Common bristlenose breeding in shells?

[GlennC]

I watched my common bristlenose catfish breed for the first time yesterday. They bred in a shell placed at the front of the tank and so I got to see everything (except what was happening inside the shell ofcourse).

Just wondering whether or not Bristlenose usually breed in shells? They stole this shell off my Brevis.

There's a dodgy photo of the event in my gallery, but I've also shot a couple of short videos.

Cheers

Glenn

[Gombe]

Not totally normal but it happens. One of my pair done there thing under a rock. Once I provided a cave they switched to the cave next sporn

[dobbin4]

Not norm in a shell that small, but yes they breed in anything that gives them cover. Shells are common to breed in.Good one , you saw eggs ? as they usally try to hide them as far back in the shell as possible.And thats the female in the shell. Male sits on eggs.

[GlennC]

Yes, I can see lots of almost glowing orange eggs. Never seen bristlenose eggs before and was amazed at the colour (and size).

The male has been doing a good job of looking after the eggs; so far I've only seen one egg ejected from the brood.

I was really surprised that they'd chosen that shell, particularly as the female must be really bent to fit inside of it (she must be about 10cm long).

[dobbin4]

Orange is great, fertile, white is not.You got them by themselves .

[GlennC]

They're in the community tank and I'm going to keep them there for now. All the other fish are keeping away and even my male Calvus just has an odd look to see what's happening.

I already have too many fry to look after as is so maybe I'll let these look after themselves in the community tank...

Just a thought on Calvus fry; I had a few escape the fry saver and end up back into the community tank. I found five sitting on the bottom. There cryptic colouration is suppose to make them blend into the background. Well, they are pretty well camouflaged when lying on the sand next to feaces; they look like bits of faeces!