Baby Bristlenose!

[Regen311]

I woke up this morning and was looking into my 55 gallon aquarium, when I noticed a tiny little fish clinging to the glass. I'm assuming it's a baby bristlenose because they're the only fish I have that cling to the glass... anyway, I hurried and separated him from the aquarium so he wouldn't get eaten, and the noticed another one! So I have two little tiny babies in a little breeder floater in my aquarium now. Im so excited! After reading up no it, I'm sure the reason I haven't seen the dad much lately is because of that. lol. My question though is how to determine how old they are? I'm just wondering if the dad is hiding in a little cave somewhere (it's very heavily planted... kind of overgrown at this point but I've been waiting to fix it because I'm moving soon) with the babies (which would mean there are more to come) or if the rest just got eaten? The babies are already dark colored, and look somewhat spotted. They're not really tiny. They're skinny and long and small, definitely small (<0.5 inch but not much). I'm hoping the rest are still in hiding and that these aren't the only two, but I'm not sure... Any opinions from people who have seen the fry? I had cory catfish fry before, and they were TINY. These look like them at about a month.

EDIT: I just looked at the fry and held a ruler up to the side of the tank and they're about 0.7inches.

 

[Etunes]

If they were out and about already and are about 0.5 inches i would say about month old. You got to realize that they stay in there hole tell there about that old and protected by the father. So there is a good chance if you have not found the father he is still in his den protecting the last of his fry. You might have just found the few that escaped out of the cave.

 

[Regen311]

Yay! So that means there might be more!!!

 

[Etunes]

Just keep an eye out because some of your fish would not mind a snack.

 

[Phazeshyft]

hey if you find more I might by a couple off you if you are willing to ship em.

 

[Regen311]

Phaze - if I find more I'd send them to you for just the cost of shipping (you'd have to help me figure that one out too because I've never done it). I'm not sure if you still want them though because the father is not albino or longfin. The babies don't appear to be albino either. So they're the common brown.

 

[Phazeshyft]

hey i would be more than willing to take a few off your hands. shipping is really easy. I may be able to buy them at my LFS cheaper than what it would cost to ship em but thats ok.

 

[Regen311]

Phaze - I guess it depends on how many you want! I still have only found the two but... I'm hoping more come out. I'll keep you updated on it.

 

[Etunes]

i would take a couple off your hands.

 

[Regen311]

Found 2 more!! I'm up to 2 now!! That's encouraging. Those little guys are FAST! I set up my 10 gallon, and I've had it running with some plants in it for a day and a half now. But the pH is like... 7.6 and it's about 6.6 in the big tank. So i think I may have to just replace the water in the 10 gallon with water from the big tank. I don't want to kill them. But I think they'd be happier in a small tank of their own rather than in the floating thing they're in. I put a piece of drift wood in the floater thing, and two of them have just been clinging to it ever since I put it in there.

Anyway - finding two more gives me hope that there will be more! Every time I walk by I get excited and stop and look for more. I don't think it'd be a good idea to keep more than 2 for myself... I don't think there would be enough algae in the aquarium for more than 4 full grown guys. So.. the rest are up for grabs. Like I said, phaze, let me know how many you want. Etunes, if there's more left I'll send them to you for the price of shipping. I'm sure there will be plenty

Phaze - have you seen them at your local LFS? I had a heck of a time finding them. That's why I bought 2 when I did. Haven't seen them around really since.

 

[Regen311]

5!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Etunes]

cool, i hope the 10 gallon is cycled. I am definatly interested.

 

[Regen311]

The 10 gallon has had snails in it for... about.... 6 months now. MTS. That's why i put plants in it. It's obviously not cycled - the babies were a bit unplanned. Not much you can do in those situations. I have water testing supplies though. And, when this has happened before I've just put some rocks, plants and wood from the big aquarium into the smaller one and it's done just fine.

 

[Etunes]

better be testing the water everyday because it takes absolutly nothing to kill them. test to see if it cycled. If it has been up for 6 months it probably is.

 

[Regen311]

It's been up for 6 months about 1/4 full of water. I haven't paid much attention to it, but wanted to keep some water in there because when I switch the big tank over to sand later this year, I wanted to have some snails for it. There are still living snails in there. lol.

