Spawning on hold

[C8lyn]

Just wondering in the case of spawning bristlenose.
My pair have spawned twice so far. First lot was a full, healthy batch raised by dad, the second lot he kicked all the eggs out and I didn't have much success with them.
Between those two spawns was just over a month and the female became gravid fairly quickly. Does the time between spawns vary greatly? I've been keeping an eye on her and she doesn't seem to be producing any more eggs, her tummy is still flat and empty and their last spawn was a few days before Christmas.

I don't know much about this so I'm unsure if females will just stop producing eggs for whatever reason. I'm probably just getting ahead of myself.

 

[littlebristlenose]

I find its better to rest the pair if 28 day spawn has happened as the Adults lose some condition.( the male if good will lose alot of condition if repeated breed by 4/5th spawn he may die due to over work like as men do in real life )

This may be a simply as removeing cave but some males will still find a spot so i remove the male to a seperate tank.

A well condition female will give 150 plus eggs, if repeatly breed the numbers and quality of fry become a problem this is when fry don't make it and you get alot of unviable eggs.( so the female needs a break too )

Good males will never kick out eggs do you have other fish that may be hassling the male?( males that are good dads are worth more than females in my time breeding )

 

[froggie]

Does the time between spawns vary greatly? No
My BN spawn every 30-40 days for the pass 2 years (1M 6F). Once or twice a year they might skip a month especially if my water quality is not up to scratch.
I remove the fry a day after they hatch so that the adult male can recover more quickly.

 

[C8lyn]

Ok thanks.
My female did look pretty horrible after her last lay, I thought that might be why she hasn't done anything again yet.
I did have two caves in there but today I did a bit of rescaping and now there is just one. Plenty of other hiding places too.
The male is pretty bossy towards the other fish, especially around feeding time. I try to make sure the food is spread out cross the bottom so he can't hog it all in one spot.
She looks good and healthy now so I'll just give her time. It was a pretty big lot of eggs on the first spawn, but not quite as many on the second. Ill keep an eye on her. Thanks for the tips guys.

 

[littlebristlenose]

I always place veggie in 3-4 spots of each type as the adults can fight if only 1 or 2 pieces are placed in tank.

The female will eat alot for first few days after laying so some protein may help but not too much,condition should return to normal after a few days.

 

[Irene0100]

I assume you have pepperment Bns or are they common BNs?
I have not kept peppermints but with commons I would not expect such deterioration after only two spawns, but you dont tell us much about the conditions - eg tank size and if you keep the young with them and how much w/c you do etc- eg could the water qual be not at its best? are you feeding her up well with some proteins as well as veg?

 

[C8lyn]

Common Bristlenose. Male common, female Albino.
They get 10-20% water changes fairly regularly.
The first lot of fry was raised by dad in a separate tank until they came out of the cave and I put him back in with the female.
The second was unsuccessful because he kicked the eggs out. I don't know what the reason was but they didn't look like they were attached to the inside of the cave like the first lot. I tried to raise them but the fry that hatched got gobbled through the mesh by my yoyo loach while I was away for Christmas.
He still hangs around his cave most of the time. Occasionally fanning, or being a rotten pr*ck towards her or anyone else who gets in his personal space.

 

[C8lyn]

I think my female may have laid a small lump of eggs. I didn't have time to have a good look this morning but I saw the male fanning in his cave, which he does all the time, but not as enthusiastically. I looked at my female, who I noticed was starting to look a little round on the edges again lately, and her tummy looked flat so I'm assuming but not entirely certain that there's eggs in the cave.
I'm just going to leave them in there and worry about the fry later.. I'm unsure if the other fish in the tank would try and eat the babies. I'm going to move my yoyo loach just to be sure.