Information on breeding bristlenose ancistrus fish.
Information on ancistrus fish.
I have been asked for advice on breeding golden
bristlenose ancistrus so I thought that I should write a page with everything I
do. It’s not complicated and I don’t have a secret.I hope this will help someone
with a view answers.
"Ancistrus is a genus of freshwater fish in the
family Loricariidae of order Siluriformes. Fish of this genus are commonly known
as the bushynose or bristlenose plecs.
Taxonomy
species is Ancistrus cirrhosus. This genus
is the largest genus within the tribe Ancistrini. The name ancistrus derives
from the Greek 'agkistron' meaning hook - a reference to the form of the cheek
odontodes. The genera Pristiancistrus, Thysanocara and Xenocara are now synonyms
of Ancistrus.
Appearance
Ancistrus sp. clinging to a stone in an aquarium
Ancistrus species show all the typical features of the Loricariidae. This
includes a body covered in bony plates and a ventral suckermouth. The feature
most commonly associated with the genus are the fleshy tentacles found on the
head in adult males; females may possess tentacles along the snout margin but
they are smaller and they lack tentacles on the head. Tentacules, tentacles
directly associated with odontodes, develop on the pectoral fin spine of the
males of some species. Males also have evertable cheek odontodes which are less
developed or absent in females. They also lack odontodes along the snout. In
comparison with a typical pleco, a bristlenose is typically shorter (15 cm or
less), more flattened and fatter with a comparatively wider head. Colouration is
typically mottled brown, grey or black. Small white or yellow spots are common.
Habitat
The Ancistrus is one of the widest ranging genera of
the family, and representatives are found throughout the range of Loricariidae.
They are found throughout rivers and floodplain areas of the Amazon River in
South America. There are also some species, A. cryptophthalmus and A. formoso,
that live in caves.
Ecology
The diet of this genus is typical for a Loricariid -
algae and aufwuchs. Bristlenoses do not school but hide when not feeding;
juveniles however are typically found in brightly lit shallows at the water
margin making them susceptible to predation by birds.
Ancistrus species have the capability of obtaining
oxygen through their modified stomach. This allows them to survive in conditions
with low oxygen levels.
Breeding takes place in hollows caves and mud holes
in banks. Males may clean the inside of the cavity with their suckermouth before
allowing the female to approach and inspect the nest. Courtship includes
expanding the dorsal and caudal fins and attempts by the male to escort the
female to the nest. While the female inspects the nest, the male keeps close
contact. The female may lay 20-200 adhesive eggs, usually to the ceiling of the
cavity.
The female plays no role in parental care; the male
takes care of its young. Males will clean the eggs and the cavity with its fins
and mouth. Males inspect eggs to remove diseased or infertile eggs, and aerates
the clutch by fanning them with its pectoral and pelvic fins. During this time,
a male usually will not leave the cavity to feed, or will leave only
occasionally and quickly return. The eggs hatch in 4–10 days over a period of
2–6 hours; the male guards the eggs for 7–10 days after hatching. The fry remain
in the cave, attaching to the walls and ceiling with their mouths, absorbing
their yolk sac in 2–4 days and becoming free swimming.
Males of these species are competitive and
territorial. Males display to each other by positioning themselves parallel to
each other, head to tail, with dorsal and caudal fins erect and cheek odontode
spines everted. If this escalates to combat, the males will circle each other
and direct attacks at the head. If an intruding male manages to evict another
male from the nest, it may cannibalize the other male's young.
A male bristlenose may guard several clutches of
eggs simultaneously. Females prefer males that are already protecting eggs and
may prefer males that are protecting larvae; it has been suggested that the
tentacles may act as a fry mimic to attract females, which would allow males
without eggs in their nest to compete with males guarding eggs. Several clutches
in various states of development from eggs to free-swimming larvae can be found
in one nest.
In the aquarium
Female Goldspot Ancistrus Albino (Ancistrus sp. gold
albino These fish are often kept by aquarists as they are dutiful algae-eaters
and smaller in adult size than the common plecos usually seen in petshops. They
are hardy animals, tolerant to a wide range of water conditions, breeding easily
in captivity, compatible with most other freshwater fish, though typically
mottled brown in colour, other species are more exotic - spots of bright yellow
on a dark background being a common patternation, albino variants are also
common. It is thought that the eggs of the bristle-nosed pleco are light
sensitive, albino fish may be the result of exposure to excesive light.
Historically commonly available species of Ancistrus
were Ancistrus dolichopterus and Ancistrus temminckii, other species are now
available though exact identification is difficult.
Size is up to 15 cm (male), 12 cm (female),
recommended temperature 23-27 degrees Celsius, lifespan up to 12 years. Feeding
is easy, bristlenoses will graze on algae and other surface growing organisms as
well as eating algae wafers or tablets, flake food, squash, spinach, cucumber,
zucchini, green beans and peas however they have been known to accept frozen
bloodworms as part of their diet.