I usually check the water daily in baby tanks. They're so tiny too, in the 10 gallon, the only issue would be ammonia from decomposing food (which I'm hoping the snails help with). I had about a dozen baby cory catfish about a year ago in there, and that was when I bought the tank fresh from the store. I had no issue keeping ammonia and all that down. It was just the ph that was a problem. I'm hoping by putting in a bunch of live plants from the big tank that will help.

On a side note - if I was convinced it was better I'd keep them in the floating breeder. However, although it has tiny slits on the side, I'm not sure how good the water flow is in there. And the uneated food just sits on the bottom. Beacuse it's floating in the bigger tank, it's harder to clean (I'm scared the babies will escape) and I don't want to hurt them. So - it's a difficult situation no matter what! I feel like the babies would do better though in their own take, with sand and cover (not so stressed out). But, i'm open to suggestions as well.

Back to the cycling - I was always under the impression that you could "seed" the tank with live plants and items from the other tank to boost the cycle along. Also - with such little bio-load (5 0.5 inch tiny baby fish) I wouldn't think that would be much of a problem with those things going on. But - if you're experience shows otherwise by all means share! lol. I don't want to kill them!

 

[Etunes]

well if it had 6 months of being set up with MTS i would say it is cycled. Just test your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and that will tell you. You can seed a tank with substrate, decrotive items, and filters. filters and substrate being the biggest impact as they have the most and contain almost all the good bacteria. The decorative items have little effect. I would just be careful and have it up and running for the future. Or maybe slap a filter on the back of the bigger tank and transfer it over to the 10g when needed for situations like this. That way you can empty out your 10g until it is needed. And when it is needed you can take it out, put the filter that you put on the bigger tank form it back on it. And if you want put substrate form the main tank into it. Or you could just keep it running.

Also between the food and the bioload of the fish ti will create ammonia, and baby fish are more sensitive. Thats why you read to do daily water changes and spread the water changes farther apart as they get older.

 

[Phazeshyft]

Yeah, we have this place that is like an inversion on petsmart, where petsmart is 90% dogs and cats, this place is all 95% fish and only 5% "others" (dogs and cats) they have ALL SORTS of stuff, including bristlenose, sometimes albino bristlenose, I went looking for ghost shrimp yesterday but they didn't have any. I think there is a place in NYC that has some and I will be there on thursday.

Anyway, whenever you think they are big enough for shipping let me know. I think a month old should be okay. basically you put them in a bag like your LFS does, 75% air and pack them in a cooler, I will probably ship you the cooler to pack them in. along with some packing material.

PM me and we can exchange email address' and phone numbers.

 

[Regen311]

So - a very interesting thing happened last night. I have the babies in a plastic floating breeding tap similar to this one: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/p...ina_3_In_1_Fish_Breeding_Trap.jpg&w=150&h=150.

The top edge is a couple inches out of the water, and the sides have a rim and are kind of sloped.

Anyway, I woke up around 5 am (couldn't sleep) and walked by the tank and looked in. The father (bushynose pleco) was inside the breeder. I have no idea how he got in there. All the babies are accounted for - so none of them were eaten or anything. He was just kind of sitting in there and they were swimming around him.

The babies are like 0.7inches long right now - and they were like clung to the glass in the aquarium when I removed them, so they were big. I'm just in shock. Should I have left them in the big tank? Should I move the dad with them when I move them to the 10 gallon? I feel kind of bad that I took them away from him. I also have no clue how he got in there - he must have really been trying.

 

[Etunes]

sounds like they were not big enough to leave and he wanted to visit. It is a odd situation but maybe too many escaped and he went looking. I would not see any problem with moving him with them but make sure you supply a cave for them in the 10g as it is natural for the father to sit in front of the cave and block the entrance with his body.

 

[Regen311]

Ok - do you think I should just get a PVC pipe or something? I was planning on transfering them later this afternoon. I wanted to check the water again and make sure everything was ok - and make sure the pH was comparable to the big tank (it should have settled by now). He won't eat the babies will he?