Bristlenose males

[Cathyl]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this happening? I have a 3ft tank with 5 females and 2 males. My alpha male has been looking after his numerous fry ( i estimate about 50 in all!) for about 10 days now. He is a fabulous father but this morning when i did my daily inspection i discovered the second male looking into the pot of babies - the father was eating zucchini ( i suspect he was sort of hungry after not eating for so long). Anyway i was a little worried that he would hurt the babies and i guess also a little suprised that the father had let him in there.

I lifted the pot to make sure they were all ok and they were fine.

During the day i watched them particularly closely and was suprised to see that they were co parenting!! Is this normal??? It is a great setup either way.

I have also read that there is no point to having two males as only one will breed. But this afternoon my second male was in his pot with a female??!!

Has anyone heard of this? Will the babies be ok in this tank situation? I read that the adults won't harm the babies, i hope this is true because they are everywhere now and impossible to catch out.

Sorry for the essay but I think my bristlenose are freaks and had to let everyone know.

[Alan]

No Cathyl, your bristle nose are not freaks

The longer you keep these fish the more you will find that they do not play by any set rules.

What we try to do is set out what the novice breeder can expect in the 'average' breeding situation. And one cannot really compare captive reproductive behaviour with what one would normally expect in the wild. The bristle nose we keep in our tanks could well be classed as a domesticated species and such, deviations from the norm should not surprise us.

I have had one (Large) male spawn with nine females in the one cave over three days.

On the other hand I have had three smallish males guard and protect two batches of eggs in a tank with bigger males.

I have also had smaller males making whoopy with all the girls in their hide holes while the largest (presumably 'alpha' male) sulked in his cave and couldn't attract a single female.

I have never experienced any bristle nose preying on free swimming fry, but they will eat eggs (some times) or immature fry that have been kicked out of a nest prematurely.

I have spent hours talking to other B/N breeders over a coffee or drink, and we have all experienced some pretty strange behaviour at times.

Stay cool

Alan.