Breeding Plecs -BNs.

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
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Norfolk, UK
General notes on pleco breeding -from my experience.By Irene Miller

It is often asked -â€which plecs are the easiest to breed?†or “ I want to breed plecs -where do I start?â€
Most often the replies centre around Common Bristle nose (Ancistrus sp.) (BNs for short) as being easy and good for the learning curve.
To be fair thats where I started although I was not convinced that I should not start with something more exotic, and what's this learning curve anyway?

Well I did the standard thing and got a pair of BNs, and I did learn quite a lot, despite research and thinking I knew it all!.
After that I was lucky enough to have breeding gold Strip panaques (LDA01) and now I have L270 Chocolate Zebras and marbled BNs.
BUT it is not as easy as some might think, and fish have their own rules, likes and dislikes and no two fish are the same.
Why do I say that?
Because I have other perfectly healthy plecs that should be able to breed (eg L134) but so far, just wont , despite trying all the tricks I have leant so far, and more.
I also have my proven pair of Gold stripes who I have not bred for a year now and I keep trying different tactics to try and restart them.
I guess the biggest thing you need is patience!.

So lets start with some basics.
How to get BNs to breed.

First have one pair (do not get a colony -this only works for some fish) or at most one male and two females.

MALE


FEMALE


If you have more than one male they will probably fight -badly,
and if not they will spend more time watching each other than having any interest in the females.
Besides once they get going you will have so many young you will be glad you only have one breeding pair.
If you start with quite young BNs because you cant get adults,
don't worry they only have to be about a year or so old to breed
(unlike some other plecs you may have to keep for quite a few years first).

As long as they have a reasonable sized tank (2ft plus) good filtration,
good water, some driftwood, a few stones and a suitable cave they will probably breed when they are ready.
They dont have to be in a tank on their own as long they have nothing they will fight with or is bigger than them and could take over the cave.
The cave can be PVC pipe with an end blocked off,
a slate cave or pottery – or home made such as an upturned flower pot with an entrance in it.
I have heard of some using coconut shells with an entrance and stuck on a bit of slate.
I gave mine several to choose from and he chose a home-made clay one.
Having said that lots of people also ask – “why wont my BNs breed?â€.
Well after the obvious question of - are they male and female (male has Bristles up his nose and the female doesn't! see pics)
there are a number of things to try and help.

1. Add water from another tank that has breeding fish in it – for example, each water change take out 2 buckets of old water and one new and one from another tank.
If you dont have a tank with anything breeding, add some fish in with the BNs that may breed readily
(eg some corydoras -I used trilineatus and panda cories, or small guppies). This helps to put helpful hormones in the water.

A local fish shop who I kept supplied with lots of baby Bns, had his own shop for many years,
decided he would try and breed some when I stopped supplying.
He was surprised it was not as easy as he had assumed and had been advising his customers for years!
But then he did not believe me that you should do a water change (approx 20%) every other day and only did his water changes every few weeks!
He gave up in the end and sold the adults!

2. Very regular water changes, I did every other day, with water the same temp as the tank,
just to keep water tip top.

3.Have some plants (java fern is good cos they dont eat that)
so nitrates are absorbed and water is well oxygenated.

4.Buy a barometer or watch the weather forcasts.
When the air pressure starts dropping and a storm is coming – do a large water change -about 50% -
with water that is several degrees cooler than the tank,
and if possible use soft water with low TDS, such as RO water or rain water (where rain is NOT off a concrete roof or anything leaching chemicals).
Also unplug the tank heater for several hours.

5. Repeat the last step every day for several days.
Then let tank rest for a few days.

Once they are breeding, as long as water quality is kept good the big water changes are not needed for further broods.

Here are some of the babies ready to leave the cave, with their dad guarding.



