Urgent advice needed on bn plec eggs please.

[Layne2000]

Urgent advice needed bn eggs please.

Sometime between Friday and today my bn female laid a batch of eggs.
Unknowingly, I moved a the top of a rock cave I made to check for previous fry and a batch of orange eggs came floating out.
The community fish in the tank instantly crowded round for a feast, so in sheer panic, I have carefully removed the eggs and put them in a large breeding net with dad and his permanent cave home.
The eggs are outside the cave.
Have I done right please? or, any advice greatly appreciated.

Please not the net in the first picture is not what dad is being kept in.
He is in a large breeding net with rigid plastic holding the netting up. so he is completely safe.

Kind regards
Layne

My male bn

The eggs.

 

[Menagerie]

WELCOME TO AA
I thought the female took care of the eggs. I have never raised bn pleco fry on purpose--my plecos either do it right, or they don't. From what I know of breeding them, the male keeps the female in a cave to breed and lay eggs. After that I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I'm sure someone with a vast amount of knowledge will come along soon.

 

[Layne2000]

Hiya Thanks for the welcome.
The male lures the female into his cave to lay the eggs, she leaves, from then on dad does a brilliant job of looking after them

Any advice would be greatly appreiated. Thanks in advance

 

[Lager]

See what happens. They should do it again and hopefully this batch will hatch. If they do nuke some peas or cukes for the to eat. Dad is the caretaker and most male BNs do a great job. I would not leave them in the breeder net to long, that has got to be stressing him.

 

[Zagz]

The male is the one that keeps the eggs for BN pleco's. I have had several spawns, I currently have over 400 fry! Once they hatch and become wrigglers, I crush up some algae wafers for them to feed on. I usually remove them when they are a few days old as in my tank there are lots of predators waiting to snack on them. They go into a breeding tank with the other fry, ranging in ages from 3 months to a few days old and I feed them algae wafers. I also put blanced zucchini in the tank every few days for a treat.

You said dad's permanent cave is in the breeders net?

As for breeding regularily, mine breed every 3 weeks like clockwork. I am actually having difficulty figuring out where I will get rid of all of the fry!

 

[Layne2000]

Hi Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my questions.
As said yesterday, I left the male bn in his cave in the breeder with the batch of eggs outside his cave overnight in my fry tank which is kept exactly the same temperature etc as my main tank.

He did come out and sit by the eggs, but thismorning he was back inside his cave with the eggs where I left them outside.

Am I right in presuming that once the eggs are laid by the female, that the male sweeps over them and fertilises them like Angel fish do, then the males main job is to fan the eggs and protet from preditors??

As the eggs are safe in the net away from would be diners, I have put the male in his cave back in the main tank.

The eggs are still nice and orange and I can see the white spot inside indicating the startings of the embryos?
As there is no male to fan the eggs, I moved an airstone closer to the breeding net so a constant flow of water passes over the eggs.

Ohhh hope Ive done right here lol

Sorry for posting more questions for you but I'm desperate to get these eggs to hatch lol

Layne (complete and utter plec noob) (but loving every minute of it)

Off to boil some coconut shells now as I'm making some plec caves

 

[Lager]

Sounds like you are doing well. The gentle current from the airstone is a good replacement for Dad's attention. If any eggs turn completely white remove them one fungused egg can destroy the whole batch.

 

[Layne2000]

Sounds like you are doing well. The gentle current from the airstone is a good replacement for Dad's attention. If any eggs turn completely white remove them one fungused egg can destroy the whole batch.

Thank you very much. I'll keep a check on them

Also as the net is at the top of the tank.. will the light harm the eggs or is it ok to turn it on as normal for a few hours?
Thank you

 

[Zagz]

I would not put direct light on them. It may increase the possibility of fungus. I don't know that with certainty though, my eggs have always hatched in a dark place.

 

[Layne2000]

Thanks for that zags. Ill leave the light off for now, my fry will have to make do with a dimly lit room for a few days