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.
I'm getting a little worried because one of my Zebras is significantly loosing her (I think it's a female) stripes. It all started when I did a water change and changed an airtube which I think disruppted their enviornment a bit I regret I messed with the tank ... I don't think it was because of the water change as in water chemistry but more of just moving the decor. I put it back pretty much exactly the same but I dont know how picky they really are. After I did this I noticed A LOT of fighting and pushing each other around. At first I thought this female was getting beat up but then after watching the tank a bit more I noticed this one was actually running around bullying the other Zebras. This was about a week ago and it looks like the stripes are still getting getting lighter. I don't know if this zebra is still the one pushing the others around or if now she is getting pushed around. Another thing I noticed was that when all of them were fighting after the water change almost all of them had fading stripes but they have pretty much all came back except for this one.
What should I do? Should I leave her alone or should I take her out and isolate her? Is this something to be worried about?
What do you mean by losing her stripes...are they getting smudged??Especially on the sides..or does it look like the zebra is turning white and pale...like all the stripes are fading to white......If its just getting smudged than maybe they are just fighting again to gain their territory back. Maybe changing their caves around again can help out.....Now if he looks pale and in a dying stage...than I would increase your turnover rate and try to over feed them with a 10-15% water change every other day....I wrote a help article about half a year ago here, I have to look for it, stating this same thing....and I took mine out and put him in another tank ...But the tank he was in had little water movement and it was in a community tank in which I dont think he was getting any food....and the ammonia levels were kind of high!!! So this is my opinion but some of the veterans will come along with some other advice..good luck!!!!
It is just on the sides and tail, hear head and top part are okay for the most part. I think you're right about it being from fighting. So is it okay to just leave her in there? Thanks.
I too would agree that it is due to squabbling.
Just make sure that if there is any damaged skin, that it does not get fungused as I found out to my cost, it can be fatal. That said, the male that died was involved in quite a bad scuffle and was badly "bruised".2 days later he was covered in fungus and never recovered.
As long as all your water parameters are within the acceptable limits then I wouldn't worry too much about the zebra's fading stripes. I presume that despite of the fading it is behaving normally in all other respects. If as you say it squabbles a lot with your other zebras then I also favour the explanation that the colouring has been"rubbed" off and that given time it should return to normal. As Des has pointed out make sure that no areas of skin have been broken as this could possibly result in a secondary bacterial/fungal infection. If the squabbling doesn't sort itself out then you could add some additional tank decor so as to provide some extra cover.
If the affected zebra has become faded all over, from your post it is not clear if this is the case, then I would suspect that something else is to blame. Fighting usually only results in the stripes on the flanks of the fish getting "rubbed" off.
That's my hunch as well... wierd thing is that I noticed the day before yesterday that she looked as though it took the males cave. She was sitting at the edge of the cave which made me think it was a territory fight and was the winner. Then last night, she wasn't there anymore and I checked this morning and she is back in the cave. Maybe she is as confused about her sex as I am.
Anyways, another observation I have made was that there are 3 out of the 6 that look as though they are fighting. I have 2 that I am 99.9% positive are males and those 2 do not appear to be fighting. Their stipes and bodies look perfectly fine. The last one I can't get a good look at but I think it is a female (this one is hiding a lot so I can't get a good look though).
I know you are worried about the zebras appearance. Believe me it is just superficial damage and it looks a whole lot worse than it actually is. I can not see that the damage has exposed flesh so it is unlikely that secondary infection will set in so if you can stay off the meds. Just keep up with the regular tank maintenance and the zebra should regain it's stripes. You might want to try and lessen the territorial disputes by providing more cover if you can, it may help but sometimes they just go looking for trouble regardless. I would keep a close eye on the zebra and if you notice that it continues to get a beating from the others then I would suggest some time out in QT.
That is very typical for first time breeders some times the fish will loose some of its tail and dorsal fin other times it becomes very violent that you could actually loose a female and or male, my theory is that the female is ready to breed but the male isn't but I have proven males that would still beat up a female that are first time breeders or new fish, but when you get a very compatible pair lets just say $$$$$$ every 5 weeks.
First things first try to be sure that you have a pair Male and Female, then its just a waiting game you can tell when the male is ready when he fans his cave and when she is ready she will stay close to his cave, just make sure you check on the cave when they are both inside every few hours but it can take up to 4 days sometimes, I lost a very productive female over night just because the male had a bad day. (:
WOW zebra046... you're scaring me. I'm a little confused... Are you saying that with first time breeders the Male or Female gets violent? When you say first time breeders do you mean before they ever bred or after they have bred once? (Mine have bred once wich was an estimated month and a half to two months ago)
Update: There has been a female inside the cave for the past day and a half now although the female left the cave for an hour or so last night but then returned and she was still there this morning.
How does this theory sound? -> Since there are 3 females that appear to be fighting, one female and 2 males that have not been fighting, could this be an indication that the one female that has not been fighting is the mother of the batch of babies I had a couple months ago so she is not fighting for the males "affection" while the remaining 3 females are battling to be his next concubine?
Also, should I really be checking on them in the cave that often? For me to see in the cave I have to shine my flashlight in there and I think I am scaring them everytime I do. I was thinking I should try not to look in there until 5 days or so after I see two in the cave (this alone is extremely challenging to me ). Does this sound right or should I really be checking on them every few hours? I wouldn't want ruin the mood
I don't mean to scare you, I am just conveying my experience what i am trying to say is when they have a new partner they don't click right away they still don't know what to do some times the male is so uncious that he would hold on to a female like there is no tommorow an can injure a female or the female is taking so long to lay her eggs for example this female was so beat up it looks worst than you're fish, that with the amount of beatings, her stripes actually changed three times but now she and the would breed every 4-5 weeks with the female staying in the males cave for about 24 hrs now here is the best part they where moved in a Eclipse system 6 (6 gallon )tank and in two weeks they spawned as a matter of fact she is in the cave ready to ley her eggs this is the smallest tank I have kept a breeding pair
another incident: I am trying to improve the gene pool of my fry so I returned the pair in the main tank so that the female can take a rest and the male can breed with other younger females but he turned out killing one of the regular breeding female in the tank, although he was successfull at spawning with other females his breeding success was only 50/50 he would eat every other batch of eggs. maybe the tank is just to crowded with lots of activity.
If your fish is ready to breed a flashlight won't stop them anyways most of the incidents happens when you are in bed and the fish are in the dark I just like to check what is going on in the cave.
good luck
I regret I messed with the tank 
