Larger tanks and company

Everything you ever wanted to say about "Zebra luvin", but didn't because you thought everyone would take the mickey! Plus general topics for discussion including everything from what you feed them to your personal experiences.

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kattbussen
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Larger tanks and company

Post by kattbussen »

Hello everybody!

At the moment I have a 180l juwel tank that contains 6 juvenile zebras and a few marbled hatchet fish. Everything is working alright and I have been keeping the zebras for roughly two years now, they are growing but very slowly.
I am a bit unhappy with the setup, I mostly keep the lights off to keep algae from growing to much and I clean food from the bottom daily. I feed quite a lot so that I am sure the zebras are finding food. In the end, it is a lot of maintenance and a sort of boring tank - its dark, and when the lights are on the zebras hide and the hatchet fish can barely be seen because of the frame of the aquarium. The tank also seems to be quite small, I always like to give my fish a lot of space.

This has led me to thinking about getting a bigger tank. I am thinking that a bigger tank lets me do the cleaning only once a week, get more tankmates to make the aquarium seem more alive and I also have a faint hope that other (small and friendly) fish might signal to the zebras that it is ok to show themselves.
The tank I am planning is a 900l that measures 2m * 0.6m(height) * 0.75m. The plan is also to use a dimmer connected to the light to simulate sunrise and sunset, and most importantly to get a more "gloomy" feel by not using maximum power on the light. This will hopefully get the zebras to feel more comfortable and let me see them come out at "dawn".

I would like to know if there are som very good reasons why I should NOT keep zebras in a bigger tank. Breeding is secondary to me, hopefully they will breed and some fry will survive but I have no intentions of regurarly getting them out of the aquarium to sell or anything like that.

I would also like to know if there are any preffered tankmates that I can keep that will populate different parts of the tank. I am thinking of getting more hatchet fish to populate the surface. I am also considering if shrimp will be ok, maybe the zebras will even eat shrimp fry if they get the chance? I am not sure how shrimp handles the warmer and more rapid flowing water though. Maybe corys will work even though they are also bottom dwellers? How about ottos?

Please provide me with suggestions and pros and cons for my idea!

Best regards.
Stevie.K
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Stevie.K »

Your 180 is more than big enough, in a 900l you will never see them!
I would of thought your fish would have been used to your setup & you by now.
You don't have to keep the lights on all day & have probs with algae, just have them on when you are around & try & watch them during feeding & then they will get used to you after time.
My tanks have lights on for around 5 hrs a day & I can feed with lights on & thay will feed, even fry!
Try positioning your set up ie slate, bogwood caves etc so your zebs can still hide but you are able to see them.
Some corys are fine with zeb temps, cherry shrimps are fine I also have columbian & lemon tetras. :)
kattbussen
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by kattbussen »

Thanks for the reply!

I forgot to mention that I want to expand my colonyof zebras. Prefferably double it to 12 individuals. My hopes was that over the years the colony would grow by itself if left to its own devices in such a large tank and with no really predatorial fish.
Is the only drawback that they will be harder to spot?
It should be mentioned that I am of course interested in getting this big tank, I want to make it work and are mostly looking for any reasons the fish might be worse off in a bigger tank than in a smaller one. There might be problems with feeding etc.
My main goal would be to try to create a bigger piece of "natural" habitat where I can leave a larger colony of zebras and let them spawn and sort of "take care of themselves". Maybe I just have a unrealistic image in my head of a nice gloomy aquarium with lots of rocks and zebras poking around :)

Also the Juwel 180l tank is only 40cm deep, and with a BTN background that is about 5 cm deep and contains the filter in one end (where it is about 15cm deep) makes the bottom area of the tank quite small.

Any further comments are more than welcome!
har_eh
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by har_eh »

It's not that hard to make a nice setup for your zebras in a smaller tank like you have.
If you have algae it's because the circumstances for algae are good.
Light is 1 factor but more important are your water conditions.
A picture of the algae would be nice to determine which algae it is, also could you test your No3 & Po4 levels?
Also you could start by adding some fast growing plants in your tank.
kattbussen
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by kattbussen »

PO4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: between 1 and 5, closer to 1.

I know I dont have to buy a new tank for my zebras, what I wonder is if they will be worse off in the bigger tank. If they will be harder to maintain.
Stevie.K
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Stevie.K »

Works for me, hope you like :)
My Rena Aqualife.
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Lifted193
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Lifted193 »

Nice tank Stevie K.
What size is your tank?
Is that a White Zebra Pleco in the 3rd & 5th pho?o??
Stevie.K
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Stevie.K »

Thanks, pleased you like it.

