I What to breed plecos Help?

Question

i am going to buy them young to see them grow does it make it better buying them young soo thay get on better do i need 2 buy a cave Help

Answer 1

The best plecos for beginners to breed are bristle nose plecos.  They stay under 6", are easiest to s*x and easy to breed.  It's no use to buy them young as you won't be able to tell what s*x they are if you buy them as babies.  The males are the ones with a lot of bristles on their nose and the females have only a few short bristles on the edges of their lips or maybe one or two on their nose.  They don't develop their bristles until they are nearly a year old and at least 2 inches long.  If you get them before that, make sure you get a lot (like 10-12) because otherwise you may not get a pair.  I got 10 babies and ended up with only 1 male.  They should be at least 3-4 inches long and the male should have a good set of bristles before you try to breed them.  

To breed them, just make sure you have at least a 10 gallon tank, the male has a good cave to claim as his own territory and there's some nice driftwood in the tank for them to chew on.  You should have some airstones or other sources of good waterflow and current in the tank because plecos like current and the eggs need to be kept aerated.  Then introduce one or two females into the tank and let the fish do their thing.  The male will try to lure the female into his cave and then push her into it to lay her eggs.  The female will leave the cave after laying her eggs and the male will fertilize them and guard and fan them with his anal fins.  He will not leave the cave for more than a few seconds at a time while he is fanning a clutch of eggs.  

A new father may kick out the eggs instead of taking care of them or accidently kick some of them out.  You can save these eggs and set them up in a breeder or net over the filter outtake.  They should get enough airflow to gently shift around until they hatch.  They will hatch into "little wrigglers" in 3-5 days.  Wrigglers look like little flattened versions of the eggs with tails and eyes.  Those are the fry with their yolk sacs attached.  These will sort of slide around on the yolk sacs, wriggling their tails like crazy.  If they are still with the male pleco, he will continue to try to guard and fan them, but some may escape the cave.  Once their yolk sac is absorbed, they will eat like crazy!  Make sure they have lots of food, because baby plecos can easily starve to death if they don't get enough to eat.  They grow very fast and do little more than eat and poo.  Keep the water very clean and feed them lots of algae wafers and fresh veggies like zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and green beans and peas.  Don't ever feed baby plecos bloodworms because they can choke to death on them.

Answer 2

It depends... What sort of plecos are you thinking of breeding?

As far as I'm aware plecos such as the candy striped pleco are difficult to s*x let alone to breed, even alot of professional breeders have little success breeding in the aquarium. This is why most plecos have been brought in from the wild.

The Leopard Frog pleco in both the male and female get a bit plump when fully grown. The male fish develops odontoides or “hairs” on at the bottom of his body and pectoral fins. And these are cave spawners which need a "season change" signal of a drop in TDS and temperature for them to spawn. So these are a possibility but there is no guarantee of them succeddfully breeding... but good luck x*x

Answer 3

I have no idea how to breed plecos, but i know a lot about bristle nose plecos. They are easy to s*x once the male starts growing bristles and they would need a 50 gallon tank and a group of baby bristle nose plecos. When they reach adulthood the males will have much longer bristles that the female. He will claim his territory once he seea a female is ready to spawn after you condition them. Once they spawn and fry are free swimming sucking on the wall they can be removed into a breeding/raising tank, I have no idea if the parents will eat them since they are sucker fish!

Good luck!

Answer 4

Pleco's get huge, up to 12 inches, even more sometimes. If you don't have the appropriate tank, don't even buy them. If you have the proper set-up, then you can try to breed them. You need to get a cave, the right water parameters, the right set-up... Breeding Pleco's is a very hard thing to do, I'd suggest you visit this site and read everything http://planetcatfish.com/

Answer 5

Plecostomus breeding hasn't ever been documented thoroughly so I doubt you'll find  a lot of websites or people that know how to.

Remember, Plecostomi will need algae to eat too so you might want to have an established tank