# Weird behaviour of Bristlenose



## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

I've got 3 bn's that I've had for nearly a year, reaching maturity now. It would appear that there is 1 male (the largest, with lots of bristles extending up his nose) and 2 female - smaller with barely any noticeable bristles. I've recently put them in a large 5 foot heavily planted tank with lots of driftwood, as yet they have only one GBR for company. 

Ok, the odd behaviour I mentioned. Usually the male is quite aggressive to the 2 females, and will chase them away whenever he meets them, especially at feeding time. Today I came home to find the male and one of the females lying on the gravel, the female lying on top of the male crosswise, just sitting there. They stayed like that for a while. Then the female swam off a few cm and has remained sitting on the gravel, and the male did the same. They are presently about 15 cm apart looking at one another, not moving, just sitting there. The female is occasionally flaring the spiny flaps at the side of her mouth. THe other female bristlenose is busily sucking away on driftwood. Now I've been half expecting that they may breed, but TBH, their behaviour is so still and strange that I'm almost worried they're sick! The blue ram is fine which I believe is far more sensitive to environmental conditions, so I don't think it's water parameters.

Water Parameters as at 3 days ago:
Ph 7.4
GH 9
Kh 4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

The tank is only 3 weeks old, and heavily planted as mentioned.

Does this sound like courting/breeding behaviour, or does it sound like they may be ill?

Regards, Kara


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## pinkertd (Jun 17, 2007)

The tank is only 3 weeks old Kara, you must be vigilant to watch for any ammonia or nitrate spikes. Bristlenose are very sensitive to this.

None of my male bristlenoses has ever exhibited any aggressive behavior towards the females. Of course when he decides he wants to land on one of the pieces of zucchini I put in the tank, the ladies leave and come to rest on another slice. I actually see more flaring from female to female over food.

I'm not sure what their current behavior means. If breeding time is close at hand, you should see a noticeable bulge around the midsection of the females where the eggs would be. It's really hard to not see. Sometimes it almost looks like they've got a case of dropsy. I'm hoping you have a cave for them. The pre-breeding behavior that mine show is that as the female approaches being ready to spawn, the male spends a lot of time in the cave cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. She may try to enter the cave and he may chase her away. They are just getting ready....but it is not quite time. You may even see her lay on top of the cave, wistfully wanting him to let her in.....but it is not quite time. When it is almost time, he will let her into the cave and they will "roll around" for a while....literally! The little mating dance if you will. And she will leave. And then she will re-enter the cave, probably under cover of darkness when it IS finally time, and you will find dad fanning in the morning light and the female will be quite noticeably thinner.


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## plaakapong (Feb 28, 2008)

I've had mine for 2 years and they're still maturing. What i thought was a female, smaller and few bristles like yours, has turned out to be a male. They could end up being all males and they may just be battlingfor dominance.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks for the replies - Debbi, yes, there are many natural driftwood caves for them, and I'm quite well aware of the nitrogen cycle, but thanks for the warning  As I said, a couple of days ago, ammonia and nitrites are 0. The tank is so heavily planted I'm expecting it will probably go through a silent cycle. Thanks for the tips on typical breeding behaviour, I will look out for them.

Plaakapong - that's a good thought, I'll keep that in mind.

Either way when I went back out an hour or so later, and everybody was minding their own business, doing their own thing, busy as usual. So I'm reassured that whatever was going on it wasn't health related.


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