Sexing is very easy as the female will occasionally
have bristles around the edge of the chin and the male will have them up the
center of the head
Breeding is also possible: Males attract female to
small cave or hollow, then guard eggs after fertilization through hatching (4-8
days) until fry are free swimming (4-6 days after hatching), the aquarist need
only supply a suitable cave, food, and one of each sex. Like other plecs benefit
from the addition of bogwood, which they will rasp at and use as a hiding place
- in the absence of other plant matter (sources of fibre) wood may be essential
to the survival of these fish in the aquarium as it helps digestion of typically
high protein fish food.
Caution should be taken with the spines (odontodes)
- although the risk of personal injury is small with this genus the hooked
nature of the odontodes means that a bristlenose may become trapped in
non-natural material such as sponge filters and netting.
Pecies
The genus Ancistrus includes at least 59 named
species. Unnamed Loricarrids are typically identified by an L-number and may
continue to be so identified (especially outside academic circles).
Albino Bristle-nose catfish, Ancistrus sp.
• A. aguaboensis • A. bodenhameri • A. bolivianus •
A. brevifilis
• A. brevipinnis • A. bufonius • A. caucanus • A.
centrolepis
• A. chagresi • A. cirrhosus • A. claro • A.
clementinae
• A. cryptophthalmus • A. cuiabae • A. damasceni •
A. dolichopterus
• A. dubius • A. erinaceus • A. eustictus • A.
formoso
• A. fulvus • A. galani • A. gibbiceps • A.
gymnorhynchus
• A. heterorhynchus • A. hoplogenys • A. jataiensis
• A. jelskii
• A. latifrons • A. leucostictus • A. lineolatus •
A. lithurgicus
• A. macrophthalmus • A. maculatus • A. malacops •
A. maracasae
• A. marcapatae • A. martini • A. mattogrossensis •
A. megalostomus
• A. minutus • A. montanus • A. multispinis • A.
nationi
• A. nudiceps • A. occidentalis • A. occloi • A.
parecis
• A. pirareta • A. piriformis • A. ranunculus • A.
reisi
• A. spinosus • A. stigmaticus • A. tamboensis • A.
taunayi
• A. temminckii • A. tombador • A. trinitatis • A.
triradiatus
• A. variolus • A. verecundus "
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
My Ancistrus breeding setup.
Ok that’s enough info thanks to
Wikipedia. Back to breeding. I have been keeping fresh water tropical fish for a
view years now and the breeding started when some zebra long fin angels spawned.
After that I was hooked and I have bred tropical fish since then. I read as much
as possible about the type of fish and natural environment. The more I know the
easier it is.
There are people who will lower the water level and
add sprinklers. Who try to simulate the natural surrounding and rain fall. To be
honestly I don’t do that. I don’t do anything special except for the
feeding.
I have a male about one and half year old and female
about one year old. They have spawned 6 times now and every time i got about 90
to 100 fry. That’s about 600 golden bristlenose ancistrus fry in 15 weeks, I get
golden bristlenose ancistrus fry every second week.
Up to date I have not lost one fry or had any
malformed or defected fry. And never have had a sickness in a tank. The two
golden bristlenose ancistrus fish are kept with 20 black widows, 3 Long fin
angles, 8 neaon tertras and 6 red eye tetras in a 3ft bare bottom breeding tank
with overflow and 3ft sump and piece wood tied to a brick. I do 20% water change
once a week when I clean the bottom of tank. I would say that the feeding of the
female golden bristlenose ancistrus is the most important fact to getting them
to spawn.
My feeding will look something like this for a week:
Monday: I will feed brine shrimp I buy in the
blister packs.
Tuesday: i will give them a baby marrow cut in
length and in half.
Wednesday: I will remove the left over baby marrow
and give them Tetra Prima Granulates.
Thursday: I will give them bloodworms also bought in
blister packs.
Friday: they will get about 4 Tetra algae wafers.
Saturday and Sunday: they get baby marrows.
The breeding tube I call it is easily made with a
piece of pvc pipe, piece of glass and aquarium silicon. I glue the pipe’s one
side to the glass closing the end, and enabling it to stand upright. I also use
the same tube for normal breeding of angels fish.
The male will start cleaning and staying in the tube
and in about a week there will be eggs. I have never done the trouble to stay up
at night to watch the spawning. After the eggs have been laid, the male stay
with them inside the tube.
I then move the male and eggs and tube to a 1ft tank
running with air filter and a piece of wood. The 1ft tank was running for a week
before the eggs was laid with methanol blue. After 1 day I turn the tube upside
down in tank and the eggs drop out over time. I remove the male before the
ancistrus fry hatch. Then for 3 days about the fry will live of the egg yolk. At
the time I see the sacks are gone I start to feed them twice daily with some
tetra baby powder for fry. I give them about a week then I start to add baby
marrow to the tank. Removing the male that fast allow for them to spawn again in
2 or 3 weeks.
At that time I move the previous fry to a 2ft tank
that was setup the same as the 1ft tank, and the process start again. From the
2ft I move them to 3ft tank with power filter in for extra cleaning. The golden
bristlenose ancistrus fry will be big enough.
I sell the golden bristlenose ancistrus fry at about
4cm in length. I hope this will help you. Please feel free to mail me or contact
me on the forum for more info.
Here is a small video of about 180 fry between 1.5cm and 2.5cm:
Ancistrus fry.mp4
Known Discus Strains
