Rescued at last!

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:49 pm

Here are the two zebs that I've been paying off for a few weeks now. Paid the last bit today and they've come home. They're still acclimating from the water in the fish shop (pH between 8.0-8.2 and nitrates around 80ppm!

) so I took the opportunity to dish them and take a few "aerial views". Don't know if you can sex them from these pics. They'll be in the bucket for a few hours yet, so if there's another shot you need to take a better guess, let me know and I'll try to accomodate it.

I've found a photo hosting site... fingers crossed this works!

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:51 pm

Rats! It doesn't work!! I used the IMG button before and after, and inserted the address of the page it's on.

Help??

Don't know if you can get to the album I created for them, but here's the link if you can.
http://www.pbuzz.com/showalbum.php?aid=1703&uuid=1562

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 2:15 pm

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 2:40 pm

I still can't see them.

Can anyone suggest an image hosting site that works?

By the way, if you CAN see these pictures, these fish are around 2", if that helps.

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 3:28 pm

I can see them when I goto your hosting website. I really couldn't guess.

I thnk the problem may be that the hosting site you use does not allow off site linking. Try using http://www.photobucket.com I use them myself without a problem.

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 4:02 pm

OK... let's try again. There's a few pics of them next to each other, and few of the individual fish. My computer monitor is quite dark, so I'm hoping you guys can see these OK. I haven't adjusted them at all.

This is the same one from the 1st picture. You can tell because one has a darker edge to its fins.

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 4:33 pm

Looks like 2 males, but it will be easier to tell in a couple of weeks when they have grown some more meat on their bones

Regards

Tom

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 8:04 pm

Well, it's all done. They're in the tank. I can't breathe I'm so nervous. One was fairly easy to move from the bucket, but the other is a little devil and would just suck himself to the spot and not let go. He'd even climb out of the water. He did the same at the shop. It was pretty hairy trying to get him out of the bucket, but I was as gentle as I could be. He took a little gentle nudging.

Anyway, they both swam straight to the carefully arranged pile of slates, rocks and bogwood I'd put in there for them. The guy in the LFS even gave me the piece of wood from the tank they were in so they'd have something familiar. I'll get them proper caves as soon as I can. But in the meantime, they have plenty of cover and seem to be happy there. Now lets just hope they get over the stress of the day! I've got the lights off in the tank. I'll turn them on tomorrow. Let them have a nice quiet think about things...

Des · Post by **Des** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 8:24 pm

Hi Mindy,

Welldone with the zebras. I'm sure they will be fine in your care.
Unfortunately due to being juvenile they are difficult to sex as they can be males or Juvenile females when they are torpedo shaped as in your pictures.
If fed well should grow another half inch in 3 months, when they would be much easier to sex.
It is very difficult from the pictures to see the cheek bristles on each fish. Do these extend to BEHIND the white band, behind the eyes. If the answer is yes, then they both are likely males. If they are small and stay within the proximity of the cheek groove , then they are likely to be female.

Regards,
Des.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:07 pm

Congrats Mindy! They wil lgive you years of enjoyment I'm sure

Did you know they can live 10 years + ? Yours are only teenagers so you might be facing a long and rewarding relationship with your new Zebras!

gianniz · Post by **gianniz** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 3:59 am

seems like a boy and a girl

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 7:57 am

Well, they've survived the night. One is definitely a little more curious than the other and seems to be interested in exploring their pile of slate and rocks. I keep spotting him/her in different places, even with his head sticking out in the light! At one point, he was actually stuck to the glass, not under cover at all!

The other is just content to sit under the bogwood that was in their tank in the shop.

I dropped a little Tetra Prima down last night when I turned the lights off. I don't now if they ate any or not, but I do know that the dwarf golden honey gouramis picked over anything they could see, as did the lone female guppy. So hopefully if the zebs didn't eat, there wasn't much in the way of leftovers just sitting there. I can't see any anyway.

This is their home until I get their caves. Oh, and they will be moving to their own (bigger) tank when it's mature. This is just temporary accomodation. If I showed you where to look, you could JUST make out the tip of one of their tails under the bogwood at the front. But I doubt you'll be able see it if you don't know what you're looking for.

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Tom2600 · Post by **Tom2600** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:25 pm

Hi,

Congrats on bringing them home.

No chance (I can see) of sexing them at that size. They do look quite thin so I would go for some good quality (TMC gamma) frozen bloodworm and brineshrimp given after lights out. I'm sure they will eat Tetra prima but they won't wolf it down like bloodworm. But keep the water changes frequent to conpensate for the increase in feeding.

Regards

Tom

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 4:01 pm

I planned to give them bloodworm tonight anyway. I bought extra yesterday just for them!

Thanks for the tip. I've never used tetra prima before, but I've heard it mentioned a lot on this forum so I got little container when I was at the shop. I figure another bit of variety for all the fish won't do them any harm. They do get a wide variety of foods. Let's hope these little guys tuck in tonight.

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:57 am

I fed bloodworms last night. I made sure plenty of worms went down amongst their rocks and around it. I can see no evidence of leftovers this morning, but have no idea if the zebs ate them, or if the other fish picked over the gravel in the night - the only one that seems likely to have done so is the Oto, but there's only one, and there was plenty of worms. I don't know if the gouramis and the guppy will continue foraging after dark. I kept checking them after I'd turned the lights out but they hadn't ventured out yet. I woke up before it was light this morning and snuck in to have a look and saw one stuck to the back glass, so it would seem they did come out eventually, just not when I was looking!

They share this tank with 1 x Oto, 1 x stray Female guppy and 2 x Dwarf Honey Gouramis (golden). When I got up this morning, one of the Gouramis was sleeping under the bit of bogwood in the same place that one of the zebs has chosen (this gourami always sleeps in nooks and caves). Do you think this will pose problems?