36 replies to this topic

[Junglefish]

Hey just wondering what would be the best substrate for bristlenose? Ive got a full esky of sand so hoping the answer is sand lol

Cheers, Steve

[Simon A]

if they are not in a display tank then bare bottom, however they are not picky you can use anything, I prefer sand.

[Junglefish]

Nah not on display so bare bottom sounds fresh thanks bud

[spendy]

Nah not on display so bare bottom sounds fresh thanks bud

If u go bare bottom ull get a thin slimey film on the bottom..
Mainly due to all the fish poo that gets left there...
So u have to give it a wipe over every now and then otherwise you will have fry die alot..
Think its from them eatin it or something..
I find gravel is the best bet.....
Hope that helps..
Renato

[sandgroper]

If u go bare bottom ull get a thin slimey film on the bottom..
Mainly due to all the fish poo that gets left there...
So u have to give it a wipe over every now and then otherwise you will have fry die alot..
Think its from them eatin it or something..
I find gravel is the best bet.....
Hope that helps..
Renato

This is incorrect the bristlenose cats will do all the cleaning for you thats why every body breeds them they are just like a creepy crawly. If your fry are dying all the time it's probably water quality.cheers steve

[bigjohnnofish]

This is incorrect the bristlenose cats will do all the cleaning for you thats why every body breeds them they are just like a creepy crawly. If your fry are dying all the time it's probably water quality.cheers steve

if you can keep 1000 b/n varying sizes from 1-4cm in a single 70 litre tank with glass bottom and using only 2 air driven filters then your a better catfish breeder/keeper than me....

gravel is the go!!! and best to go u/g filter as well.... theres a lot of stuff that grows in your gravel that b/n love to eat... after a quick gravel clean you should see them feed like crazy....

as b/n leave a fair bit of waste you'll find them swimming in shit at the bottom of a glass tank.... any tiny bit of ammonia buildup at the bottom of the tank and you'll get casualties... you may not even notice them dying off as overnight the other b/n eat them.... i can keep on going all night why gravel is better than glass bottom for b/n.... but i have better things to do!!!

[joey]

your probably very confused now haha,
ill just let you know i successfully breed albino bristle nose on a sand bottom.

So by reading all the comments above, i guess it doesnt matter much which bottom you choose. As long as you have wood in the tank and even a few breeding caves.

[Bowdy]

I 100% agree with johno. True bristlenose arnt really picky with substrate but if you have been out to see johno and the way he does things there is no question he knows what he is talking about. I adopted his method of UGF and am having a lot more success with bn fry.
Something to think about I guess.
Cheers.

Edited by Bowdy, 04 August 2011 - 08:21 AM.

[Junglefish]

Yeah ive been told johno is bn king so ill go with his advice. I currently have fry growing in a 2'14"18" with air driven sponge filters and have lost over half of them thanks for the input guys

[sandgroper]

Leave the male with the young for several weeks and they will be fine. To many people take the young away to early, this results in the young dying off.cheers steve

[Junglefish]

They were about 10mm when they got moved is that too small? I might have better luck when i setup a tank for just the bn right now they are sharing with a colony of mpanga but i have no interest in messing with their breeding habits once they have their own house im just gonna let them go wild Are UGFs hard to maintain cleaning wise?

Edited by Junglefish, 04 August 2011 - 11:22 AM.

[spendy]

UGF are just as easy to clewn as gravel just use the trusty ol gravel cleaner...!
And put 2 inches of gravel on them as that acts as ur media for BB..
Ive changed from gravel to ugf recently after chatten to bigjohnofish and checkin out hes settups. And the amount of fry johno can raise is mad....!


Usually if ur gonna move fry make sure the water is the same as where they were born..
Ie;syphon some out of original tank.and add a lil bit of fresh water... And u should have minimal losses..!
Other than that u gotta clean fry tank regularly i do mine every couple days to keep water clean. As fry are more fragil to shit.
Anyways that works for me. ..
Good luck
Renato

[bigjohnnofish]

Leave the male with the young for several weeks and they will be fine. To many people take the young away to early, this results in the young dying off.cheers steve

once the fry leave the cave the male has no impact on survival.... its all for one and one for all..... they really need to feed within first day or two or they will become weak... quite often too weak to even feed and hence they die off slowly over a few days..... food doesnt really matter as long as its not meat based.... they will eat anything vege based....

[krellious]

I have bred them with sand and without. I find they like the base of the tankt o be dark so spray it black or blue and you will have success. As for fry duying. Do you have plenty of wood for them to eat and good water quality? Add driftwood or indian almond leaves and you should be sweet.

I have also never experienced the film you talk about. I have 5 8+cm albino's breeding in a 1ft tank and they are all happy and the tank only has poo.

I have also heard the longer you keep them with the father the more they can eat. Apparently they feed of his poo or something for a short period of time. So leave them in and that should help there survival.

[bigjohnnofish]

eating dads poop isnt really what id say happens in the wild... once they leave the cave they get washed downstream with the current to where ever they can grab on and start eating... dads poop is basically ammonia when it breaks down which kills fry... too much of it on a glass bottom spells death whethe rit be instant or ammonia burn which will kill them within days or even weeks....

some of the old ways of raising royal whiptail fry were to feed them snail poop.... still only resulted in low survival rates 5-10%.....

[krellious]

Ahh never thought of ammonia burn. And thanks for clearing it up for me. I have left fry in wth the larger fish for the frst time recently and i cant see any dead fish and the small aout of fry doesnt seem to be getting less in mumbers. Anyways that is a little of track from the substrate topic. They like it dark so keep the floor dark colored be it painting the underside or dark substrate and you should be ok. Also paint the sides and back if you ahce the cnhance and you should get alot of fry

[bigjohnnofish]

i disagree with your dark ideas... b/n are very easy to please... 14 hours of light... and an u/g filter with some gravel and a piece of wood and a cave and some adults and look what happens....
this is a 70 litre tank and would anyone like to guess how many b/n there are in there.... thats pretty lightly stocked i've had twice as many at times... i remember one tank - i kept taking 50 x 3-4cm fry out each week to take down the shop... and after 3 mths it still looked like these pics below...

Edited by bigjohnnofish, 03 September 2011 - 12:45 AM.

[Riggers]

A good thick layer of gravel and a UG filter, some nice dark caves and away they go. After Johnos advice and seeing what he has setup for his catfish I went for the simple approach and it works sweeeeeeet, breeding like rabbits!! I've got a UG filter here for ya Junglefish

[krellious]

I have found they breed in both but have hd more luck in dark. My first pair had a tank for about 4 months. Nothing. eptied enough water so i could lift it and then put a dark tshirt underneath. 2 dauys later i had fry :0

[Bowdy]

2 days later you had fry then that would mean they spawned without the dark bottom.