Bn plecos

redzebra24 · Post by **redzebra24** » 08 Jul 2006, 02:54

i Have a pair of albino bn 1 male 2.5in to 3in with a female 3in to 3.5 in and the male is in a cave i made for him. Does that mean they will spawn? does that mean they have spawned? what should i look for?

Azmeaiel · Post by **Azmeaiel** » 08 Jul 2006, 03:47

Lots of info on here about spawning and the behavior of these fish while spawning. sometimes a first spawn may need to be triggered. Do a search and see what you come up with. They wont neccessarily spawn the second they get a cave. It took me 3 month before mine found a cave they actually liked.

info on tank interior, water perameters, tank size, feed, age of the fish may also help people help you better.

redzebra24 · Post by **redzebra24** » 08 Jul 2006, 03:50

ok tank is a 20h, i have noooo idea what the water is like. i feed alge wafers twice a week. tank has hydro 5 and 1 homemade cave. some gravel. no idea what age

Azmeaiel · Post by **Azmeaiel** » 08 Jul 2006, 07:30

might be worth getting yourself at least a ph test kit, get the LPS to test your water if you cannot afford gh/kh, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits as knowing your water perameters is very important when trying to breed fish. BN's like a low-neautral (6.5-7 ph) water when breeding, bogwood to chew (part of their natural diet. knowing ammonia and nitrite is important as these in any ammount can make fish ill. Nitrate is ok at 10-25. Frequent tests tell you instantly what is going on in your tank and can be an early warning of problems before you end up with floating fish.

20 gal is a good size to start. give them a lot of choice of caves. they seem to like caves they can just squeeze themself into, possibly feed them a small ammount once a day when conditioning for breeding (about 1/3 a wafer a day) rather than every few days as algae eaters really should have a constant supply of food. they also like raw sweet potato and zuccini (tied to a stone).

Reginator · Post by **Reginator** » 08 Jul 2006, 22:15

If they're available where you are I recommend the tetra test strips, they give a basic reading for ph, nitrates, nitrites, water hardness and ammonia (I think) which should be enough to give you a general idea....