General info needed before starting on my journey

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:33 pm

Hi all,

I have been seriously thinking about breeding Zebras for a little while now. I have a 2'x1'x1' breeding and 3 16"x12"x12" fry tanks. Would these be ok? Well I say 3 but they would be as and when fry come (also thinking about breeding cichlids).

I would like to know all the steps on how to care and raise these interesting individuals.

They are so hard to get in my area and for that reason only I wanted to bring them to this location.

Thanks in advance

Post by **John** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:52 pm

Charlene wrote: I have a 2'x1'x1' breeding and 3 16"x12"x12" fry tanks. Would these be ok?

Yes they will do

Charlene wrote:I would like to know all the steps on how to care and raise these interesting individuals.

If you put your mousepointer on the "home" button which is on the upper left corner, several sections appear, read those through and you should have a reasonable idea

If you have any questions after reading those sections ask.

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:58 pm

Thanks for your help John

jerry58 · Post by **jerry58** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:13 pm

Hi

They are so hard to get in my area

Thought you might like to know they are for sale not far from you quite a high price though at

Amwell Aquatics
Happy Grove Garden Nursery
High Road
Thornwood
Epping
Essex
United Kingdom
CM16 6LX Tel: 01992 570880

Have not been there for a while but did have some sub adults and adults
don't know if sold or not now.

Hope this helps

Jerry

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Thu May 28, 2009 10:13 am

Hi there Jerry,

Thanks for the info. Do they have a website?

Just to give a little more know about what I'm planning on doing. I'm going to breed some cichlids, get these going for a while so that I could do a swap for my favourite plec.

When to get the plec I'm not too sure of yet.

I'm gathering as much info before I jump straight into this. It's not just going to be a 'hobby' hopefully. I'm fortunate to have the eqiupment to try this.

Would UGF's be a problem with the plec?

jerry58 · Post by **jerry58** » Thu May 28, 2009 10:32 am

Hi
Yes they have a web site not a lot of info on it best give a ring to find out what is in stock.
As for under gravel filters I am not a keen fan of them at all I use external filters
as they are easier to clean and can take a bigger load and don't have to strip the whole tank out to clean.
Zebs need a very good water flow in the tank and ugf will not give you also they need good water quality so needs to be the best turn over of water as poss usually backed up with the use of a power head .IMO a ugf does not meet any of the requirements .

Hope this helps Jerry

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Thu May 28, 2009 10:42 am

I have air pumps and air stones to go with the ugf (obviously a heater too). Would it help if I put a pic up of the set up that I have?

I understand about good water and don't have a problem in doing more wc if needs be, as I don't work atm. All this eqiupment was given to me for free.

I have another tank that has internal filters, pump and heater, they work very well with the set up I have for that tank. This will be the first time of using the ugf's. They only need to be cleaned thoroughly twice a year. Its not going to be that hard to clean as they ae not big tanks really, so that won't be a problem for me. Will need to get some eqiupment for when the cleaning has to be done, to put the fish in.

jerry58 · Post by **jerry58** » Thu May 28, 2009 10:30 pm

Hi

http://www.firsttankguide.net/ugf.php

This might help with ugf info as I have no experience with them and zebs don't know if anybody on this site has?.
If they have maybe they can help you.

I'm going to breed some cichlids,

Should you be sorting out your tanks to breed them first ?.

I have no info on breeding them also have you got someone in mind to swap the cichlid fry for zebs other than that you might have a bit of a struggle to keep zebs on a very low budget.
Info when you need it will be set on the zebs you are getting ie age,amount,if you are just keeping or if you are breeding them how many females or males all this and more factors change info needed at the time.

Hope this helps Jerry

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Fri May 29, 2009 10:10 am

I just gathering info first on zebs, I want to get the info (been reading a fair amount) and get everything that I need like caves fry food and anything else that I may need but time wise won't happen yet.

I haven't bred anything before so what I was going to do was get some mollies and practice with those, then get cichlids (researching what one to get) and then go on to the zebs.

Budget wise for getting zebs depends on what prices we're talking about. I would like to get 1m 2f as juvies. I want to be able to breed these for my local area as I mentioned before its a journey to get to the nearsest seller of zebs and there is only 3 LFS around here, hence why I wan to get into breeding to give more of a choice to people.

Thanks for the info on the UGF's, read about them a while ago. As and when time comes for the programme to begin for the zebs, I might change from UGF to an internal filter if that is what they need for good water flow. Like I say its, its just a starting point for me to get to the zebs. I don't just want to jump straight into it with out knowing hat is involved.

Post by **John** » Fri May 29, 2009 10:39 am

From livebearers to cichlids to zebs sounds very unlogical to me.
Don't see how breeding mollies and cichlids would benefit experience to breeding zebs.
I think it would be wise if your goal is breeding zebs to start with some bristlenose then some cheaper hypancistrus like L129,L66,L333 and at the end zebs.

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Fri May 29, 2009 1:30 pm

Ok it is unlogical to do that but for me its just about handling the fry, ok every fry is different. Mollies was just practice. Cichlids I will keep breeding, as I will with zebs.

I had a pair of BN plecs, I didn't know that I had a male and female to begin with. I moved my tank and low and behold I had one surviving fry! I done nothing for them to start breeding, just regular wc's and feeding them.

John, my long term goal is to learn about alsorts of fish, as here in my home town with the 3 LFS its hard to get certain fish and theres money here, so ideally I would like to build myself up to get a shop. Yes its a commitment and I'm willing to do this. Its going to take a while to get to my ideal point. If I have to change what I was planning on doing then its a learning curve I'm willing to take. Hope this gives a little more understanding of what I was hoping to do.

Brengun · Post by **Brengun** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:19 am

I have recently installed ugf on my zeb tank but its still running with the internal and canister filters until the gravel is fully cycled in. I have also planted the tank in numerous sword plants and anubias. I have a cherry shrimp crew for grooming the plants.

My reasoning is my zebs just don't seem to get fat. The food goes in and after a little while the canister and filter have eaten it. My zebs are not very tame and absolutely will not come out if anyone is awake in the household so its feeding before I go to bed.

I have other tanks with just ugf and power filter and those plecs are getting nice and fat. I do constant nitrate tests and with my routine gravel vac and wc regime, there never seems to be any problems.

Let you know in a few months how the zebs go with their new filtration, ugf with power filter but without the canister.

General info needed before starting on my journey

General info needed before starting on my journey

Re: General info needed before starting on my journey