BN Fry

[Tanker]

Hey. I finally got a second spawning of my Bristlenose so I have about 1000000 wriglers living off their sacs and that's all cool... almost.

So what do I do with them, now? I am assuming Papa isn't going to keep them in the cave for ever, so how long do I have until I need to get a grow out tank? The last spawn were kicked out of the cave at about a week of age but I think that was because the power went out in the tank for quite a long time, and there was no circulation past the cave entrance, so Papa kicked them out to 'save' them from suffocating. Regrettably the tankmates made sure there was not a single survivor by the time I got home from work the next day.

I have a 30 gallon tank with a filter, and I have a 'automatic fry feeder' all rigged up on a timer, and everything, but I would rather the little guys get Papa's loving care rather than take them away before they are ready.

Anyone have some real experience with them that would like to share? They all hatched yesterday and last night, so this is Day 1, for all intents and purposes.

[Guppygirl]

Congrats :thumbs: on the new hatching. I have no experience with BN, but my corydoras keep breeding and hatching. Fry are so cute. So good luck with your raising attempt. :thumbs:

[Vallisneria]

Sweet! Congrats on the new batch! As for fry info, your best bet is to talk to Jason or I believe Algaefarmer(not sure if he comes here anymore) also breeds BN.

[Blue Ram]

I just sold 60 albino BN fry @ 1 inch and am now raising my second batch. My pair spawn every 5 weeks! I removed the wrigglers this time as there was no way they would survive in a community tank with large rainbowfish. The time before that I removed the eggs at about 4 days. They all hatched and had no losses. I raised them on fresh zucchini and canned green beans - easy as pie.

[jvision]

I put my little guys into thier own tank when they've absorbed their yolk sacs. Then I feed them NLS Grow, shelled frozen peas and zuccini-on-a-fork. I've also had great success feeding NLS H2O Wafers.

[algae farmer]

Consider boiled carrots, spinnach and lettuce leaves, raw potatoe peels. Also place some aquarium aged wood in their growout tank.

Once a week newly hatched brine shrimp seems to be of some benefit.

enjoy

PS

[BlackMumba]

Bristlenose so I have about 1000000 wriglers living off their sacs

oh my gawd!!! That's alot of fry... and I thought my 200 was alot... congrats ! I would start on the phone book now to find them all new homes!! LOL

[patrick]

Bristlenose so I have about 1000000 wriglers living off their sacs

oh my gawd!!! That's alot of fry... and I thought my 200 was alot... congrats ! I would start on the phone book now to find them all new homes!! LOL

Lol, let's pretend that it was 1000000 fry and each needed it's own home, and that you were making calls to find that home, then you would have to make 1 phone call every minute for approx 1 year and 11 months :eh:

[Frank]

Can you give some advice on breeding them. What ph, solf or hard water . what kind of set up you have for them.

Good luck with all of those fry.

thanks.

[Tanker]

Well, after a few days with dad I pulled them out (most of them... about 10 stayed in the cave and wouldn't come out since their life literally depended on it) and now have 80 of them in a 20 gallon. I guess my first count was a bit high... 2 of them were lost in the move but the others are perfect. I pulled them on Friday last week and so far not one loss since. There are also 15 fresh little acei fry in there with them, and they are all doing great.

The grow out tank is on an automatic feeder that feeds twice a day with ground up NLS Grow. Heat on at 80, large sponge filter with a 200 gph powerhead and also a smaller sized AC filter with straight floss for a little more water circulation (additionally it forces the food off the water's surface and into the water column). Bare bottomed tank with only the sponge itself and a good piece of wood as decor or hiding space. As I work out of town for four-five days at a time, I can not do water changes as often as I like, so I will be splitting the BN fry into two 33's and leaving the cichlids in the 20. With that volume of water they will easily stay fresh until I return home each week. The auto feeders are nice, too... $20 specials from a department store with a small modification by myself to make them suitable for a ground pellet food. As the powdered food falls through the water it is grazed upon by the fry... constant food supply nearly 24 hours a day.

For spawning, it's easy. Take one female, one male, add water. I live in Leduc where the water is essentially the same parameters as is found in Calgary and Edmonton (or anywhere else in Alberta with above-ground water sources) - pH around 8 and high hardness. I don't soften or add anything for the mbuna like a rift lake salt, or anything else. Just dose with Prime and carry on. I have a write up coming soon on my breeding cave, and will edit this post accordingly.