Hi Sid! I wish I'd found this thread earlier, but hopefully I can be of some help now. Give that male back the cave he can trap the female inside of. He needs to be able to prove to her he can protect the fry or she won't spawn. 4 days is not excessive for a first go round, mine were in 3, then the...

My tap water has a pH of 7.8 and a kH of 3-7, depending on the time of year. My zebras aren't getting RO water and are spawning happily, no problem. RO water has no carbonate hardness, or buffering capacity. It DOES have a pH, just not a stable one. The alkalinity or kH of the water is the water's ...

I also read that the pectoral fins of males are more "straight" and the females are more curved. A good friend of mine that spawns these fish debates that fact, but it has certainly proved true with mine. In my zebras, the females heads just plain look a bit smaller than the males, in com...

I do 30% water changes on my tanks weekly, unless I'm simulating a rainy season to induce spawning, or overstocking a fry tank due to the tanks not reproducing at the same rate the fish do ;) As for the nitrogen cycle in aquariums, nitrate is nitrate is nitrate, it doesn't matter what it originally...

Yes, the height is just barely big enough that the male can wiggle in with his dorsal fin most of the way down. It's not exact, and basically I just made 4 caves with dimensions close to what I was shooting for as a target and let the male pick the one he preferred, in the spot in the tank that he ...

HAHAHA! There's a vote of confidence! I guess I'll have to try to live up to my reputation. When it comes to zebras, I'm a definite newbie in the breeding department! I just keep their water clean and feed them and they seem to do the rest. I think maybe all I've needed all along was patience, but ...

My male zebras is guarding his third clutch of eggs in less than 2 months. I had 6 fry from the first batch, 7 from the second. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them in there last night! The female was in and out fast enough that I'm not even sure which one is responsible this time. Is this no...

My tile zebra caves are 1.5 times the males body width (no fins included) and just over 1 times the height, and twice the males length (not including fins again). That set of dimensions has worked for the other hypancistrus I've spawned also. Larry Vires recommended it and it certainly does seem to...

You'll find that very few fish will eat that hair algae. Amano shrimp, SAE's, and rosy barbs are what I use to combat it in my tank full of anubias. If the pH is high, Synodontis petricola do an amazing job on it also, but may disturb the zebras more than you'd like. Sorry I'm not more help! Barbie