Baby Pleco's Discovered

[fishhed]

I bought a "moonrock" (which is basically a small ceramic cave) from w@lmart awhile back. Noticed that my young albino bristle-nose pleco has been in there a week. Alive but not coming out. Closer notice I find a gang of pleco fry swimming around. I transferred moonrock, babies and daddy to a guppy net.

What do I do now??? How long until I must transfer to a larger tank? I don't want them to be lunch, and I cannot house (provided they live) this many plecos long term.

Thanks!

Water Temp = 79 F
PH = 7
all else zeros.

 

[absolutangel04]

How cute! Do you have a container bigger than the cup they are currently in? You can even keep them in a rubbermaid with an airstone for awhile until they are big enough to sell.
I am genuinely surprized that a bnp that small had babies. If you had asked me, I would not have thought it was possible.

 

[fishhed]

How cute! Do you have a container bigger than the cup they are currently in? You can even keep them in a rubbermaid with an airstone for awhile until they are big enough to sell.
I am genuinely surprized that a bnp that small had babies. If you had asked me, I would not have thought it was possible.

Yes, daddy, fry & moonrock are in a guppy breeding net housed in a 55g. There is a larger (5 inch) Albino common pleco in the tank that I assume is the mother. I put a quarter in the picture, because I also thought he was a little young for all this.

 

[absolutangel04]

I see. So the mom is older. Yeah, he does seem to young! Lol.
Well, they should be ok in the breeder's net for a bit. Have you tried contacting stores to see if they will buy them from you? Often places will tell you at what size they will buy the babies and then you can get a better idea how long you need to keep them.

 

[toddnbecka]

The larger female would have to be a BN too, Hypostomus and Ancistrus can't crossbreed, and the female had to have gotten inside the cave to lay the eggs.

 

[fishhed]

I see. So the mom is older. Yeah, he does seem to young! Lol.
Well, they should be ok in the breeder's net for a bit. Have you tried contacting stores to see if they will buy them from you? Often places will tell you at what size they will buy the babies and then you can get a better idea how long you need to keep them.

Thanks! I'll snoop around this week. Trouble with LFS in NYC is that the big chains don't want to be bothered, and the employees (more often then not) lack knowledge. The small stores are not noob friendly. I have seen employees roll there eyes when their asked beginner questions.....not me thought, I'm 6 foot 300 lbs., I get nothing but smiles

 

[fishhed]

The larger female would have to be a BN too, Hypostomus and Ancistrus can't crossbreed, and the female had to have gotten inside the cave to lay the eggs.

Thanks, toddnbecka -

only 2 other plecos in the tank. #1 I thought was the mother. #2 is the same size as the father, which I thought was too immature to have offspring. Are any of these BNPs? I thought they were common plecos. If not I may have the first Immaculate Conception in over 2000 years lol

 

[fishhed]

Thanks all!

Have them in a net - there must be just over 20 of them. I'll update every so often and let you know how they are doing. I've gotten attached to these ugly little buggers - wish me luck!

 

[toddnbecka]

Female BN don't have bristles like males do, and at 3" are old enough to spawn. Hard to tell from those pics, but none of them look like common pleco's.