My First Spawn Finaly !

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Lynn6773
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My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

Hi Every1, I'm sooooo giddy :D !!!! I have had 2 zebra plecs that I bought as a male n female 2 1\2 years go and I then bought 2 zebra fry from scottland. The plan was to build a colony from as many different sources as I could and help keep these beautiful little gems alive as there numbers had dropped massively in the wild and I'm all about saving this wonderful world we live in. I then got married so my cash flow dried up lol but I still had my 4 plecs to start off with, unfortunately I learnt the hard way and lost 1 of my baby's ( choked on blood worm that I was feeding the older 1's) then disaster struck again :-( my 2nd baby seemed to have a problem with his left arm ( I'm not a technical person lol) over time I realised he was deformed, so he is now resident in 1 of my other tanks as I couldn't and wouldn't risk selling him on as there are ar 2 many irresponsible people out there that may have used him to breed with, so he happily lives with my rainbow fish and will stay with us till his time is up. My other 2 zebras were fine ad so I focused on them, I tryed everything I could, I read every bit of info I could find but what ever I did I still didn't have any luck getting them to spawn. Then I wondered if they were male n female and started to lose heart, eventually I decided that I would put them in my discus tank as it's 5ft and leave them to there own devices. As we have many other fish we also had a green phantom plec in there about 3inch he's very good and never bothered the zebras even though he was bigger and we had a golden nugget plec about the same size who has a serious attitude problem, he would challenge any1 in the tank so a few weeks ago I noticed a lot of intact ion between my 2 zebras and then noticed the golden nugget plec shoving my zebra out of his cave. I checked the cave but there was nothing in it, at that point I said to my husband if we were lucky enough for the zebras to be male and female and got them to spawn eventhough the chances would be slim as we only had them 2 we might never know cos that bloody golden nugget plec would eat the eggs ! So we decided it was time for mr nugget and mr phantom to move house as I also breed shrimps now and the money I make was to buy more zebras, so thought we'd start sorting our tanks out. So they've been in the discus tank for a few weeks with some leopard frog babys and the discus, in the mean time I work full time and so does my husband so I havnt observed much, then on Sunday I thought ...... I'll take the plants n caves out and give em a clean cos recently the tank seems to getting dirty really quick, half way through getting the caves out I got to mr zebras cave but he was behaving really funny, shooting in and out so I picked the cave up and shined my light in to check and low and behold I nearly died on the spot 4 striped perfectly formed baby zebras roughly 16ish days old I'd say :D :D :D :D :D . I can't believe it ! My fish never stop shocking me ! I can't even begin to tell you how pleased we are. I put the cave and dad in a plastic fish tank in the discus tank using the samewater, added a sponge filter some sand a few pebbles a mini piece of wood and left him 2 it. Dad was out the cave this morning with all the baby's so I have let him back into the main tank. I hatched some brine yesterday and I've been feeding them with that, I can't see them eating but there pooing so they must be :-) and they shoot all over the little tank ( it holds about 30 ltrs). I've done a 20% water change the last 2 mornings ( does any1 know if that's ok ?) I'm just gonna leave them in this ank till there a bit bigger and I'm confident the discus cant eat them then I think I'll let them into the main tank to grow and play to there hearts content. I hope to have good news to report as the ays and weeks go by. Lynn xx
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TwoTankAmin
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by TwoTankAmin »

CONGRATS

My suggestion is to get them their own tank. It doesn't have to be big. 10 gallons would work for a pair and a 15 would work even better. Most zebra breeders will tell you that the fry always grow fastest when left in the breeder tank. I only began using growout tanks when I had too many fish for the tank and had to spread them out.
What makes the common person uncommon is common sense.
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

Thanks for the advice I will see what I can come up with, im soooo giddy :D just been sat watching them this morning and taking a few pics.
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John
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by John »

Congrats lynn :)
Greetings,
John
[img]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x276/hypancistrus-zebra/half.gif[/img]
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Joby
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Joby »

Fantastic news, lets hope its the first of many little baby zebs :D
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

Thanks guys :) everything seems to be ok, I'm feeding them baby brine but I can't tell if there eating it, also giving a bit of dry dust like baby food. I turn the sponge filter off then feed then pop it back on a bit later. How will I know if there eating, I mean Im guessing they must be but I can't tell. When I put brine in they shot about but I havnt seen them actualy eat any. Any ideas ?
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TwoTankAmin
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by TwoTankAmin »

They are likely eating. You don't need to turn off the sponge. Any food stuck to it is like a buffet for them.
What makes the common person uncommon is common sense.
Stevie.K
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Stevie.K »

A big congrats on your spawn, well done. :)

I feed my fry microworm very easy to culture & they love it, just make sure to give a varied diet & some green supplements as well something in flake form is good. :wink:
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

Thanks evey1 :D
All seems to be going well and the baby's are still ok, mummy and daddy have been observed in the cave :D fingers crossed there getting ready to spoil me with some more beautiful little baby's, whoop whoop !!!!
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

How do I culture micro worms ??? When explaining pls remember I'm a bit blonde sum times and I've no idea what a micro worm is stevie lol x
Stevie.K
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Stevie.K »

Micro worm is really easy I use a plastic container with holes in, so they can breathe.
:loldude:
Use cooked porridge oats & add some culture I got my starter from ebay, I could send some to you if you give me a bit of time.

You should have your own culture in a few days, just try & change the culture every 2-3 weeks as it starts to smell if you don't! :wink
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

:loldude: :loldude: :loldude: thanks stevie, I'm gonna get some off eBay and try x
Lynn6773
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Lynn6773 »

Omgosh !!!! I've been observing a lot of interaction between mr and mrs zebra in the last few days and then on Sunday she was in his cave and didn't come out till last night. I had a peek this morning and omgosh !!! He's protecting a clutch of new eggs, I'm very proud of them both :) lol my 4 baby's are stll doing well :) x
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Joby
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Joby »

Fantastic news :clap:

Sounds like they are on a roll now :lol:
Stevie.K
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Re: My First Spawn Finaly !

Post by Stevie.K »

Well done :) once you get them started there can be stopping them, long may it continue. :aok:
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