Diving Into...

[NetsuaiAngel]

Hello I'm Netsuai (real name: Angela),

I had my first zebra pleco about ten years ago when I had multiple tanks during my high school years and worked my first job in a marine specialty store.

I was very uneducated about the zebra plecos (I was about 13) and the lfs I purchased them from didn't give me any info about them and I kept the darling in a 60 gallon cichlid tank. Unknowing that it was a shy darling who didn't compete well for food. So my darling past away and I always wondered why.

Now that time has past and the internet has graced me with more knowledge then I had ever expected, I find myself yearning to provide a better environment to future zebra plecos (perhaps to make amends for my uneducated mistake).

So I finally convinced my b/f to allow me to set up my 50g in his house (I've had the tank since 1998). And now it's cycling and I'm gradually bringing my nitrates up.

I currently have a female zebra, by herself, in a .5g tank with a 5-10g overflow filter. She's treated to waters changes every three days and is being fed well.

Lo, and behold, I discovered from Rob at my lfs that my female is actually from Barbie's lovely care and that their other two males (who I plan to purchase once my tank cycles), is also from her spawns. As Rob told me,"She gives me the good stuff."

So I hope after my tank cycles, then I will be prepared to find some nice owners of zebra spawns and hope for the best.

I currently have some fancy guppies, who will be given to a co-worker who also loves fish (I'm setting up a 5g tall for her office as a secret present), with two mating pairs of peacock gungeons. There's a lot of wood with many crevices, low light plants, and also black plumbing pvc I use as pseudo caves. Oh yeah, I have two 15" bubble wands in the back to provide more flow and I will be adding two smaller power heads to make more flow after I give away the fancy guppies (poor babies can't swim that fast). My peacocks seem to love swimming against the current, I catch them all swimming upstream and playing with each other in the current.

Here's a pic of my tank: (Sorry for the burryness, I'm not too great with the camera)



I'd like to thank this site and everyone who has donated their knowledge for the wealth of information for future pleco owners.

[Barbie]

Hiya! Welcome to the forum . I wish I could say I was glad to meet another owner of my children, but I think your store owner might have been steering you wrong on this one. I only sell my fry (the few I've sold, that is) to people that are seriously attempting to spawn them. Not that you won't be, but I'd never trust a store with that responsibility, to be honest. I don't know whether to be honored that someone is using my name as advertising, or a bit perturbed, actually.

Either way, she is a beautiful little girl I can't stress enough how careful you need to be with BARELY feeding your fish until the cycling process is finished. You should also look into finding BioSpira as soon as you can. Some of your soft water fish are going to be VERY sensitive to spikes in ammonia and nitrites and it would be terrible to hear of you losing any! We need all the new fish addicts we can get!

Barbie

[gemjunkie]

So, what's the name of the fish store that you got your baby at if you would please let me know??? Because I know someone in Vegas that I mentioned that I got fish from Barbie and that she raised/spawned zebra plecos.... I THOUGHT this person was my friend.... This post irritates me, not you Angela don't get me wrong. I'm just horribly upset that someone I talked to A LOT and TRUSTED would be so underhanded and use someone's name that I mentioned for no reason other than to try to get you to believe it was the healthiest you could get or perhaps that it is a tank raised fish since it is still illegal to export them at this time.....

I could go on... Just please, the name of the fish store... IF it is the person I know, I WILL be on the phone to give an earfull....

BTW, congrats on the new baby!!! Aren't they beautiful fish!!!

[Rob]

HI NetsuaiAngel

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your recent purchase.

Thank you also for your kind word about the site, it's good to know it's getting people back into the hobby.

As for the tank it looks fantastic, but as barbie says, be carefuly if it is newly cycled.

Have fun, and enjoy the site.

rob

[Adam]

Hi Angela and welcome to the forum.

I'm glad to see that you are finding the forum helpful, there is a lot of good info to be had here.

Congrats on the purchase of the zebra and I hope that you manage to find some more.

That's a nice tank you have there, zebras should be right at home in there.

Adam

[NetsuaiAngel]

Thank you everyone for the great hello

gemjunkie, the lfs is called F.I.S.H. and the person who told me about Barbie, he tells me that he is also an owner of zebra plecos and he's guided me through my cycling process. No zebras are in my 50g. The store won't let me purchase the two males they have, until my tank is cycled. I could lie, but I don't want to risk the zebras' lives with possible ammonia spikes. This store has been around, with the same owners, since I was in high school. So about ten years or so.

The other lfs, TropAquarium, the owners there only tell me it's impossible to get zebras and that they're too delicate for ppl to take care of, they encouraged me to not get them. So I don't visit them much, they're not very helpful to the uneducated consumer.

My nitrates are currently at 20. I keep a tank journal. The highest ammonia I've ever had was 1ppm (this past weekend) and that was only because I had some tradegies when I installed my new heater. But I have no nitrites and I feed my fish 2-3 times a day. The nitrate level is with two bags of the BioSpira at the initial day I started the cycling of my tank which would be 4 weeks ago. One bag says it's good for up to 30g so I purchased two since I have a 50g.

The female zebra I have is in a .5g that was already cycled and it had a betta in it until I gave it to another co-worker who fell in love with the betta.

Nessy, the female, is doing well and is shy but willing to munch in front of me. She's a darling to watch.

Barbie, perhaps he purchased some of your spawn and then spawned his own. I can't remember if he told me if they were from his spawn or not. But he does talk highly of you, but not in the "I-like-throwing-out-ppl's-name" type of way.

I haven't had any spikes in ammonia so far with 2-3 feedings per day. I think the shrimp really do a good job cleaning everything up, and there are 3 snails in there (I think they came from the plants).

I did panic last night, because I came home and discovered 12 baby guppy fry in my overflow and I took my turkey baster and put them in a big glass bowl with an air stone for now since they're so tiny they can't swim too fast in any tank with an overflow filter. I did an ammonia test yesterday and it was less than 1ppm but more than .5ppm. I use a Freshwater Master Test kit.

Thank you for all your concerns. Please voice them because I do want to ensure I have my tank properly cycled before I venture to purchasing any zebra plecos. I'm aiming for a nitrate level between 50-60 before I even think of putting Nessy in the 50g tank. (and 0 ammonia )