Now what?

[roo]

Hi guys,

I noticed last friday that my big male BN is now guarding a large number of eggs.

Due to my complete lack of knowledge I have a number of questions

1/ Seeing how he has placed them in the tighest spot in my tank, I have no chance of gettig anywhere near them without pulling the entire tank a part.

When they hatch what should be my next step in order to save as many as I can, before the the tanks mates smash them for lunch?

2/ How long does it take for BN eggs to hatch?

Cheers

Roo

[limegirl]

When they hatch what should be my next step in order to save as many as I can, before the the tanks mates smash them for lunch?

←

Hey ya,

Depends what the tank mates are - you will be suprised by just how big the babies are when they leave the nest. I think for the first clutch you should leave daddy alone to concentrate on looking after his babies. They are incredibly devoted dads!

R

[mianos]

I have about 150 baby BN in my tank with 3 frontosa and 2 clown loaches from 3 or 4 spawns. They start with lot of yolk and dad will take care of them while on the yolk for about 10 days. They are about 1 cm when they leave the cave by which time they are feeding and very independent. They seem to be much more likely to survive in a tank full of other much larger fish than anything else I have seen. Even the 12cm clown loaches don't seem to get too many of them, if any at all. I am beginning to suspect they have some extra defence, such as not giving off a fishy smell. (Those same loaches seemed to have been able to evade a couple of rather aggressive JDs in another tank and gobble up all the wrigglers so I know they eat fry normally).

[gianniz]

I agree, leave it with the parents to look after... (use the first spawn for an observation rather then to make sure every babies survive)

I have rather nasty tankmates (angels!!! trust me they ain't no angels)

All but 1 of the bristlenose babies died