cheers for that

As for the little pot I have already been into the warehouse to have a look and their smallest one is to big for my tank and is basicly the same as my rock cave. I will get a pic of my cave up. I have been feeding them frozen blood worms (thoes that make it to the bottom for them to get) as well as sinking pellets, courgette and beefs heart and liver. They don't get all that every day mind you lol but thats what they get through out the week plus any flake that settles to the bottom that the fish don't pick up. I guess I will just have to wait. I was just wanting to see if there are any tell tale signs that I need to watch out for

cheers again. I will let you know in about a months time or so if anything happens.

Hey there . awhile ago had a 4ft tank with 3 seperate u/g plates .. bread and butter community tank ... with bristlenose too ... anyway .. 1 of the uplifts stopped working .. didn't bother to fix for awhile ... about a month later adjusted the gang valve( sure these have a mind of their own and am sure they just want to piss me off :evil: )..so current is renewed to said u/g plate and bluddy hell out comes clumps of bristlenose eggs ... mad panic retrieval before B&B fish decide these large balls are food ... .... cool 8)

A good indication that a spawn is emminast with all Ancistrus (Bristle nose) is the male sitting at the entrance of his cave 'Flashing' his bristles.

It is the female that innitiates spawning, the males just sits in ambush indicating that he is ready.

Ala.

when you say "flashing bristles" are they the ones behind the lip (the spikey ones that look as if they can hurt?) or the bristles on his upper lip? I have seen him heaps of times come up behind/beside the female and extend his bristles from out the sides of his head (almost in line with his eyes) and then goes after her. How can I tell when she is ready? She is fatter than the male but does she have to be super fat to lay eggs?

cheers

I noticed this morning that my male was hiding out inside his cave. He would poke his head out as to have a look around then go right back to the same spot. Its a spot that I can't see apart from his tail sticking out. He didn't come out when I did a water change and I didn't want to move the cave just incase. Could this be a sign that there could be eggs in there??

I am sooooo excited. Hes been in there all day apart from comming out to clean around the entrance then goes right back to where he was. His tail is always moving.

If he keeps doing that for 7 days or so it would be well possible

Very possible!

Well after watching him all day I am at the conclusion that finaly I have eggs!! wether they are all good I don't know as I can't see them and I don't want to trouble him while hes doing the best he can. He hasn't come out for even a bite of food and I am having a hard time aiming food into the hole of the cave lol but I do get it right by the door.

I noticed him like this today so I don't really know how long he has been in there total but hopefully by the end of next weekend (weekend we move and hope not to do any harm) I might see some bubbas moving

YAY sooo excited

He won't eat while he is guarding the eggs anyway.

Basically from the time you notice eggs, you're looking at 7 days to hatch, then dad will keep them in the cave for another 3-4 days. After that you'll see one or two who have gotten away roaming the tank, and more and more after that

Well the move went good and well. My bn eggs hatched sunday morning at some stage as I woke up to about 8 babies. I managed to fish one out and put it in the fry tank. I have seen it in there over the past couple of days but haven't seen one in the main tank and today I haven't seen the other one in the fry tank. Would they just be hiding or are they gone? All that I have in the tank besides bns are guppies.

Cheers.

How soon can I expect them to lay eggs again?

My Bristles used to have a batch every month. I have found since I have reduced the temperature to 25-26oC they have not breed, but when I had it on 26-27oC they just kept at it all the time!!!

I have 3 brown bristles and 3 golden bristles (which only bred once). I have kept the temp at 25 for 5-6 months and noticed they have not bred.

An interesting observation HelifaxNZ. I knew mine would breed lots then stop for no apparent reason. Since my tank sits at 22 - 23C I wonder if the breeding coincided with the summer months when the tank temperature rose to over 27C with the room temperature.

It sounds like this is to be another summer where we have to lift the lid, turn the lights off, and drop slikka pads into the tank when the room sits at 32+C during the day :roll:

Yes, our lounge can reach upto 30oC, so I'll expect a broad of catfish during summer.

Also it is a good idea to let the male BN have a rest and recoup before he starts fanning another lot of eggs otherwise he would be too exhaustive.

remember the lower the temperature the faster the eggs develop in the female.Higher temps more energy used =slower eegg development.I keep my Butteflys at 22c and find they spawn every 3 weeks.GBa's at 26c spawn every 2-3months when they were spawning.

cheers Kyle

this guy was pretty hard out:

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aq ... breed.html