Ancistrus eggs

[cbaranyk]

I have a pair of bristle nose plecos that laid a clutch of eggs near my heater. The male is doing a great job fanning and protecting them.

Anyone know how long it will take for the eggs to hatch?
What do baby plecos eat?
They're in a community tank in my lobby so I'm guessing the fry will get eaten but it's still cool watching him be a good dad.

Thanks!

[sskruzr]

From my experience, they always laid in some type of cave. The eggs should hatch in around 7 and more than likely the other fish have a snack. I don't really have anything else with my breeders and after the 14 days I find some babies on the glass. Then I take the cave and dad and put them a 5 gallon. Eventually the babies come out in search of food, then I return dad back to his tank.

[fishbit]

You can collect the eggs with a Turkey Baster vans hatch them in a jar with an airstone.

[JesusSqueesus]

Baby bristlenose plecos will eat the same algae wafers as the adults. We also feed our plecos zucchini, we dehydrated a ton of it last year. And they need driftwood to chew on to help get the correct gut bacteria to keep them healthy. If you want, I can bring you a bag of zucchini to the next meeting, or if you are in this area sometime before then.

[gladmaker]

What is the benefit of dehydrating zucchini? I have 2 large plecos that I give a slice of fresh zucchini every night. They love it. They will eat most of it through the night. I leave it in the tank and by the next evening, all that is left is the rind. I then replace it with a fresh slice. These are about 5 or 6 years old and have never had driftwood. I've read they like to chew on it but have not put any in my tank.

[JesusSqueesus]

We dehydrated it just for storage purposes. We grew some in the garden last year and weren't able to use or eat it fast enough. Now we have 3 gallon bags of it. That's really the only benefit to it.

[gladmaker]

Will the plecos eat the dehydrated as well as the fresh?

[JesusSqueesus]

Yes, it just takes a little while to soften up. I feed it in the morning and it is usually gone when I get home from work.

[sskruzr]

I feed mine french green beans, all of them. I take a can of beans, rinse several times and throw in a freezer bag. Feed accordingly.