How 'bout Zebra Pleco's?

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Ornatapinnis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 28, 2005
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Dayton Ohio
As long as I'm on the subject of disapearing pleco's.....

The Zebra pleco has basically disapeared from availibiluty lists too. They used to be pretty easy to find and moderetly priced.

What happened to them?

Joel
 
fishnutham said:
same thing declining population from poor habitat and i belive their is no importation allowed anymore

havent seen any lepoard plecs in the lfs either


Thats right. There are some dedicated hobbyists around that are getting more successful breeding these little gems.
 
one of my freinds is geting a zebra pleco i think she paid $250 with shipping
 
Geez....one of my LFS gets them from a breeder and sells them for $125...hmmm. I may just ask to talk to the breeder though, possibly trade fish or get it for cheaper...woot!
 
They're also throwing a dam up on their river, Xingu, so even if they were importing, it's not likely that the species will be common enough to capture once that dam goes in. They enjoy fast flowing, highly oxygenated waters, all of which will be severely reduced once the dam goes in. A real tragedy, as they are beautiful fish. Prices have skyrocketed, and really, all available fish ought to go into breeding colonies at present. The more that become available captive-bred, the safer the species is and the easier it will be for average aquarists to obtain them.

They are my wish fish... I love them and want desperately to keep and breed them, but the price is prohibitively high. Check out ZebraPleco.com for more info on people who are currently breeding these little beauties.
 
just read something about brazil stopping importation because of depletion due to the demand from the aquatic industry now the article i read is a bit dated so i'm not sure how true that is now
just got this guy its a close second in my books and still affordable L260
 
brazil added them to there blacklist along with black aros and possibly tigrinus although they may have been removed now.

i had some zebras and got bored with themi never seen them for weeks on end
 
125 IS A STEAL
 
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