Nice..i sold my breeding 5 a few months ago to a local member here. I thought at first he sold them already, but then saw your 3fem to 2male ratio. mine was 2fem to 3male..Same thing happened to me when I sold them too, a fem for me refused to leave the cave.lol ..How many breeding caves you got? what shapes and materials?
Splurged Today.... ZEBRAS!!!
- Thread starter UnstoppableJayD
- Start date
JayC youve bread them before successfully? You might be my new best friend!
The guy i got them from had them spawn a few times but were unsuccessful getting fry, he thinks his water was to hard. SO any hints or insight you have would be much appreciated.
As to your question, there are 4 caves in the tank with them now, pics below< 2 of each. they are ceramic i would guess. The fish have not gone back in to the caves and are all hanging out under driftwood?
Jason...I did breed them successfully twice in about 2.5 years. First off, I want make it clear I am def no expert at breeding any fish let alone very tough to breed fish like these. These are the first fish I ever tried to breed and I have to say I got very lucky to produce 14 successful fry from them. There's a few things that gd breeders can advise you to do with them like messing with the tds levels, RO water and copying the rainy seasons by adding cool water. Do your research on this stuff if you want (it might help greatly). But I have so much going on with my other tanks and time, I just gave them gd food, clean water, a dark tank with plenty of seclusion and hoped for the best. I'll try best to explain what worked for me: FOOD: PE Mysis shrimp or spirlina brine 4 or 5 nights a week, Ken's earthworm sticks a couple nights a week. I fed only at night when the lights went out. They are shy and most active during night hours. You will wake up and the food should be gone. SETUP: 40gal breeder, clay caves I bought from plecocaves.com..I had about 10caves in there of all shapes (round, square, Dshaped)..One thing I would do is remove the driftwood and cluster the caves close to each other and put a large piece of slaterock on top of the caves (flat) Then put a few more caves on top of that piece of slate and once again adding a piece of slate over that (kind of like a bunkbed setup. Have the slate overhanging a bit on top of the caves where it sticks out just past the openings. FILTRATION: I had a 2 sponge filters and an aquaclear 70 (without any media). I just used the filter for added water movement. Kept the media out so if food like the Mysis and brine would not get sucked up and stuck in the filter. You def want gd water movement throughout the tank. It help in keeping the caves clean of debris which is essential for the fry. Not sure of my ph (haven't had a ph test kit in years, lol), but I believe it's a bit alkaline. Kept my temp between 83 to 86 at all times. I think the biggest thing I learned was to not tinker with the tank too much once the males start occupying the caves and food is disappearing. PATIENCE! Also, I would not put the light on too much. They live in deep, dark, fast moving waters and the more darkness, the better. Sorry, im not gd with pics and illustrations yet, but I hope something here can aid you. Feel free to ask further question if needed cause this post might go on and on. lol
Jay, they are looking great. Jeff did a nice job raising them up. Good luck with them, hopefully you get some fry soon.
- Ruben
- Ruben
Thanks JayC,
I have seen there caves set like that in my limited research. And I am taking the approach you took good food good water leave them alone. I set the tank up the way it is to mimic the way the former owner had it. I think i will run this way for a while and see what happens,
Good news is one of the males caved up today.
wow, that is a great splurge
HAHA< had no intention of getting them but couldn't pass it up!
And the man who helped me decide to make the jump appears!! Thanks for everything Ruben!
BTW I didn't know you were on this forum. Welcome!
Thanks !!
They seem to be settling in , males in a cave, food is disappearing, and i even saw a female hanging out in front of the males cave today.
