Albino Bristlenoses First Batch of Eggs

I brought two juvenile albino bristlenoses a few months ago with the intention of breeding them when they got older. They were both too young to sex at that stage but amazingly I happened to end up with a male and a female!

So then it was a waiting game till they got old enough to start breeding.

Over the last month there has been some tank chasing going on between them so things were looking promising. Today I started to clean out their tank - I drained alot of the water and started catching fish - the bristles share their tank with my blue tailed guppies. I caught all the guppies and started on the bristles. They tend to run into a flower pot which makes my life easier as I just lift the pot out and scoop them up in my waiting net. As I turned the flower pot over, low and behold, there were a few eggs clumped together inside! YaY! Thank goodness the flower pot never left the waterline. That would have been very bad.

There looks to be probably around 18 eggs.

Needless to say I put the tank back together nice and quickly so not to disturb them or cause the dad to panic. I housed the guppies elsewhere.

Since this is their first ever batch it is a learning curve for him. Once the female lays the eggs, that's it - her part in it is over.

It is the males responsibility to sit over the eggs and to fan them continuously. This keeps the water circulating and decreases the chance of fungi claiming the eggs. Males take their job very seriously and do not leave the nest even to eat. Then when the eggs hatch and the new fry still have their egg yolks attached, they are all wriggling around, he then keeps them all clustered together and protects them from predators. When their egg sacs are absorbed and they need their first meal, he goes out and brings something back to the cave. Usually I have a piece of zucchini or broccoli waiting for them.

Once the fry start emerging from the cave and exploring, dads job is over. Though sometimes dad gets overprotective and keeps trying to rustle the gang up together.

I really enjoy breeding bristlenoses and have been doing so for about 8 years. They are very beginner friendly and are a great introduction into egg layers if you are looking to step up from livebearers.

This is a photo of my female albino bristle -

and here is a photo of my male albino with the eggs -