Tank dimensions
2000 mm x 500 mm x 700 mm

I only just got it into my fish room as it has a narrow door, but managed just to squeeze it in!

The white zeb is a female who lost her stripes to a trapping, they come back a little now & again but I think she likes been different!
Awesome looking fish :D
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kattbussen
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by kattbussen »

Thanks alot for the answer Stevie.
How many zebras do you keep in your tank? How big were they when you put them in there?
Have you experienced any problem with feeding, ie have you had to feed extra or in any special way to make sure the zebras find the food?

Cheers again.
Lifted193
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Lifted193 »

Stevie.K wrote:Thanks, pleased you like it.

Tank dimensions
2000 mm x 500 mm x 700 mm

I only just got it into my fish room as it has a narrow door, but managed just to squeeze it in!

The white zeb is a female who lost her stripes to a trapping, they come back a little now & again but I think she likes been different!
Awesome looking fish :D
I thought that my 100gal was a big tank....you probably have the biggest tanks for Zebras that I know of.

Can you explain a little more about how she "lost her stripes to a trapping"? She missing the stripes on her fins and tail too!
Not sure if you remember but a few years ago I posted a link to a German website that had white Zebras. They look amazing! A lot like yours!
Stevie.K
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Stevie.K »

I keep 33 zebs in there, 6 mature wild males the rest some mature females & other females that I have bred that are 2 1/2 to 3 yrs old & looking promising & 6-8 that I wasn't sure about but still 2 1/2 to 3 yrs old & all good size.
I also keep corys & a variety of tetras in there, shrimps & snails also, I feed plenty but there is never any left as there are alot of fish in the tank.
Water quality is always good with being such a large volume, but still change 125l + weekly RO mix.
I only set this tank up a couple of months ago & lost a mature male to fighting & also 2 females to everyone settling in.
The only problem I have had was trying to catch the injured male, but I couldn't catch him in a tank that size without stripping it down & spending ages. :x
I want another big tank, just need a bigger house now. :lol:
Stevie.K
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Stevie.K »

Lifted193 wrote:
Stevie.K wrote:
The white zeb is a female who lost her stripes to a trapping, they come back a little now & again but I think she likes been different!
Awesome looking fish :D
I thought that my 100gal was a big tank....you probably have the biggest tanks for Zebras that I know of.

Can you explain a little more about how she "lost her stripes to a trapping"? She missing the stripes on her fins and tail too!
Not sure if you remember but a few years ago I posted a link to a German website that had white Zebras. They look amazing! A lot like yours!
I bought a group last year where the female had been trapped & had had a battering, I even got the fish cheaper as we didn't know if she would survive, but the damage was just cosmetic.
She started to gain stripes again & looking better, then they stopped & she went the other way, a year later & here we are today!
This picture has been seen on Rare Aquatic forum & Jos zebs posted this pic of the german fish & said they where 2K a piece :shock: , my fish may of being a cousin, you decide :lol:
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Lifted193
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by Lifted193 »

Stevie.K wrote:
Lifted193 wrote:
Stevie.K wrote:
The white zeb is a female who lost her stripes to a trapping, they come back a little now & again but I think she likes been different!
Awesome looking fish :D
I thought that my 100gal was a big tank....you probably have the biggest tanks for Zebras that I know of.

Can you explain a little more about how she "lost her stripes to a trapping"? She missing the stripes on her fins and tail too!
Not sure if you remember but a few years ago I posted a link to a German website that had white Zebras. They look amazing! A lot like yours!
I bought a group last year where the female had been trapped & had had a battering, I even got the fish cheaper as we didn't know if she would survive, but the damage was just cosmetic.
She started to gain stripes again & looking better, then they stopped & she went the other way, a year later & here we are today!
This picture has been seen on Rare Aquatic forum & Jos zebs posted this pic of the german fish & said they where 2K a piece :shock: , my fish may of being a cousin, you decide :lol:
That's awesome. Hope you can get her to spawn and maybe produce some all white fry's!
These fish are pretty hardy. A few months ago I had 2 female battle it out and 1 of the female lost 70% of her stripe! I was sure she was a gonner...but the next morning she was alive and doing fine. All her stripes came back within a week.

Good luck with her!
mikeyboy
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Re: Larger tanks and company

Post by mikeyboy »

hi stevie great tank nice pic,s
love the white zeb never seen 1 b4
hope u get a 2k offer
put it towards new house and new tank :lol:
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