ok ill admit it this morning i was a dumbass.

I thought my male bristlenose was dead because i hadn't seen him out of the breeding cave since the last spawn (about 3 weeks ago?). So this morning i took it out to inspect, being careful there was no fry in there. It was completely out of the water for a few seconds and i saw one of my fry so immediately put it back in. I looked at it about 10 mins later and noticed some very tiny white new fry!! The bloody things had spawned again without me noticing!

Now the point of this story is that im worried the new fry may die from stress of being out of the water or something. I cannot see in the cave to see if there are any eggs or if they've all hatched, all i can see is the male's tail.

I just want some help on what to do? Should i leave them in there and hope for the best or to take them out so they dont foul the water if they die?

Thanks in advance

If something happens to them while in the cave the male will boot them. So for now I'd leave them in the cave and let dad worry about his fry. You shouldn't need to take the cave out to check, just aim it towards the front glass and shine a torch in there (warning, male could boot eggs if torch shined too much tho)

ah ok. Just i dont have a breeding cave, i have a fake tree thing and they breed in one of the roots. So you look in the top and can see his tail haha. But if it wont be a problem then im happy

Hi Adam,
I agree with Karl, just leave him to it...