Why I Quit Breeding Bristlenose Plecos (Ancistrus)
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- Опубліковано 9 тра 2023
- In this video, I answer the question I often find myself being asked by viewers and customers: why did I quit breeding bristlenose plecos? If you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at FoisyYT@gmail.com and be sure to subscribe to see more amazing pleco videos!
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Check out my other plecostomus videos:
• Plecostomus - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
You yearn for the challenge - I’m way inspired and impressed! Thank you for sharing!☺️
Well said and I understand your reason but Please never forget bristle pleco because with out them you dont have Zebra pleco like today. All your benefit you have right now is from bristle nose pleco . Yes you can stop bread them but you should and always keep them. Without them you dont have today ! Never forget where you come from and always keep the past specially a beautiful memories with Bristlenose pleco .
I’ve been waiting for this video
Thank you for this video, i was confused last year when you got rid of em, but now i understand
Love this video, quality matters for sure ❤❤❤❤
Such a fabulous lesson in breeding economics - thank you!
Glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for an informative video!! Excellent knowledge.
here's my main reason for breeding bristlenose --- it's not the only thing breeding in the same tank, i have 1 color morph of bristlenose + 1 species of goodeid + some color of cherry shrimp + java moss in each tank, 4 things to sell for each tank set up.
A great thought and something I considered doing too, though the added bio load ended up surpassing what my auto WC and bio filtration could comfortably handle in its current state
L046 isn't the holy grail of plecos just so u know it's L236 super white.
Totally Agreed with your idea. I personally have a friend who breeds Red Tiger Shrimp for $80-$100 a piece instead of Crystal Red Shrimp for $2.75 to $8 a piece. Same Set up, Same Equipments, Same Maintenance…. I’m now into L046 also. Hope to see more tips from you soon :)
Exactly! Good luck!
I've definitely seen the trend with the SR BN (I just had my first batch of fry btw!). About two years ago I bought my two males at an inch long for $40 then a couple weeks ago found an adult female for $25. That being said I have only ever seen SR at a few hardcore fish stores here in SoCal (which are rare as is) so its local people keeping the supply available for others to have the chance to buy. However like you they eventually move on to other things and suddenly the supply drys up and prices go up. Even at the places I have seen SRs and other fancier plecos and fish I have never ever seen green dragon variants. I would love to get some of those.
@FoisyAquatics, I started a 65 gallon tank back in June 2023. I bought 23 Mbunas along with a Super Red and Albino Bristlenose. Over time I didn't think they were getting enough to eat because the Mbunas were gobbling up everything. So I took them out and put both in a 15 gallon Fluval Flex tank that I had in the hopes that they would get their weight up where they could hold their own and I could put one back in the 65 gallon and one in the 90 gallon that I'm getting that will have all male Peacocks. I change water in my tanks every week. This week after changing the water and cleaning the substrate the next day my wife called me on my job telling me that she has found babies (Fry) in the tank. "WHAT?" I thought they were both males. They are about 1 1/2- 2 inches. Now I have to make a decision. My 90 gallon (acrylic) won't be ready for another 4 weeks and I still have to cycle it. I could put one in my 55 gallon with my peaceful Neon-Glo Tetras but I already have a full grown Super Red in there and he AKA Chewy is the tank boss in that 55 gallon. I'm just worried that I might have a couple hundred babies before I can separate them into their permanent homes. Any advice would be very helpful to a new hobbiest who had no intentions in becoming a breeder. My wife has found approximately 8 babies. I could have accidently sucked some up when cleaning the substrate. They are see through and hard to see.
Once they start breeding, they could end up having 30-50 more babies every month! If you aren't prepared to raise dozens to hundreds of babies, I would recommend removing the cave they are using to spawn, splitting them up in separate tanks, or finding a local pet store that you can easily sell the babies to!
I literally was just thinking of getting into breeding super red and yellow BN Plecos. I also had the dream to do the zebra plecos but the price of the breeding group has made me think twice :p I think i will get there one day as you did, i just need to make a lil money and save up. I was also thinking green phantom, but i heard they are REALLY hard to breed.
Yeah phantoms are not easy! I'd recommend ancistrus or hypancistrus for sure!
