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breeding common bristlenoses


PENEJANE

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I have a male bn and would like to breed him. He has many bristles on his nose but they are not very long yet still easily seen. When will I be able to breed him with a female? I am not sure on legenth as of yet as he is always on the back glass and through the water he appears bigger lol.

cheers.

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Hi Penejane, sounds like your boy would be close to breeding size, basically you'll need a female (surprise surprise LOL) and something to act as a cave for the male to hide in, my normal b/nose have laid eggs in a helicopter and gold b/nose in a ship.

I like ornaments as they have a couple of entry holes to help with water circulation, you want something that the male and female can fit in but not to big, they prefer to be cosy in their cave. Only problem with most caves is you can't see inside so you don't know when they have laid eggs.

I've been lucky in that they have spawned where i can see the eggs.

I found it best having a species tank as when the GBA eggs hatched even small swordtails were picking at the fry. Still waiting to see what comes out from the normal b/nose in my community tank but i doubt any will survive the angels and loaches.

Hope this helps : -)>

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well I doubt that if I add anything new for a cave that he will take to it. I have this ceramic rock formation thing where it looks like a mini mountain with a hole inside it. There are no other exit holes apart from this one main one and I can't really see inside it. Would it be wise to remove this and put in a small terricota pot or something?

Also would it be ok to leave the bristlenose in the main tank. There are only guppies and 3 baby mollies in there. I know that you need to have the male stay with the eggs so I guess once the eggs hatch that I am to then move them to the fry tank?

cheers

:D

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Does the male go into the rock formation? If he does that should do the trick. Should be ok in the main tank, he will fan (to prevent fungus) the eggs for about 5 days and once hatched he tries to keep them in the cave for about 5 more days, just be weary the other fish don't annoy the fry when they do emerge as they are quite small and not very good swimmers. Once the fry start emerging from the cave you could put them in the fry tank, when you first see them they may look like eggs with eyes and a tail, you wont need to feed them until the egg has gone as they feed from the egg sac.

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Cool buzz :D Next question. Since I have two tanks (main and fry tank) is it ok if I was to put a female in to the fry tank to help keep that clean?

I have never seen my male attack any fry so I doubt that I would have any worries with a female in the fry tank but thought I would ask first. This way I can put them together to breed and keep them apart when I don't want them to breed lol.

cheers

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Would they still breed if I had them in a 20ltr tank? I have moved my male bristlenose over to the fry tank where he can stay with the eggs with out being bugged by the bigger guppies and will put the female in the main 2ft tank and only put them together when I want to breed them.

So is it ok to get them to do their thing in the smaller tank so I don't have to later disturb the eggs or would I be asking for trouble?

Just thought it might be easier this way.

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Not to sure if they would breed in a 20ltr tank, thats quite small and i don't think they would feel secure enough to lay, i would use the big tank for them to breed and for him to look after the eggs and only move the fry once thay are free swimming.

I may be wrong but they are fairly large fish and would think they would pollute a 20ltr quite quick.

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Well I have put my male into the breeding tank and over night he has fanned out all the sand from under one end of the drift wood and has made that his new home. Its really neat watching him fan the sand out of the way. Seems he is really enjoying it in there. Now to find him a lovely little girlfriend and he can make his cave a home :D

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When is this Dunners tank thingy?? I would only need one female BN as I only have a 2ft to house it and I don't know how it will go having two bn's in one tank like that but being female they ain't fussy unlike the males so I guess two would be ok.

I will keep you posted as what is happening with this other one.

Cheers again Caryl

:bow:

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am getting my female bristlenose today and I was wondering that once the eggs have hatched and I fished out the bubbas and put them into the fry tank is the temp of 27-28*C ok? I have put the temp up as it has help eliminate needle-tail with the addition of Malachite Green which I have stoped using since the water change on the weekend as I have gone all week with out it reaccuring (YAY!!) so would this temp be ok for baby bns?

Cheers

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the old saying "don't count your chickens before they've hatched" comes to mind. BNs can be fairly difficult to breed sometimes and easy-as at others. Egg spawners are not as easy to get to reproduce as livebearers! 27-28 would be fine but don't move the young BNs unless you have to. Good luck!

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Hi PENEJANE,

General rule of thumb when moving fry is same tank water and temp , Blue&Kim are right that b/n are extra sensitive, but it can be done if you follow rule of thumb :D

I gave a good number of very young b/n aways to a friend that lives in the same city as I AND we run simler water systems = same water conditions.

He hadn't lost any last time week talked , so it can be done :D

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Ok now that I got my female. She has been on the other side of the divider so she wasn't put in straight away with the male. But I have put them together tonight and I was wondering what is the normal behavour for these two? Also what is their breeding behavour like? What am I to expect with these two meeting each other? So far I have seen my male what looks like chasing her about the tank so any information on what to expect would be greatly appreciated :bow::D

cheers

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ok since no one could give me any information on what to expect from introducing a female bn to my male I have now got a female with riped fins and tail. Should I take her out or push through it and hope that they will settle down? They are both about 3 inches long but all my male does is swim about the tank untill he finds her and then he jumps at her (best way I can discribe it) and she takes flight and it starts again with him going about the tank till he finds her. He has been more active these past few days then I have seen him before. Would it be wise to remove the female and let her recover or leave her there?

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I think what's happening is basic pecking-order establishment. Another question - are you sure you have a male and female? If so, how? Ripped fins is completely normal and don't worry too much. Add some melafix or stress coat stuff and they'll repair quicker that you'd expect.

By the way, did that snakeskin guppy I gave you make it? I never heard from you about it.

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Yes the snakeskin is in the divided off section of the tank with my other snake skin and over a dozen females for the two of them :D I have only put in the females that I want them to breed with so I hope that my chances of getting more snakeskin will be higher as the females are golden/yellow :D

As for the bristlenose no I won't be able to get another female and yes it is one female and one male. I only have a 2ft tank which has a divider about 1/3 of the tank. There is no ammonia and pH is fine. The temp is about 25-26*C is that ok? what other things could I do to help them to breed? There is two pieces of driftwood in their section of the tank as well as a ceramic cave which my male used to live in. I have added some melafix to the tank this morning. So I guess I will wait it out for the next couple of days and see how things are then :D

cheers

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Can anyone tell me what to look for when the female is ready to breed? I have had the female with the male for a week this sunday. The male doesn't seem to be chasing the female as much as he once was. They are both the same size (give or take a couple of mm :D) 3 inches. Would it do any harm to add a piece of 20mm plastic pipe? as I don't think the female likes the rock cave that I have in there but she does enjoy the shallows in the drift wood and it would be nice if it was to happen there as it is in clear view.

What can I do to improve my chances of breeding these two? Food, Temp?

cheers

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