novafishy Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 FINALLY!!! on 2 march, my BN laid eggs for the first time!! woohoo!! so excited!!! the male cares for the eggs in a ceramic one-entrace log. after speaking to a few ppl, they said to leave the eggs with the father, which is whhat i did. today (march 6), eggs have disappeared...not there. it is a 2ft tank...minimal decorations..., 3 M and 3 F bns. i feed cucumber every 2 days what could be the reason for the disappearance of the eggs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 Hatch time !!! Depending on temperature, but BN eggs hatch in 4 - 5 days. If the only fish in the tank are BN then no one has eaten the newly hatched fry, but somewhere in that cave are a mob of little orange wrigglers being well protected by Dad. Another 5 days or so and they will be all out looking for something to eat. Just a couple of comments, bare in mind I don't know how big your BN's are, but a 2 footer is a little small for three pair. If all three females spawned at the same time you could be looking at a 2 foot tank with more than 150 fish when they all hatch !!!!! Even if your BN are still small (and they breed at a small size) They are going to grow, and a 2 footer would be minimum size housing for just one pair. Probably just a bit small for a big pair. I sack all my breeders after thier 4th year and males are usually 6" SL (15 cm SL) or bigger at that age. Just a little large for a 2 foot tank. When your baby BN are free swimming they are going to need to eat all the time. That means there has to be food in front of their noses all the time. A feed of cuecumber every second day will not be enough for optimum growth. Even my adult BN get fed at least twice a day - pellets, wafers, what ever early then zuchini, pumpkin, brocolli stems or what ever in the evening, there is never anything left by morning. This means loads of fish poo, daily filter cleaning, and, in my case where I push the limits a bit, 90% water changes daily in growing tanks. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted March 7, 2004 Author Share Posted March 7, 2004 thanks for your reply alan. but i really cant see the babies at all. none, zip, nil, nada. where'd they go? i know BNs are known to be cannibals and eat their own young like guppies do...so where could they have disappeared to? maybe there ARE babies deep deep inside the log. i shined a torch in there, and nothing... i'll have to look harder tonite. yup, thanks, i will try to remove 2 pairs and try to move them somewhere else. do u find that when u feed cucumber, zuchinni, brocoli stems, pumpkin often, it coulds up the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rol&Jas Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Hi novafish, I also kept 2m and 4 females in a 2ft tank with plenty of driftwood, shell, and pot. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any babies there either. I beleive in cannibalism and I reckon that I had too many adults there. Bristlenose will eat anything even though that they are vegetarian. I seen them sucking on dead fish in fishshops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted March 8, 2004 Author Share Posted March 8, 2004 i just double checked the log. took it out and had a good look it there. no babies so i guess its back to square one again. thanks again for help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noyd Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 When it's night time, and the carer (Dad) decides to go out and look for food (Leaving the eggs unattended) another male BN could go in and eat the eggs, it's a high possibility this is what has happened here. I was told when breeding esp in small tanks like that, only keep one pair for this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 Hmmm... sure Noyd? Because i thought the nesting male never leaves the eggs alone.. im pretty sure mine didnt. I think the mal just stopped looking after the eggs or another guy came in and busted his territory. cheers Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noyd Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 I'm not sure, I'm not experienced with this, that's just what I heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted March 8, 2004 Author Share Posted March 8, 2004 hehe that wont help me!! heheheh eggs are still gone hehe no worries tho, hopefully within the next couple wks i'll be gettin gmore.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypo Zebra Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 I not sure with bristlenose, but do know of peppermint males devouring there own clutch of eggs. That possibly is one reason why alot of people do not ever get fry. solution replace male. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Has any one thought of the warm weather we have been having ????? My bristle nose colonies usually shut down for a few months in Summer. The very warm weather was late comming here this Summer and mine were producing well, but for the past eight weeks or so there has only been patchy activity in all but one tank. The only colony doing well is a new one that I set up on the bottom row in the room with 20 young fish in a 4x2. These guys are in thier first breeding season and the colony is made up of fish sellected from last seasons production and grown up in various tanks around the room. These guys started spawning within a week of going into the tank, as soon as the 5 males worked out their pecking order and who was the owner of what cave or hole. and they have been breeding continuously since (3 of the 5 males have fry or eggs at the moment). This tank did not get above 27C during the hot weather. The other four colonies have only had the odd few broods, but they are top row tanks and got up to 30 C a few times. I'm not worried as this happens nearly every year and as soon as they cool they will get back into gear and I can look forward to 8 months or more of action. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 alan, so would i be correct to say that BNs breed better in lower temperatures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 They will spawn as low as 20*C but eggs a little longer to hatch. 24C to 26C I have found to be the optimum. they don't like it much over 28C. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyme Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 I think I lost a large spawn of BNs due to cannibalisation by other female BNS. Just too many in the tank. Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Something to think about there Craig but can't say that I have ever experienced that. Most males sit so tight on the eggs that you can't even get them off when you take the spawn out of water. Also, I have found eggs that have been dislodged and rolling around the tank floor lose and no bristlenose ever seen eating them. Other fish will, cories , cichlids, even guppies, but I have never seen bristles eating the eggs. There are other egg predators though, like snails of all sorts. Those cone snails are a major problem, you don't even know the sneaky buggers are there some times, but rams horns and mystry snails will eat spawn and they don't have to be very big to do heaps of damage. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish behind glass Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Hi Guys We had a bristlenose spawn in our 6ft tank and removed Dad and his log with eggs to a 3ft tank. Everything went fine and the eggs hatched. Then the little guys were out of the log and visable all over the tank floor. Next morning when I checked on them they had disappeared. I thought I was going crazy. The only fish in there was Dad. My conclusion Dad had a snack during the night because I could not find any sign that there had even been any babies in there. Have only ever had this happen just the once but makes you a little more careful. Regards Rae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 that's a shame rae have the pair had another spawn ? what happened to it? dad kept them this time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish behind glass Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Hi Dad has gone back into the spawning tank and hasn't spawned again yet. He is rather a large male and I think he may have got past his best. I am thinking of actually getting rid of him as I have more than enough young males to replace him. Although I may leave him for a few more weeks to see what happens. Regards Rae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysteriousredsuns Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 i have heard of other people telling me about how even if the male leaves the eggs that if another male came along he would care for it. my bristlenose did that in their batch 3 batches ago. i saw it and was amazed so if other people have experienced this too i assume that could be part of their behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.