Tank cave setup

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gtp
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Tank cave setup

Post by gtp »

Ok, I have 4 adult zebra plecs in my aquarium. It has four 'proper' enclosed caves in it, but also bogwood and slate. None of the zebra's have taken up territories in any of the 'proper' caves in the past 9 months, they all insist on just random locations like behind the bogwood or underneath the slate.

If I take out everything in the tank, but just leave the four proper caves and a small piece of bogwood (which won't have any hiding places in it), will the Zebra's start using them as they are the only hiding spaces available to them?
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Post by Jo's Zebs »

They will hide out where they feel happy & safest using the caves when they hit maturity when they are ready, if you remove everything out of the tank you will only cause the zebs stress which is not good at all it might force them into the caves as they will have no other option but they will not be happy and it wont make them breed.
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Post by gtp »

Hmm I believe these Zebra plecs have long since reached maturity. I am not sure as to their exact age but they are, at the very least, 4 years old.
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Post by jerry58 »

Hi gtp

Yes my first thoughts when I looked at this earlier was not to force them into the caves,if they are not ready to take caves or breed you cannot make them so this means GENTLE persuasion.
Maybe I'm taking a guess here but the chances of all fish being female is highly unlikely.
Without pictures its hard to say but this might be worth a try.:wink:
If You can't leave them as they are and if feel you need to alter the tank around just remove nothing,put the caves to the middle of the tank arranged so each cave is far enough apart and there is something stopping each fish(if they eventually take a cave)so they cannot see each other and don't have a straight swimming line to each cave entrance,do this by placing a rock or wood between or set them at an angle to each other.
Look for the pic on here of my tank or others on here just as an example.
This will achieve giving the fish a bit more confined space but giving familiar hiding places they are used to and they will most likely use the caves at a later date and will not be stressed so much as by taking away hiding places.
Other things might be to do with is fish compatibility,fish size,females bigger than males,caves size make of cave.
I see from your other threads that you possibly have kept them with corydoras IMO this probably has not helped them in their breeding tank.
Not a lot more to say other than maybe get some pics of set up as it is and the fish and review from there.

Hope this helps.

Jerry
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Post by TwoTankAmin »

Somebody sometime has to be "cursed" with all females. 4 year old male zebras should have claimed space.

As suggested above, posting some good pics for ID might help determine if you have males or not.

My personal feeling is when more than a pair or trio of adult zebras are in a tank, the more cover and hidely holes there are, the better.
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Post by gtp »

When I ay they haven't 'claimed space' I mean they haven't claimed any of the proper caves. One or two of them have favourite locations and I have seen some minor territorial activity in the past once or twice.

I'm thinking about getting those slate square caves that everybody has. I'll re-arrange the tank setup slightly to try and reduce hiding places elsewhere and encourage use of the new caves but I won't remove anything.
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Post by jerry58 »

Hi
Sounds a bit better idea than removing items from the tank. :wink:
But there is nothing wrong with getting the square type caves and adding more hiding spaces.
This will not affect whether they take caves or not,its the fact they feel safe with the arrangement of the tank, this then in turn helps for them to make a pecking order thus alpha male,female and so on.
If they are not happy they will not take caves whether the right ones or not.
I'm almost certain my small group of 4 zebs is 1 male 3 females and they took caves now they have a pecking order that even if a bit of squabbling goes on they take the same cave positions in the end also they do a bit of swapping but always back to the same cave even the females.
At first I set up the tank and had to make minor adjustments but nothing to drastic.
They do sit in other places than the cave like on top,on the side,under wood,on the glass,by the heater or power head but usually when chasing stops return to their own caves.
Not saying yours will do exactly the same but maybe something to that effect.
My alpha female always sits where she can block any attempts of the other females getting in with the alpha male,but he sometimes sits in the cave the other end of the tank and causes a bit of a problem but none of the females ever go in his cave.
Even if you do have 4 females I would think if happy with the tank would show some interest in the caves.

It would help your situation to get some pics up of the fish so someone can verify the sex of them,this is probably next best step and go from there.

Hope this helps.

Jerry
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Post by gtp »

I'll try and get some pics up soon over the next few days.

At the time me and the guy I bought them off were pretty sure they were two males and two females. The males had the longer 'hairs' at the side of the head, extending past the start of the pectoral fins. There was a difference in body shape and head shape.

Ok, I'll get the caves this week. What else can I do to 'encourage' the zebs to use them? I realise its down to them in the end but there must be some way of coaxing them inside. I just thought by reducing other hiding spots it would make the caves more inviting but that seems to be the wrong way to go about it.
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Post by Jo's Zebs »

Are the cave small nice and tight that are in your tank now?
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Post by gtp »

Yep, the caves are around 3.5" long. They are cirular in shape. I have them half submerged in the substrate. The entrance is just tall enough to allow the fish in with their dorsal fin fully extended. They are actually plastic pipes with a diameter of around 1.5".

The slate caves I'm thinking of getting are bigger. But I'm wondering whether they'd prefer the slate instead of the plastic?
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