Well, I been keeping and breeding bristlenose plecos for over 15 years. I have the original strain of super red plecos that were imported from Germany back in 2007-2008 by Todd Apel. Matter of fact your longfin strain originated from us most likely, as we introduced the super red strain here in the U.S after breeding them and then created a longfin version. It all depends what you like. If you’re breeding strictly for profit, you won’t last long in the hobby. It becomes work and not enjoyable. If you enjoy keeping certain fish and enjoy breeding to enhance the line or strain, then it remains fun and exciting. After 15 years of breeding and selling super red plecos, I still enjoy it and still try to improve the line. I don’t breed for profit, I enjoy keeping them and making a profit from them is just an added bonus. If your sole purpose is making a profit on fish, you’re definitely in the wrong business. Just enjoy the hobby and keeping fish and meeting new people. -Jay
Profit definitely comes second to enjoying the fish for me as well, though I believe you can successful profit from breeding fish while still enjoying the fishkeeping aspects and lasting a lifetime in the hobby. I think there are a lot of newcomers who do enter the hobby solely to try to make money, and they are the ones that create this stigma that any fishkeeper also attempting to profit from the hobby has poor intentions and won't last, when in reality there are many seasoned fishkeepers who take fantastic care of their fish, enjoy keeping them, and also transform their hobby into a successful business. And you are probably right about the Super Reds coming from yours - that's very interesting!
@@FoisyAquatics Exactly right. As far as the super reds, I don't think Todd realizes the impact he had on the hobby by importing the first 6 super red plecos from Germany. They were initially called "fire red bristlenose" and that's what Todd initially sold them as, which is what myself and a few other guys bought those first initial spawns he had. Then the name somehow changed to super red plecos. Todd also had 2 lines of them. He crossed those first initial ones back to a brown he had. Then crossed them back to the originals. The ones coming from the brown line were a little darker. The original ones are a fire red color and are very robust and prolific. I still have that line going today. The long fin line was created by taking a leucistic long fin albino female and crossing it with a male super red. Those 1st gen fry were all brown. They were then crossed back to a male super red a few times over to eventually create the long fin version you have in your videos. Now of course along the way people out crossed and so on and so forth so the line eventually became a mix mash of bristlenose genes. Todd made a lot of profits for people selling what he started, including myself, which I still do today over a decade later from my 1st initial super red fry. We owe him a thank you.
zebra plecos are 1000 a pop here in australia
I guess it also depends where your located. here in aus zebra plecos cost 900 to 1200 aud for the fry so if you get some and grow them out then you’ll get some good money. However, super red long fins also cost around 120 to 200 aud per fish dependant on their quality. It differs from place it place. Thanks for the update, keep up to good work
Thank you!
I need to move over there and take my fish with me lol
What is yellow food for the baby plecos ? Tha one that looks like ginger
It's great from the breeders perspective! I wanna know who buys 10+ Zebra Plecos in one go! These Plecos are very cool, but I think the hype has far outpaced the fish themselves. $100+ per fish is just insane to me for freshwater. I've got some Hypancistrus and I justified the rather high cost by telling myself I would be able to sell the fry for so much $$$. They have yet to spawn once, so props to you! It is an accomplishment. I've had Gouramis, Cichlids, and Rasboras spawn for me before but never any catfish or pleco. Maybe I will try Bristlenose first if they really are easy. Not sure what I'm doing wrong with my Hypans I guess its possible they are all male or all female, really hard to sex.
Great information! I'm down to only breeding longfin super red BNPs myself, but have considered moving on to a more profitable, easier to keep species.
I am also SICK of daily HUGE water changes on 6 tanks, and burning through green beans, zucchini, romaine lettuce, etc.
I'm an absolute pleco fan, so I'm listening closely to your advice as I look for my next pleco obsession.
Thank you for sharing your hard earned advice!
Thanks! Sounds like you are at the same point in your pleco breeding journey that I was!
yeah my plan is to only breed some L183 starlight and L134 leopard frog pleco for now, at least i can sell them back to cover some cost whenever they breed for me. thanks for the video.
Good luck!
Are L number plecos complicated/high maintenance?
