ABN pleco behavior

[exasperatus2002]

I've had a pair of abn's hoping for a spawn. Im not sure if they have or not but Mr whisker's (daughter named him), has been a little odd as of late. Normally he'll be in & out of his cave. In the cave he'll be looking out at everything. Now the past few days, all I see is tail. I havent seen him trapping the female with him though she doesnt head the other way like she used to when he'd see her. Sorry for all the algae, the tank is in a sun room on the south east corner of the house...the only spot I have for a 55 gallon tank. It's a malawan cichlid tank Im trying to breed my Synodontis multipunctatus cats in but so far all that has been breeding is my yellow Labs.... until now?? Is this typical behavior when a male is on a brood? I was also testing out my new camera, kodak easy share C195.

[Richard B]

Now the past few days, all I see is tail. I havent seen him trapping the female

I never saw my male trap the female ever despite numerous spawns, but it seemed obvious a spawn occurred as the male never left the cave and all i ever saw was the tail poking out for protracted periods.

What you describe sounds very similar

[MatsP]

I have only seen the actual event of spawning a couple of times in the 6+ years I've bred mine.

--
Mats

[davej]

Here is a vid of my male coaxing his girl into the cave.

[exasperatus2002]

If they have spawned, should I seperate the fry from the tank or are their spines enough to protect them from labidochromis caerulus when they're so small? They leave their own 1/2-3/4" fry alone. Its just the newly released that get munched.

[MatsP]

I guess the best thing would be that the male and the eggs are moved with the cave. However, I'm sure SOME will survive in the tank - I found three young fry in my RIO400, which had several large fish in it - eartheater around 6-7" long, 3 very large

Liosomadoras morrowi

, 4 large

Synodontis decora

, and several other potential predators.

--
Mats

[exasperatus2002]

Before I went to bed last night, I tried taking a peek with a flash light. He's pretty good at keeping nosey things from peeking. The cave is a clay saucer for a flower pot I chipped the edge for an entrance. I tried looking in from under the tank but he's got a fine layer of sand in there so that was a waste of time. After some straining, as the Labs had moved sand to the front of the tank making it very hard to peer deeper into the saucer, I have confirmed atleast 1 baby with out an egg sack. I'll have to fish it out when I get home from work. My first spawning of a Loricariidae. Ok now Im ready for a colony of zebra's.. lol