how many zebs

civicr · Post by **civicr** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:26 pm

i have a 58 liter tank in my house im wondering if that would be enough to house 4 adult zebs?as im thinking about spliting up bigger tank with 14 zebs

thanks ryan

smithrc · Post by **smithrc** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:35 pm

I guess its a 2ft x 1ft x 1ft...

With our zebs - I know I couldn't trust more than 2 adults together in it - but all fish are different...

civicr · Post by **civicr** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:51 am

im thinking about puting 2 adult females and 2 adult males in there

Post by **John** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:42 pm

I would start on the safe side: 1m 2f

See how it goes...

civicr · Post by **civicr** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:29 pm

yeh i sopose your right,i was thinking maybe 2males to possibly make 1 take the ro;; of courtinh the females,i dont no whagt male to pick tho as i have a few mature males either wild males 2to choose from or 2males around 3.5 years old

but i think il take this step in the next month or so,as id need to brake my tank down. hows every1s zebs doing ive not been logged in recently due to other commitments

Jamie24 · Post by **Jamie24** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:30 pm

hey mate, my 60L tank that i originally set up was going to house 4 adult zebs so i would say a 58L would be fine as long as no more than 2 males! as they will probably fight/ be terrortorial towards each other, even with two males in there...

but now i am going to use this tank for some L134's but there will still be that same ratio going in this tank, two adult males and two adult females pluss some fry/ young...

just if you would rather be safe than sorry, put one male in and 2-3 females, that way you would probaly not get any fighting... but just a thought....

J

Zebrapl3co · Post by **Zebrapl3co** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:01 pm

There's no true limits to the size of a tank. But if possible, get the bigest you can get and work your way down.
Your observation is the most important factor. Even with 2 females and 1 male can not gaureentee a disaster free senario. There is a matriache hierachy as well as a alpha male hierachy. As long as the two contestant are too closely match, the other will not rest until one is dead. This may not always mean one will actively kill off the other. Sometimes, they just prevent the other from eating and slowly starve the other one to death. This ofcourse depends on alot of factors. A very well divided tank setup can reduce this. A completely empty tank will prevent this, but I don't think it's healthy in the long run and you definately won't be breeding anything that way. That's why some people can get away with it and some can't. But one way to lower your chance is to get a bigger tank.
There is also one or two that will be exiles, they don't look any different from the others. These, you will have to put into another tank and introduce back again 1/2 year or 1 year later to see if it will be accepted.

On another hand, a matching pair can take a smaller tank or sometimes a matching trio can function on a smaller tank. But then, you will still need a bigger tank for the future fry ....

good luck.