bristlenose cannibalism

[AusPleco]

Upon doing a water change i found one of my females half eaten under a piece of driftwood, Do the bristlenose often eat each other and could it be underfeeding?


I have 2 adult males and 3 females left over now and i normally drop in 3 algae wafers and 2 sera viformo pellets as i often find some of it left over. If i feed them blanched zucchini i never really see it get eaten either.

Any suggestions?

 

[MIX02u]

They will eat anything if it lies still for long enough. Dead fish will always get munched on regardless of how well fed the others are.

 

[Brengun]

I would not feed viformo to bristlenose as they are true gluttons and might just eat that and leave the other. Best to increase the algae wafers and add a bit of zucchini or cucumber a couple times a week.

 

[AusPleco]

hmm okey dokey then lol, now i just need another female

 

[Irene0100]

they will take advantage of dead fish. sorry you lost one. keep an eye out in case there is any illness in the tank and the other fish catch it. I would do a big w/c and look very carefully for any marks or redness on the other fish. if in any doubt add some melafix.

 

[AusPleco]

Thanks for reply, I did a big water change straight away after finding her, the other adults look okay and no dead fry.

I'm hoping it wasnt the female breeding for me

 

[back to basics]

i feed algae waffers sparringly to bristlenose , mostly zucchinni or bokchoi , never had a drama with viforma , no drama with nls flake or grow granules , i dont use cucumber due to the amount of seeds that float from it , canabalism is very great in bristlenose , a female will spawn , then another will eat her fry to make hers dominant , as males will do the same for spawning rights , whilst the males are blewing with each other , the girls just get more gravid , and can succumb to being egg bound , and can also die if they dont digest their eggs , raising fry of ancistrus is easy as keep spawns seperate as smaller fry dont get as much food obviously as the bigger ones thus making them weaker and stunted