. Hmmmm I'll try cutting back on that.

"Mrs.",,,, idunno

I didnt state anywhere that they HAD/SHOULD be alone. I said regardless,,in with tanks mates or not,,they may have fry already,and she may only see them when she movers things. These fish can/will spawn with other fish in the tank,,,true,,,you may lose some,,but it can/has be done. IME,,,, Nanananaa

Like I said,,,the male protects them as any other fish protects their fry,,or tries to.
Watch and see if a fish can get close enough when the male is protecting them. it's interesting to see. Tres Bien!

Keep us posted Aura.

AP.

I will keep you posted. I have one other question for now. Do they prefer slow water movement or faster? The filter that I have right now is a small one. I didn't think I would need too much filtration, but with all of the poop they are doing and cutting back on water changes a little, I will need better filtration. Would this be a problem or a good thing for them?

Here's the setup. I have a few pieces of pvc in there and plenty of hiding spots. I have a stronger light on it now, for the plants' benefit, but could reduce that.

Here's what confused me, AP:

It was the "it doesn't matter" part that threw me off.

My males have never been good at defending fry against other fish in the tank long term. They might pull it off for a day or two, but eventually they lose the battle. So, basically what I was saying is that if you seriously want to breed them, give them a tank of their own.

Aura, they love driftwood. Tres Bien!

I find slower water movement works best. They are pretty fragile as fry (remember the time the blob of them was moving around my tank and I thought they were unfertilized eggs and dumped them?) and I don't think they could take a heavy current.

Kim

I LIKE that setup Aura.

I dont see any "enclosed" breeding places for them????

The tubes???

And like 'Mrs." said already,,,they really DO like driftwood. And the real kind,,,not the fake shyte. Tres Bien!

Any pic of these fish or what??????? Nanananaa


AP.

I have three pvc caves (painted brown and black) and three smallish pieces if driftwood. Two of these wood pieces are hollowed out underneath and they like to hang out in those. I also have a fake flower vase type thing and a nice flat rock that has a good hiding place below it. Oh and there is also a small pagoda that the male can somehow get into. blinky

I'll try to take some pics tonight.

Thanks for the replies. Tres Bien!

I put my pair in a tank with bare bottom, a little java moss and one cave. They were going at it in a couple days.
If I want some fry, I sink some Tetra Crisps in the tank. I don't know if its related or not but they eat all the time but when I put that in there they spawn.... lol
I also use other prepared foods and cucumbers.
My cave is just a clay saucer turned up side down with a hole on one end.
I know I posted this before. butt...lol

Nice pics Finman Tres Bien!
Aura, Sounds like your pair are about the right size. Careful what you wish for.... ha ha
AP is right. The plecos will spawn either as an isolated pair or in a community tank set up. However this is where I agree with Kim...in that picture that AP posted, the plecos were in my tang community tank. They spawned and managed to keep some fry- but that's only because they were housed with a tank of Cyp Leptisoma's, some shellies, and some Para Cyp Niggripinnis. Once I realized they were a breeding pair, I isolated them into a 20L. Thats when you really see the huge clutches that Kim is referring to- Like 50-75 every three to four weeks.

In a juvie frontosa grow out tank, I had another pair, but the fronts ate their spawns. In a mbuna tank- its likely that you wont even see any fry or know that they've bred.
Kim is also right on about the water changes- the fry dont like water changes at all. You may even loose some whether careful or not. Even the adults would occasionally (very weakly) float to the surface to grab air. Try keeping the pair you have in a dark tank- and they like it filthy! Have patience. It will happen- and when it does you will have so many fry- you will witness them eating a whole can of french cut string beans in a week. They are more voracious than a plague of locusts. Remember this, because one day you are going to agree with me.

If you breed an albino and a regular brown, you can expect to get about a 50/50 split on the fry. half albino and half brown. you can see a few brown fry among the albino's in this picture if you look closely. The other brown fry were blending into the brown driftwood

Thanks for the pictures and information guys. Very helpful stuff.

I'll cut back on the water changes, keep the dimmer light on the tank, not too much filtration, and I have a clay saucer I can add and will wait and see what happens.

Those babies in the pictures sure are cute little things. Cloud 9

These show some of the driftwood pieces and pvc.






AP, if you look closely in a couple of those pictures above, you might see them. This is a picture from last year when I first got them. They were so small at that time. The bigger one now has bristles, but not as big as the others posted.

Your set up looks awesome. Dont worry...they will breed for you...and then you will be amazed at how much they eat...

I compare breeding these guys to having my kid. I couldnt wait for her to learn to walk....now she runs all over the place. I have to stay on my toes.

Then I couldnt wait for her to start talking, now I wish she had an off switch or at least a volume control!

When you start getting 100's of babies, you may wish they would cool it Giggly

Getting a lot of fry is definatly not a problem.

I just need to work with them more to get more up to size.

Man they will attack food thats for sure.

I thought I'd update with a big fat nothing is happening. worry wart! I even set up a second tank and added another pair from my other tanks. This second pair are larger fish and I'm pretty sure they are more than mature enough.

I guess I need to look for some Tetra Crisps. I've tried everything else that's been recommended. dumb dumb

Thought I'd add a picture or two of the other pair.

Male




Female -- at least that's what I think it is.

Are those Albino Plecos????????????

I can see the 'brown" one being a regular bristlenose. But what are those greenish things??????? Is it just on my computer or what?????



AP.

No AP, the second pair that I set up are not albinos. The color is just bad picture taking/camera flash. Hmmmm