Bristlenose Behaviour

A couple of months ago I purchased 2 x 1/2" long bn plecs. They are now 2" and 1 1/2" long respectively and are obviously male and female. I would like to start a breeding program with the youngsters, but I am puzzled by the male's behaviour. He always seems to chase the female off his patch. Is this because they are too immature to breed? Will his behaviour change as they get closer to breeding age, and what signs do I look for when they are ready to breed?

Hi,i breed quite a lot of L144's and yeah the male usually does chase the female away from his territory until they are ready to breed. At 2" and 1.5" i doubt they will be mature enough to breed the male needs to be at least 3" maybe slightly bigger. Once they are ready to breed to male will usually chase the female to his chosen cave and once they have spawned the female will take no part in the rest of the brood care its all left to the male. In my experience the male will very rarely leave the cave,i never see mine come out for food or anything he will just sit in the cave fanning his fins constantly. When not spawning or fanning eggs he takes residence in a coconut shell and never goes in the slate cave until hes ready to breed. They breed roughly every 4 weeks you will know when the female is full of eggs as she will be very fat and i mean fat to the point i thought she had bloat or something and was going to die when they first spawned. A nice cold water change usually gets mine in the mood. What you feeding them on?

Ian

Thanks Ian. That's a great help. To be honest, I don't feed them. They just graze for algae. They get the occasional bloodworm when the angels are fed, but that's pretty much it. I know they like cucumbers, but I need to get one of those scewcumber things. What should I be feeding them?

Btw. I've seen the L144 on eBay. They're very nice, more attractive than the albinos imo. I also like the super reds and calico varieties, but postage is so expensive.

Another question. I see people selling breeding groups all the time. I thought two males would fight, but these groups seem to have as many as 6 males and as few as 3 females. Does this work? I have a mature male and I tried to find a female for him. Unfortunately both the adults I brought home were males. They fought with my existing male. Wouldn't adding females to the mix make males even more likely to fight?

Hi Helen,I have a group of 6 BNs in the same tank 3 males & 3 females & they all get on realy well with no problems.
The eldest pair both standard fin albinos lay quite freely,the other 4 are long fin albinos & are just about breeding age/size & when the eldest pair lay the others dont bother them at all.I may well be selling my group of 6 so if you realy want some for breeding that are doing it already then let me know.

Paul