Finding some misplaced Bristlenose (Ancistrus sp.) eggs

I bought 5 new bristlenose catfish (Ancistrus sp.) about a month ago, including a huge male. This was great since I already owned a pretty big female, so I have been hoping for them to lay some eggs ever since.

I got my wish fulfilled a few days ago when I came across a patch of eggs just lying around in the sand, and quickly realized that these must be from the bristlenose catfish. But that's not generally where they are supposed to lie eggs; the male is supposed to court a female into lying the eggs inside a cave of some sorts. I have already provided them with several caves that would be suitable for them to lie eggs in, but instead they just left them out in the open.

One of the smaller bristlenoses. The big male is notoriously shy, so I have not been able to get a photo of him at all. A Corydoras sterbai is seen in the background.

So what to do? Either I let them stay there in order to give the Corydoras sp. a free meal, or I move them to another aquarium and hope for the best. I did the latter, and set up a 54L aquarium in my office for them to hopefully hatch.

These eggs should typically be guarded and cleaned by the male bristlenose, so I'm not too convinced that I will be able to save them without having them in a cave, but I think this is the best solution. We'll see how it goes. And if it does not work out, then at least now I know that they will breed. Hopefully they will use a better place to put the eggs next time.

The eggs in their new aquarium. I didn't get a good shot with the focus on the eggs, unfortunately. That's the downside to using a cell phone camera.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be able to write a follow-up in a few days when they hatch, but we'll see how that goes.