@@roberta_redactedF nah, not really. i haven't lost a single Pleco yet. i own around 30+ plecos about a year now. they are very hardy fish, at least for me that is.
@@aihoang94 we had one missing presumed dead for approx 10 months, then last weekend, I had to arrange the tank for a new ornament. Suddenly I am the proud owner of an L103. Plus a bristle nose and a Snow White albino. I am obsessed with this aquarium.
What are the small plecos eating?
I like zebras, but I just saw a few common/super-red hybrids that have mostly dark brown body and rich orange highlights around the mouth and the fins that are jaw-dropping. It's all preference, but those fish have a colorations that boggles my mind more than zebras
To use a phrase "a hand full of diamonds is worth more then a truck load of sand"
So basically, expensive plecos are getting cheaper and bristlenose are getting more expensive
100% agreed .. plus the market is now saturated.
Ya true
Isn't it easier to find someone who can afford $10. Than someone who has $100 for 1 fish ?? I guess it depends what circles one travels in
You are right about that, though think of it this way - it will take a while to find buyers for all those $10 fish. Say you are holding 100 $10 fish... you might sell 2 here, 5 there, a dozen every now and then. If you are lucky enough to find someone to take them all at once, they will definitely want bulk pricing which might knock you down to $5 or $6 each. So if you are aiming to sell all of them at the full $10 price point, it just requires a lot of individual sales, meetups, shipments, etc. Whereas selling 10 $100 fish requires far less individual orders and much less effort on the selling side. And if someone wants to take them all, there is a greater chance of avoiding bulk pricing as 10 isn't a very high quantity of fish still.
Can you tell me what temp. You can your Bristlenose Plecos at. Thanks.
I kept mine at 77F
Pleco is cute in tiny size if its grow too much its a monster to others fish and surroundings if the breeder consider the way to stop it baby size its could gain more popular in this kind of fish.
I was more thinking like if a bristlenose died u just get another one but if a zebra pleco dies u just lost a lot of money😅
That is true, there is definitely a higher risk level keeping such expensive fish
INTERESTING LEARNING PROCESS :)
THANK YOU FOR SHARING :)
THANK YOU FROM ISRAEL :)
Do you have any L046 ready to sell now?
I do! Feel free to email me at FoisyYT@gmail.com
Pain in the ass, no money and way more upkeep. Good way to work up to where you wanna be but theres no challenge to it
What do you feed your L333s
I like EBO and Dr Bassleer foods a lot
Repashy is good too .
Are L numbers rare/complicated?
Not all of them!
What do you have for sale now?
L046, and hopefully soon: L173, L236, L136C
@@FoisyAquatics id be interested in all the above.
So what do you breed these days
L046, Albino L333, L173, L136C, L236SW
I know you stopped breeding bristlnose thats fair but tbh super reds in australia right now and 70-90$ each for juvies its good money haha
From what I hear, every aquarium fish goes for outrageous prices over there!
what should i do if my plecos will not stop breeding…
Consider removing all caves
Please anybody tell me about red eyes bristlenose placo lifespan?
10 years at least
I’m doing this backwards!
To each their own!
Why were the Snow White plecos sensitive? It could be inbreeding.
It’s Cus there such a new line
@@The_Lightskin_Poacher so inbreeding, so far I’ve read that people are strengthening the line with outcrossing. It seems to be working.
So you went from being a Hyundai dealer to a Bugatti dealer......
Basically lol
I only keep 1 male super red with my hypancistrus wouldnt like to try sell the bristle nose. So many about
I understand your thought process, but if you lose one L046, that's $100 loss. BN keep the lights on, hypancistrus buy you steak dinners.
Also, where the heck were you getting $8/ea wholesale for Super Red BN?!? That's essentially retail for a 1.5" fish.
A fair point, though thankfully (knock on wood) I have managed to lose no L046 adults or subadults in my couple of years keeping and breeding them. And yeah, the guy who used to buy the LF SR from me definitely compensated me adequately haha!
@@FoisyAquatics I work with L-183 and I cringe when I lose a fry, I couldn't even imagine having an L-236 RB fry bite the dust. Would probably have to see a psychiatrist after that 😂
I am moving so all my fish half to go tell I move to new house