joining the tribe!

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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dkimtonf
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Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm

joining the tribe!

Post by dkimtonf »

Hi All!!
I just got a hold of 4 juveniles this weekend, 1 1/2 inches. They made it past 48 hrs, but I've got a ton of questions/observations for yall. Feel free to chime in with any advice. I've mostly done cichlids in the past so the this is still a learning process for me.

1)I tested the water my zebras came in and the pH was 7.0. I tested my tank and tap and it's 7.3-7.4. I rushed to petland discount and got pH down and managed to lower the water to 7.0 before putting the fish in. One day later the pH was back at 7.3-7.4. Must be some dissolved buffer in the water I'm not aware of. From what I'm reading the zebras should be ok in this range. Should I add some driftwood or peat moss to lower or buffer the pH lower? Should I not fuss over the pH that much?

2)All these fish do are hide!! I read on the board that a healthy zebra pleco is a hiding one, but cmon now. They act like cockroaches. Will they eventual acclimate to the tank and come out more? How do I know they are all eating? I've seen evidence of fish poop in the tank, but what if one isn't eating and I don't notice this? With cichlids I can always see who isn't going for food and then quarantine.

3)Feeding seems problematic. I put in frozen baby brine shrimp the first day, but not sure if they ate since alot looked like it got sucked into the filter. I turned off the filter, and the lights. Came back and no one touched the BBS. I tried frozen mysis shrimp, and this seemed to be better. Alot flew all over the place when I turned the filter back on, but there was less in the tank. Anyone have advice on how to feed Zebras without having the food fly all over the place when I turn the filter back on?

4)Zebra people seem to love foam pre-filters on all intakes. The guy I bought these from had foam on all his intakes. They seem to serve the purpose of collecting all the frozen flying food, so maybe the zebras eat from these. Anyone have bad experiences leaving the intake not covered with sponge? I currently have all intakes covered with sponge.

5)How are yall doing your water changes? With cichlids I emptied the tank with the python. Added dechlorinator, and then added water straight from the tap. Will this stress them? It would be a pain in the butt, but should I put the water first in a bucket, then add dechlor, then fill?

Thanks folks!!
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TwoTankAmin
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Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:16 am
Location: Westchester Co., NY

Re: joining the tribe!

Post by TwoTankAmin »

1)I tested the water my zebras came in and the pH was 7.0. I tested my tank and tap and it's 7.3-7.4. I rushed to petland discount and got pH down and managed to lower the water to 7.0 before putting the fish in. One day later the pH was back at 7.3-7.4. Must be some dissolved buffer in the water I'm not aware of. From what I'm reading the zebras should be ok in this range. Should I add some driftwood or peat moss to lower or buffer the pH lower? Should I not fuss over the pH that much?
I have gotten about 500 fry over the years from my zebras kept in pH 7.4. leave your pH alone :)
2)All these fish do are hide!! I read on the board that a healthy zebra pleco is a hiding one, but cmon now. They act like cockroaches. Will they eventual acclimate to the tank and come out more? How do I know they are all eating? I've seen evidence of fish poop in the tank, but what if one isn't eating and I don't notice this? With cichlids I can always see who isn't going for food and then quarantine.
Actually this will also work in reverse. A sick zebra will often be in the open a lot more than a healthy one. F1s will tend to come out more than wild caughts, but not by a huge amount. These fish are natural hiders as a defence against predators, so they tend to bolt for cover at the first sign of movement, What I do when I want to watch mine is to set up a nice place to remain in from of a tank for a while w/o needing to move and then drop in the food and wait. usually you will start to see the fish moving about.
3)Feeding seems problematic. I put in frozen baby brine shrimp the first day, but not sure if they ate since alot looked like it got sucked into the filter. I turned off the filter, and the lights. Came back and no one touched the BBS. I tried frozen mysis shrimp, and this seemed to be better. Alot flew all over the place when I turned the filter back on, but there was less in the tank. Anyone have advice on how to feed Zebras without having the food fly all over the place when I turn the filter back on?
They need small foods- bbs over reg brine, cyclop-eeze over mysis (they are too large for 1.5 inch zebs). Look into NLS Grow, frozen daphnia from Hikari etc. They can also eat any larger food that gets soft- ie earthworm sticks, flake etc. The food and the zebras will get together fine unless the tank is so huge as to be inappropriate.
4)Zebra people seem to love foam pre-filters on all intakes. The guy I bought these from had foam on all his intakes. They seem to serve the purpose of collecting all the frozen flying food, so maybe the zebras eat from these. Anyone have bad experiences leaving the intake not covered with sponge? I currently have all intakes covered with sponge.
I sponge almost 100% of my intakes on all tanks. Small zebras like flow and love hiding in tight spaces. Any filter intake that a small zebra can fit into is a potential problem. It is safer to sponge them than not to do so. The only caveat is you need to rinse prefilter sponges regularly so they do not clog and impede the filter intake. And yes fish do eat food trapped on the sponge surface.

I cant help re the dechlor as I have well water that has no chlorines etc. in it.

Oh yes, welcome to the site and to the wonderful world of zebra keeping.
What makes the common person uncommon is common sense.
dkimtonf
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Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm

Re: joining the tribe!

Post by dkimtonf »

thanks for the advice TwoTankAmin!! I see you're in Westchester. I'm currently in NYC. If I ever grow these juvies out, maybe we can trade males to diversify our lines! 3 of them were hiding under one rock, so I feed them frozen cyclops with a turkey baster (not cyclopeeze). They were covered in food, and looked like they ate, so I feel more reassured that they're acclimating well.

Do you think a 55 gal tank is too big for them? I have a fluval 405, aquaclear 50, and whisper air pump connected to an air stick. Do you think I'm going overboard with the water movement? After feeding when I turn back on the filter, the left over food flies everywhere. It gets sucked up by the sponge. I'm hoping in the middle of the night that they're sucking on this. Do you think they'll scavenge the tank for the left over food at night. I dropped a carnivore pellet in the other day, and it looks untouched.
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TwoTankAmin
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Re: joining the tribe!

Post by TwoTankAmin »

1.5 inch zebras eat very little. 4 that size can do fine growing out for some time in just a 10 gal and a 20L would be spacious longer term. The bigger the tank, the more area they have to cover to find the food. I currently have 20+ zebras in that size range in a 20L. But I am a notorious overstocker :roll:

When zebras are small/young in tanks they tend to all hang out together. Over time as they gain size, they begin to break off into smaller groups and then the males eventually claim caves and territory.
What makes the common person uncommon is common sense.
dkimtonf
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 pm

Re: joining the tribe!

Post by dkimtonf »

wow 20 juvies in a 20 L :shock: How often do you do your water changes for that tank? I like the 50 gallon tank I have them in, since I can put off doing water changes to once a week. TwoTankAmin, you are right that they don't eat much at 1.5 inches. I put in a whole frozen cube of BBS or cyclops, and they eat maybe half. Do the zebras graze and scrape on their food at this age? Or do they gulp it down? I mostly see them hop on food and then it's gone. How can I fatten them up fast? :?:
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