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I have been following one of my juvenile commons for a few of weeks now as he developed bristles really early and have exhibiting behaviour similar to an adult male. I think I have raised around 1000 bns now and I have never seen a fish this mature for its size before.

The fish is approximately 5-6cm t.l., it is not larger than any other from the spawn but already have bristles with split ends and yesterday I found him fanning and guarding a cave with eggs. There is no adult male in the tank. The mother was a large adult female.

Here is a picture, the cave is approximately 4cm wide. This does not seem normal to me, the fish must have an abnormal amount of hormones?

Melander

Could he have been stunted?? Maybe growing up in crowded conditions?

I can relate, being a bit on the short side myself!

JS

@jp11biod: Cheers for the reply. I considered this myself but I don't think the fish is stunted.
The tank is 160 litres and there should be enough room for its inhabitants. The fish is also the same size as its siblings (roughly) and I have not seen any signs such as abnormally sized eyes.

Melander

Hi,
How old is the young fella?

I have had them start breeding at 6-7 months.

If you think about it then he would not necessarily have been able to "seduce" the ladies if he was in a tank with other bigger "more attractive" males, until such a time that he had grown a bit larger.

No doubt much like a teenager's party where the ladies all seem to be interested in the "jocks" over the smaller folks (sorry couldn't help that last bit, watching Big Bang Theory at the moment)

Cheers

krazyGeoff wrote:Hi,
How old is the young fella?

I have had them start breeding at 6-7 months.

If you think about it then he would not necessarily have been able to "seduce" the ladies if he was in a tank with other bigger "more attractive" males, until such a time that he had grown a bit larger.

No doubt much like a teenager's party where the ladies all seem to be interested in the "jocks" over the smaller folks (sorry couldn't help that last bit, watching Big Bang Theory at the moment)

Cheers

I think the fish is closing in on 6 months in age now.

What you’re saying makes perfect sense. I thought it would be physically impossibly for a bn this size to breed but maybe it would happen more often if there was less competition from older males. He i still very well developed for his size, I have fish that are 2-3cm longer with less developed bristles. Perhaps the lack of a mature "alpha" male in the tank in combination with having a gravid female hanging around would stimulate this fish's development?

Melander

That cougar.......... It wouldnt be that uncommon in your situation since theres not dominant male to keep the boys in their place. Deer do it to.

Have a male bn exactly the same he is currently on his sixth clutch of eggs.

Thanks lads, sounds like this is quite common which is good for my little lad.

I thought the reproduction rate of the domesticated Ancistrus was impressive as it was but this is almost scary. One could only imagine at what rate this species could populate a suitable habitat...

Seems that I have to move on the small ones faster, the reason that there were no adult males in the tank was that I wanted to hold off on the breeding.

Cheers,

Melander

Melander wrote:Thanks lads, sounds like this is quite common which is good for my little lad.


Seems that I have to move on the small ones faster, the reason that there were no adult males in the tank was that I wanted to hold off on the breeding.

Cheers,

Melander

And for me personally, that is kind of the issue. I think it is "harder" on a young female, than it is on a young male, so I tend to move the young males to another tank if I am unable to re home them, and continue to grow out the females.

Cheers

krazyGeoff wrote:

Melander wrote:Thanks lads, sounds like this is quite common which is good for my little lad.


Seems that I have to move on the small ones faster, the reason that there were no adult males in the tank was that I wanted to hold off on the breeding.

Cheers,

Melander

And for me personally, that is kind of the issue. I think it is "harder" on a young female, than it is on a young male, so I tend to move the young males to another tank if I am unable to re home them, and continue to grow out the females.

Cheers

That is exactly what I have been trying to do but after this it seems that I have to grab the little lads much earlier.

Thanks again,

Melander