Bizzare Bristlenose

This guy came in with a load of normal bristlenoses, I've never seen one quite like it,
anyone know is this a different species from the usual, or as I suspect, some new mutation?

not the foggiest but he sure is a bruiser

Sorry Rob, not a clue either. I thought my male Bristlenose is ugly, but this one takes the biscuit! Lol. I didn't realise there were so many different species. I've been checking them out online. I particularly like the super reds and red and black marbles. I'm not keen on the albino long fins tho, they remind me of mayflies. Unfortunately, you don't see these in pet shops and postage is so expensive.

He's guarding eggs

Great. I'm sure no one's gonna mess with him when he's on guard. Lol

I'm sure no one's gonna mess with him when he's on guard.

No, I didn't want to stress him either, so this is the best shot I could get

Sure is a great batch of eggs there & no dout only a few days left before they are all flying around the tank.

Have you found he doesn't leave them even for food as plec males always seem so dedicated to fanning there eggs.

Have you found he doesn't leave them even for food as plec males always seem so dedicated to fanning there eggs.

I've seen it suggested that female bristlenose prefer to lay their eggs with males who are already caring for eggs/fry, and that the males bristles are intended to mimic baby bristlenoses. Certainly the male seemed to be doing a good job of pretending to care for eggs for a good week or so before these eggs were laid, and since he's had them I've not seem him leave the cave. Since they are nocturnal, it's always possible that he pops out at night, but if he does, I've not noticed him doing so!

I rarely see my males when they are with eggs although mine can be tempted by there favorite food every now & again, as i noticed if i put Ocean nutrition algae wafers in, so when they are fanning i dont feed that anymore but if i put anything else in they dont seem to care.

He's selected the top half of a broken spawning cone as his cave, and I'm forunate that it's angled towards the front of the tank, so that using a torch I can peer in and keep an eye on progress. I've just been doing that and notice that some have hatched & are wriggling!

Are you going to move them to a tank on there own or are they already in one as they will be everywhere soon and angels love to feast on them.

They're in a 2' x 12" x 15" tank, apart from Dad, Mum & the Babies there is just one other bristlenose in the tank, originally I thought it was a female, now I'm not so sure, it's either a very bristly female, or a remarkably unbristly male. There are no angels in the tank.
In the garden I have a pond with a stream lined with potato sized cobbles, these are covered in algae and moss, so I've been bringing them in as a treat for the adults, the bottom of the tank now has quite a few of these covering it, hopefully proving plenty of food and cover for the babies.

Having never intentionally bred bristlenoses, I do have a couple of questions....
1. I presume it will be OK to leave the adults in with the babies, I don't want to move them out if I can help it (I'd rather move the babies in with some young angels once they've grown a bit)
2. I seem to recall reading that baby bristlenoses will take baby brine shrimp, is this the case?
3. Other than algae coated stones, algae wafers, and fresh veg like cucumber, lettuce and maybe frozen peas, is there anything else I should think about feeding them on?

Hi Rob there is no need to remove the parents they will be fine with them.I have also been told they will take bbs but never tried them on them so can't realy say on that one.You can give them carrots rob my albino's love them.I take it you have some bogwood with them to aid digestion.

Yes bogwood, and a couple of half coconut shells!

Rob had you reduced the temp in anyway before you noticed that they had laid eggs as i normaly give mine a 50% cold water change to induce mine & then they seem to breed quite happily.

Getting back to differant feeds mine also like strawberrys.

Nothing that drastic, but I did a 10% water change, I was also feeding them up well, and noticed that the female was getting very plump before she laid.

Carrots and strawberries, bet that brings out the colour on those albinos!

This is an interesting and informative thread as I'm due to take delivery of an albino breeding pair from Paul and I also have several immature bristlenoses I'm hoping to breed. Keep the info coming please.

Pterophyllum wrote:Carrots and strawberries, bet that brings out the colour on those albinos!

They do get quite pink/red i cut the carrots into battons & put them on the screwcumber, i cut the strawberrys in half & they love them but they do cause a bit of a mess.The strawberrys came about by trying differant foods to see what they would eat and they took them ok.I have fed a varied diet in the past & have the differant foods writen down somewhere in a scale of 1 to 10 on how they faird i will have to dig it out & let you know.

uk bulldog wrote:

Pterophyllum wrote:Carrots and strawberries, bet that brings out the colour on those albinos!

They do get quite pink/red i cut the carrots into battons & put them on the screwcumber, i cut the strawberrys in half & they love them but they do cause a bit of a mess.The strawberrys came about by trying differant foods to see what they would eat and they took them ok.I have fed a varied diet in the past & have the differant foods writen down somewhere in a scale of 1 to 10 on how they faird i will have to dig it out & let you know.

Mental note: carrots and strawberries. Lol

OK,
Using a torch I can peer into the cave where the male is still steadfastly on guard. It's now 6 days since the eggs hatched and the roof of the cave is plastered with what must be well over 100 little baby bristlenoses. They all appear to have absorbed their yolk sacs, yet Dad is still determined to guard them, and they show little or no inclination to leave their shelter, even when I drop tempting algae wafers and indeed algae covered stones near the entrance.
Should I just be patient, or should I do something to encourage them out into the world?

Hi Rob try some couchette that genraly works but as you know patiance is a vertue.but you could try moveing the shelter slightly to see if the male will be encouraged out, once he moves they will follow.

as you know patiance is a vertue.

Well I managed to remain patient, and this morning about 1/3rd of the babies have finally emerged from the cave. My only concern is that the female is looking very fat and sniffing around the mouth of the cave, I suspect Dad could have another clutch of eggs to look after before he's even had chance to pop out and feed!

They are just like human babies, they'll do it in their own time. How many do you think you have?