The fry are loose [Archive]

toddnbecka

03-14-2009, 12:38 AM

Daddy BN has come out of the barnacle he's been holed up in, and I've seen 3 fry cleaning the front and back glass of the tank. Here's a pic of one, the little bugger is larger than I expected for just being turned loose. It's at least twice the length of the two-month-old chanchito fry in the same tank. Unfortunately, the auto-focus on the camera targets the plants behind the front glass
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020541.jpg

Closer view, same pic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/CopyofP1020541.jpg

Deleted User

03-14-2009, 12:40 AM

Congratulatons. thumbs2: :19:

Brookfish

03-14-2009, 01:11 AM

Congrats on the fry and nice job on the pic!

Lady Hobbs

03-14-2009, 01:15 AM

He's been eating well, apparently.

toddnbecka

03-14-2009, 01:59 AM

No doubt the new wee bristles are eating. I saw one on the front glass a few minutes ago doing what pleco's of any size are well-known for. At least the poop is proportionate to the size of the fish... :hmm3grin2orange:
I'd like to get clearer pics, but don't have the $$ (or the inclination to spend that much) for a digital SLR. I tried putting a piece of tape on the glass for the auto-focus to target, but it didn't help a bit.

bluebluecow

03-14-2009, 07:16 AM

big congrats

liz

Sharon

03-14-2009, 11:09 AM

Cute little guys!!!thumbs2:

Ellen4God

03-15-2009, 06:33 AM

How adorable!!! So cute. Thanks for sharing!! Can't wait to see more of them (because you'll post more....right? :14:)

toddnbecka

03-15-2009, 04:38 PM

I'll post more pics when they grow a bit and move around more. For now the only 2 I can see are clinging to the front glass at the waterline.

Rue

03-15-2009, 04:41 PM

Cool! So cute! (In a BN way...):hmm3grin2orange:

Dixie

03-24-2009, 07:33 PM

Awwww They're so cute.

allsmiles

03-25-2009, 04:05 PM

I've never seen pleco fry before... I'm learning soo much here! Beautiful little suckers...

troy

03-26-2009, 01:28 AM

Congrats on the fry!thumbs2:

mommy1

03-26-2009, 01:37 AM

congratulations and very cute :11:

fraggle

03-26-2009, 05:12 AM

hehehehe, they look like tadpoles!!!

Thanks toddnbecka! Never seen little BN before!

KcEE

03-26-2009, 04:14 PM

WOW!!!! That's the first time I'm seeing this! CONGRATS!!!! thumbs2:

toddnbecka

04-01-2009, 05:31 PM

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. About 3 weeks ago I tried to move the barnacle cluster the male has been using to swap it for 4 pvc "caves". He refused to come out because he had a fresh clutch of eggs, so I placed the barnacle on top of the pvc caves. Last night he backed out of the shell to grab a few bites of food that were raining down on top of the cluster. I spotted some completely developed fry inside the shell, and a couple more orange eggs as well. Looks like the 2 females are tag-teaming him as they develop more eggs, and I set the breeding arrangement up a little too well. Neither the male or the fry need to leave the shell to find food. The spray bar delivers it right on top of, and sometimes even into, the spawning site.

toddnbecka

04-11-2009, 07:56 AM

Update on the fry, after stripping down the tank for another cleaning I found a single fair-sized fry from the first spawn, but none of the younger fry I had seen in the shell. Last weekend I saw the new eggs had not only hatched, but there were more free-swimming fry in the shell with big daddy. He wasn't in the same shell, but had moved "next door" to another shell in the cluster. I figured he was done guarding the fry, and lifted the cluster. Wigglers scattered everywhere, much to the delight of the chanchito's who happily picked off any that came their way.
Consequently, I moved the cichlid pair to another tank to allow the BN fry to grow out. They need a break from spawning anyway, having produced multiple successive broods. Now there are free-swimming BN fry popping out of the woodwork, and it looks like a good number of them are albino's. Both contributing females and big daddy are brown.
Here's a couple pics of big daddy (soon to be too wide to fit into his favorite shell) and some of his young (he moved back in after the disturbance was over):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020694.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020701.jpg

Ellen4God

04-11-2009, 04:42 PM

Wow! Those babies are so cute!! I want some babies. :] lol

troy

04-12-2009, 02:15 AM

Very cool.thumbs2:

toddnbecka

04-16-2009, 03:48 AM

Fresh pics, they're all out of the shell (and all over the tank) now. Looks like half are albino.
These two are between the net breeder (cichlid fry) and front glass:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020714.jpg

This one reminded me of a worm in an apple. Looks like the zucchini was cut and the fry was inside:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020706.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020711.jpg

Northernguy

04-16-2009, 12:32 PM

Congrats on the fry!:22:

Great shots too!thumbs2:

Brookfish

04-16-2009, 04:09 PM

How cute are those, great shots!

Ashley

04-16-2009, 11:38 PM

Awww, those are too cute! Do you boil your zucchini first or just put it in raw? Also, what kind of plecos do you have?

toddnbecka

04-17-2009, 03:31 AM

These are regular bristlenose fry, all 3 parents (1m/2f) are brown but obviously carry the albino gene. I just slice off some zucchini, stick a skewer through it, and drop it into the tank. When there's only the skin left I remove it. (Last pics were taken in the afternoon, zucchini was gone that evening.) After soaking in the water for a day or two it's mushy anyway, no need to cook it.
There are also some L333's in the tank but they're too young to spawn yet. Ironically, the barnacle cluster was intended for them, but the BN's grew faster and the largest male claimed one of the shells in the cluster. He's fanning another clutch of eggs now.