how to trigger spawning?....
 

hello everybody,

I have 5 peppermint bristlenose ( L183 ) and i would REALLY like to breed them. i was just wondering if anyone knew how to trigger them into sawning? do you have to do a water change or something like that?
they are in a 117L tank ( i think that is 30 gallons? ) with 2 pieces of driftwood. the ph is about 6.8 and i feed them once a day....

Any Replys would be greatly appreciated :D

Ok here is what i have been told..

Put in some blackwater extract in the tank or heaps of wood to make it tanned.maybe increase your filtration and do a water change as much as possible even if its a 10 litre bucket a day

HTH

Jamie :D

I have heard it takes having one more cave than you have males. Feeding live or frozen food to them is also supposed to induce breeding. Fresh zucchini and sometimes asparagus is used. And a lot of patience. some say the tanins are needed and some say that the pH is the key. Many pleco are bred without the tanins as it seems that correct conditions are mor eimportant. I have also heard that if the pleco feel there is any predator in the tank that will eat the eggs they will not spawn.

Plenty of good conditioning food.

Then big cool water changes about 4 degrees cooler.

Also make sure the caves are a nice tight fit.

Thanks for that KK.

No spawning yet :( But there is still a lot of time. :D