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After 6 month since I purchase a 2" pair of albino bristle nose catfish, and they finally bred! They spawn on the ceiling of a driftwood "cave" with 30-60 orange eggs. I never raise bristlenose fry before, so I need lotsa help!

1. What do I feed them after they lose their egg sac?
2. I have two rams, some cories,10 cardinal tet, 2 angel and 1 discus(just starting out) in the tank, will they eat the babies?
3. Will a 200 gallon support that much BN? Tank is heavily planted by the way.

Any help is greatly appriciated. Thanks.

the rams, angels or discuss might eat the eggs... But only if they can see them

I created a cave a while back for by BNs, did not disturb it and just found baby BNs...have seen about 6 simultaneously but suspect there might be more. Mine have survived fine w/o special food....I crumbled in extra flake so some might get on to wood etc and put is some boiled lettuce but they seemed to have been doing finy before this anyway. didnt even see the sacs!

Edited to add: Mine were in RIO 180 with cardinals, mollies, swords, guppies and corys....and survived themselves without outside assistance. Just make sure there is lots of wood for hiding places!!

Last edited by fergusq at 25-Jul-2005 05:27

First, Congratulations for breeding BN's.
You can feed them some Algae Pellets & Microworms at first. The Algae Pellets must be small & make sure you see them sucking on them, or else you can foul the water with overfeeding. They like alot of green food & so Cucumber, Peas & Spinace are fine aswell.

The other fish will try to eat the eggs & the fry, if they see them, but the Male BN will defend them all the time. Can you remove the other fish & leave the BN in peace?.

Your tank is very good for the BN & the Plants will also protect the fry & help them grow up.



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You could try grinding up spirulina flakes, though, I just release them come full sac absorption, and permit them to scour the tank for their own food, much as one does with the adults. By the time the yolk sac is gone (roughly 2 weeks), the young are generally large enough not to be ingested by the adults of the same species (less could be said for your cichlids/tetras—in fact, every fish in your current setup will likely eat the newborn fry), and can be therefore released. During developmental and full maturation, protein administration is generally advocated, though not all fry will accept it. I would get those eggs out to. Though, in the home aquaria, ancistrus are less than finicky in regards to caveture selection, ITW, nursery caverns are usually tight fitting, permitting the male to completely guard the fry. Only in such instances will the male be able to fend off such large and/or agile predators such as your BN’s tankmates. Unless you have a loricariid only tank, I would suggest either you remove the male and eggs into a spare tank, or place the eggs into a breeder's box (note that I did not say breeder's NET--ancistrids=odontodal growth=netting mayhem) Remember, too, that fry can overfeed to the point of death, so large worms and/or slices of vegetables are not recommended for the newly developed fish.


Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 25-Jul-2005 07:46

Sorry to be a bit of a hijacker here...

What do you do to stop the little blighters from going up your cannister filter intakes?

I once used a stocking and an elastick band over the intakes and it worked well for a long time but then the adult picked at it alot and got itself tangled in the stocking. I was very angry with myself. Does anyone else have some pointers then?

You can attach some foam or very fine plastic/cloth mesh to the filter intake.




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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
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"What do you do to stop the little blighters from going up your cannister filter intakes?"
Fry sponges ;D. Or better yet, float the little suckers in their own miniature container.
Odontodes simply cannot be trused with netting of any kind.


Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 26-Jul-2005 07:31

Oh goody goody goody for you Leslie and I just inherited a pair of BN when I bought a 75 gallon off of ebay, and we are patiently waiting to see them do something other than hide in the corner, plastic cup, or fake log. The plan is to get the driftwood in the tank this week, if we can ever get it to sinkhml congratulations/:'

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

wOOT! tHEY hatch today, so far 2 die, my 1" discus chew them up!] and spat him back out, he was presume dead. Most of the other siblings havent hatch yet but I am shiphoning them out as they hatch to a 10 gallon grow tank. By the way...they remind me of big ripe oranges. Discus was getting some vitamin C.

Try to save as much as you can & raise them up yourself. You can prepair some Algae yourself & then feed them some healthy food, with some green matter in it.


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http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Do not feed them until the yolk sac has been absorbed. Otherwise, follow Jason's lead. ;D

I put a moss ball in there, well they eat that?

No.

No they're not going to eat the Moss Ball.



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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

congrats