One of the 'lessons' I learnt was about the fry – I did not realise they would swim inside the filter housing
and my first breeding tank was a 90 litre juwel which has a fixed internal filter, in black.
It was very hard to catch the fry and get them out safe because of the dark and the fry are hard to see as they are also dark.
I soon got a new tank with different filtration that was more fry friendly.

Another lesson is not to shine torches into the breeding caves to see if there are any eggs yet -
this can upset them a lot and cause them to kick the eggs out or eat them.

I also learnt that having a lot of wood, plus soft water, tended to make the ph drop suddenly when I did not expect it,
so I reduced the an mount of wood and added some buffer to the water. Electronic ph meters are really useful.



I hope this will encourage you because its really exciting when you get your first fry!

young growing up fast!

 

Doodles

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
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That is brilliant, sure will help members, thank you for writing it Irene:clap::clap::clap:
 

soloot

Member
Jun 12, 2009
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Thanks for the encouragement and the information you have share within such a great fish community.

Are peps a little harder to breed?
Do I need to use Almond leaves to tannin the water?
Is it possible to share with us your experiences with peps?

Ta
 

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
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Norfolk, UK
Hi soloot. I gues by peps you mean peppermint Bns? possibly L182 or L183? not sure as in UK we know them by different names such as starlight plec or white seam etc.

I have not bred these but have kept some, and at the moment I have a lonely L183 male waiting for me to find a female.
From what I have read they are reasonably easy to breed, Yes indian almond leaves or oak leaves are good to put in the water, not just for tannin but for other minerals and antibiotic properties to keep fish healthy. I use them for mmy hypancistrus tanks.
 

soloot

Member
Jun 12, 2009
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I have a trio that aren't old enough yet, 22 baby's and none have breed as yet but am trying hard. I think being patient and not disturbing them is the go with most of the plecos. I will have to get my hands on some of those leaves as my next experiment. Have fun.

cheers Irene
 

lealea

Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Brisbane Australia
That was a great read you are so right in saying every Pleco is different and different for every owner as each and everyone of us find some hard to breed and others easier. Thanks lealea
 

macvsog23

Pleco Profiles Team - RIP FRIEND
May 1, 2009
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Bristol
I have been keeping fish for years but found this post most interesting
This post is spot on
 

Brengun

Global Moderators
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Apr 22, 2009
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Burrum Heads, Queensland, Australia
Great news about your peps Tim. You must be thrilled to bits as the fry are very pretty.
I must admit I pretty much did nothing out of the ordinary to get my peps to breed.

For one I ignored them. They were in an out of traffic area spot in a bottom tier.
Ph I did notice was around 7.2 as it was a fairly newly set up tank and my little coral bits in the gravel were working.

I only had undergravel filter and lots of air. I hadn't even put a power filter in the tank yet.

I am on all rainwater here so wc was 20-25% once a week. (ph about 6.2)

Tank temp was at 26C or just under 80F as I knew bns liked it a bit cooler.

Food was nothing special, hikari algae wafer and cucumber.

One night while feeding I noticed lots of little peppermint bn fry on the glass!
I nearly went Ga-Ga lol.
 

Luci

Member
Dec 30, 2009
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Pennsylvania
Pleco breeding

Thanks Irene, great article. One question I have to ask. I have 1 male/4 females in my 20 gallon long breeding tank. Is it ok to have some cory cats with them or will the corys eat the new emergent baby plecos?

Luci
 

Doodles

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
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Hi Luci

Corys should be fine with them. My L144 bred without any problems and had corydoras in the tank too.
 

Luci

Member
Dec 30, 2009
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Pennsylvania
Just being cautious. I do know my corys will eat their own young if they even make it that far. Generally they eat the eggs unless I collect them.

Luci
 

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
4,271
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36
Norfolk, UK
yes I keep cories with all my plecs, it helps to eat up uneaten food, plus the cories breed readily (even if they eat the eggs) which encourages the plecs.
I find that plenty of plants help the cories lay eggs where they are less likely to be eaten.