Thought i'd ask here as there seems to be quite a few people with knowledge of these guys. I had(have?) 2 bristlenoses in a 4 ft community tank (with some tetras, 3 pearl gouramis(not aggressive at all), some glass shrimp and a few mollies.)

It's a iwagami style tank, so a few big rocks, with quite a few plants. There's a chunk of drift wood behind one of the rocks. Mostly black round gravel substrate, with some fluval substrate mixed in. (pic of tank as of 2 months in)

Got the BN's probably 5ish months ago, and they grew a fair bit, from tiny little things too probably about 10ish cm? Mostly grazed on the algae, and probably twice a week got algae wafers, put in just before lights out.

A lot of the time they would hang out under the front of the 2 bigger rocks, but lately I haven't seen them at all. Its probably been over a month now. Just wondering what the chances of them turning up again is? There hasn't been any big changes in the water parameters, and i haven't seen any bodies (other than a couple of new neons & a molly). The rest of the fish are thriving.

 

Is there a possibility that they are just hiding in a different spot? How long do they hide whilst breeding? Lost cause? ?

 

Thanks, Tom

Mine hide quite alot to the point I didn't know they had eggs till I notice a few quite big babies on the glass don't see the big male for months at a time he has dug a hole under the back of my bogwood which is where there eggs hatched

And it looks like you quite a few potential hiding spots probably around bogwood as they graze on it

So after the last post, i went searching a bit. lifted up the drift wood, and had a grumpy pleco attached 

So, i'm assuming that the other one is hiding behind/under a rock somewhere haha

When I bought a complete setup it came with two fish, I took the fish in and left the tank in the iLoad overnight. Next morning, I unloaded the accessories, when I lifted the shipwreck, there was a L144 on the floor, breathing in his own puddle. The owner said he hadn't seen that fish for over 6 months and assumed it was dead.

I once had a male hide under some driftwood for over a month. When I came looking I found 60 bN fry! Often they just hide in one spot for a while and don't even come out for food.