Tank Setup for Breeding Albino BN Plecos

[Ravindu]

Hi Guys,

I was hoping to grow out and breed some Albino BN Plecos. I have some questions in my head regarding this. I have a 35 Gallon Tank which is abt 135 litres and it is currently cycling. It has gravel in it with a large Driftwood Piece and a smaller one. I've heard Pleco fry have difficulty with gravel because they are small and tend to get stuck in the gravel. Is it ok to use Gravel as Substrate or should i move to Sand ?

I was Hoping to get 4 2.5 inch Albino BN plecos for this 35 Gallon. Is that ok ? As they are small i will be keeping them with 2 pairs of Mollies and 2 pairs of Swordtails to keep up a healthy Bacteria Colony in the tank for the Future. When the plecos grow out i will remove the LiveBearers from the 35 Gallon. I will be getting small BN Plecos so will i have a chance to get a pair with 4 pleco ? Or do i need to buy more ? How should i quarantine them ?

Any Advice is greatly Appreciated.

Thanks
Ravindu

[bekateen]

Hi Ravindu,

Welcome to PlanetCatfish.

Good luck starting on this project. I'm sure you'll have fun and learn a lot.

Lots of issues you mentioned and I'll reply to those I can. Some of what I say is just my opinion and you can probably do things differently and still expect success:

1) First things first, I'd probably start with more than four fish. My personal habit when buying juveniles is to buy 6 or 7. If any die while they grow, you still have more. But with 6-7 fish, your odds of getting all the same sex are very low. If you have too many of one sex or the other, you can probably trade or sell a few later.

2) Personally, I like sand or very fine gravel. But I don't know if big gravel is unsafe. However, I think your worry is fair, so if you want to avoid the risk, just switch to sand or fine gravel now.

All that said, albino bristlenoses are very easy to breed (as plecos go), so you should be successful. I bred them a few years back and posted some of my experiences here (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41641). Lots of other people have too, so if you search the forums you'll find lots of good advice.

Good luck,
Eric

[Ravindu]

Thanks Eric for the Info. I will try with 8 Juveniles. How small will the Pleco fry be when they will start to move out from the cave and into the Aquarium ?

I will add a layer of Sand or a Fine Gravel layer to avoid any issues with the fry getting stuck. But if the fry seem bih it won't be a problem. I don't know the exact size of the fry when they move out of the cave. Any idea ?

Thanks again.
Cheers,
Ravindu

[bekateen]

Hi Ravindu,

If you visit the Cat-eLog page for

Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus

(just click that link), scroll down to the section entitled Breeding Reports (right below "Registered keepers"). Click on any of the people's names listed there and you can read about their breeding experiences. You'll see a number beside each breeding report (the highest score is about 60 or 61). The higher the score, the more information you will find in the breeding report.

Here is my own breeding report for that species: https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/my ... _id=49#739.

About size, I would estimate that a hatchling fry is about 4-5mm long.

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

Also, just below the breeding reports, you'll see a list of Shane's World articles about bristlenoses. Two of those articles are about spawning them... Lots of good info in those essays.

Cheers, Eric

[Ravindu]

Thanks Eric. Greatly Appreciated.

[Ravindu]

Anyone Else's Advice is greatly appreciated. Just need more intel from personal experiemces.

[Ravindu]

What are your thoughts on a Bare Bottom Tank ? What kind of plants ?

[Jobro]

bare bottom works. Would go for sand just for the aesthetics, though. Plecos seem to like sand, but we can't really tell, can we?

Echinodorus is my plant of choice for south american tanks. I came to like limnobium laevigatum a lot, as well.

at 2.5" you should be able to tell genders on bn, shouldn't you?

[Ravindu]

No idea wheather we can tell genders at 2.5 inches Jobro. Can we ? If so i will go with 3 females to 1 male. That will be ok ?

[Ravindu]

I will go with small gravel and plants with 3 or 4 caves. With 2 sponge filters and a DIY Trickle Filter Sump. Is that filteration ok ? How many water changes should i do ? 50% weekly ? Or more ?

[Jobro]

Breeding the albino BN is not as hard as you might think. Your setup seems all fine and it should work out nice. Make sure the tank is well cycled, the water is well oxygenated and do your waterchanges 50% weekly or every two weeks. Your tank will be far from being overstocked, unless the livebearers go out of control. You should have no issues. Feed them well and they should be ready to spawn within a ferw months. Good luck.

[Ravindu]

Jobro, I'll be reducing the LiveBearers as the Plecos get Larger in Size. But will keep some LiveBearers.

If they Spawn, should i move the cave with eggs and Male BN Pleco or just keep it as it is ?

[Jobro]

depends on your purposes. If you are desperate to get as many youngsters as possible you might want to make sure you don't lose the eggs.
Selling all of them might not be as easy though. You might just go with the natural way for starters and try some different approaches over time. Once they start spawning they won't stop anytime soon and you might get plenty of spawns to make your own experiences and see which way is best suited for your purposes.

[Ravindu]

Yeah I'll go with the Natural way and decide after that. Thanks for the Info and Support Jobro

Will keep everyone posted when i buy the Juveniles