Thanks to all your ideas I had to redo my zebra tank. I liked the sandy bottom and the slate bottom (thanks lrry93). I took a large piece of slate and placed it on top of the sand and then placed the caves on top of that. It looks a little cloudy becasue I just finished it.
EDIT:
I forgot to add aquarium details.
3 Adult males
2 Adult females
60 Gallon (US)
AquaClear 110 (500 gph)
Maxi-Jet 1200 (295 gph)
Air curtain
250 watt Jager Heater
Twin Power compact light
Black Sand substrate
Black Slate pieces for floor, cliffs and caves
2 Large pieces of Mopani wood
Two live swords
One live lily
Artificial Plants (hope to replace with live plants later)
Malaysian Trumpet Snails
Purigen
pH 6.5
gh 6
kh 7
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
temp. 86 degrees
Comments and recommendations are welcome.
Here are a few photos.
Last edited by khblock on Wed Apr 12, 2006 6:20 pm, edited 5 times in total.
I've heard differing arguments to how important water flow is..so it's just an opinion but it doesn't look like there is much in that tank? I can't see any powerheads of spray bars etc etc or are they just well hidden?
i said i thought it looked kinda like a anubias ive only seen one melon sword and all the leaves were red or mostly red.
so do you know everything there is to know about fish? im sure theres somthing you might not know anything about. yes i dont know about quite a few things, for one i dont know much about plants they look pretty and they die to often and i dont know much about filters and lights either i never bothered to learn about that. I didnt need to if i find a reason to look into it I will. Currently dad picks out my plants and i always go with biofilters becuase there easy and dont require much or any maintinance.
and back on subject i still think some anubias nana petite would look nice as a forground plant (i love anubias its the only plant that never seems to have dead leaves)
The tank looks great to me the only critism I have is that you will find that the two upper level caves are unlikely to be used as potential breeding sites by your male zebras. They seem to prefer ground level caves when it comes to spawning. If they are just for hanging out in then they are fine where they are.
The buddy can you not post frivolous comments and then end up having an argument about what you wrote. Some more thought on your part before posting is definitely well overdue.
Thanks Adam and McEve. I've taken your recommendations to heart and will be making changes.
I have three adult males. Should I make all five caves available the let the males select which caves they want or should I just provide three caves.
I don't remember seeing a thread on the forum concerning the number of caves one should have.
I’m trying to get this tank finished so they can get back to spawning. My last tank developed a leak and I had to redo the whole thing anyway. I want a really nice set up and then just leave it alone and let nature take her course.
There are varying oppinions on the cave to male ratio. I provide surplus caves for the males and they pick the ones that they like, this works for me. The dominant male takes up the cave that he decides is best for him. Some say that you can provide fewer caves than males as this encourages rivalry and in doing so an alpha male is established quicker. Personally I have found that this can lead to too much fighting between the males, in the early days I lost a few males because of this. I would say one cave each at the minimum and even then they may still fight it out for what they consider to be the best one.
But maybe some more hidingplaces for the ladies? Close to the males caves of course 
