First time Zebra Dad

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:09 am

congrats

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:50 am

That's great news Des

At least this will help to soften the blow of the male you lost recently. Nice big spawn too, looks like you may have something there with the increased amount of RO water.

Well done mate

.

PS you may want to change the name of your thread to "second time zebra dad"

Adam

Cascudo · Post by **Cascudo** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:12 pm

That's fantastic man! And so many at a time! Congrats!

Des · Post by **Des** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:13 am

Hi ,

Decided this morning to remove the fry this morning into a fry container, even though the male would not vacate the cave, as I had estimated that they were due to be free swimming any day now.
And the good news is that there were 16 of the little baby zebras, instead of the 13 that I had originally counted in the back of the cave.
It looks as they have a day to go before the egg sack is finally used up. Decided to take them out ,as I did not want to risk them in the breeding tank with the other adults and they would be more difficult to catch if required. Also would be able to ensure they are feeding well in the fry container.
Many thanks for your good wishes too.

Regards,
Des

Des · Post by **Des** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:39 pm

Hi,

Here is a picture taken this evening, of the majority of fry, from the second sucessful spawning, removed from the cave this morning. Couldnt get a picture of all of them as some "escaped " to the other end of the container, just prior to the photo.

Regards,
Des.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:35 pm

Hi Des,

Fantastic!!!:D

. They look nice and healthy too, great picture by the way. Good luck with them.

Well done

Adam

Fishfinder · Post by **Fishfinder** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:14 pm

Blimey!

Well done Des, that must almost be a record number of fry for a Zebra spawn. You definitely have the magic touch. Well done.

Andrew

Jenny · Post by **Jenny** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 12:44 am

Wow, Des, they are beautiful - Congratulations - so many of them

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:19 am

How precious! Such cuties! Good luck with them all, and well done!

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:21 am

They're absolutely gorgeous Des, perfect in every way! Congrats

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:28 pm

Congratulations Des

Great picture as well

Andrew.

Des · Post by **Des** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:22 pm

Thanks everyone for your comments and good wishes.
I do believe that the larger viable brood size was due to the lower conductivity (TDS), due to making a few water changes prior to the spawn with 100 % RO ( giving my secret away now!!!!!!!!!!) instead of the 50%tap/50% RO . I did this inspite of hearing reports of zebras breeding in hard water.
I used my experiences with breeding discus, as any one who breeds discus will know that you may get 100 -200 eggs laid in medium to hard water but hardly any make it to be free swimming. This soon is remedied by using very soft water of 1GH as is the case with other soft water cichlids. Although I have heard reports, recently of them breeding in Hard water!!!

Regards,
Des.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:29 pm

Congrats Des

Healthy, and plentiful......what else can I say!!!! Here's hoping they continue in the same fashion!!!!!! If we all keep going like this, we'll need to re-introduce some to the wild!!

First time Zebra Dad

Photo of some of the 16 new babies