How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fertile?

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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planted90
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How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fertile?

Post by planted90 »

Hi, i have a zebra pleco that has been fanning eggs for 3 days now and I have a question.

How do you know if the eggs are fertile or not? If they were infertile would he just kick the eggs out or even eat them?

I am trying not to shine the flashlight on him too much, but he is really covering them up pretty good.

Bob
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

Never mind, I got wigglers Woo Hoo !!!! My first batch, now too see if I can keep them alive
jsalas623
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How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fertile?

Post by jsalas623 »

Nice!!! Is this the first time they've bred?
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

Yes the first time as far as I know, I had a really busy 60 days where I did very little maintenance and all of a sudden I see this oversized egg with a stingy thing sticking out. For the last two days one egg seems to get by the male and is just hanging out. Don't quite know how it even moves tho, big egg little stingy tail and today you could see his head. But the male has more hidden in front so I can t see how many more there are
jsalas623
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How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fertile?

Post by jsalas623 »

How many do you have and are they wild caught?
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

Hi, I was told that they were wild caught. I bought them as a group of 12, but I can't be sure if I still have that many left with all the caves and rocks. When I first bought these guys I was super paranoid I might kill these guys from improper care so I kinda went overboard and stuck them in a 90 gal so I had lots of room with water parameters.
jsalas623
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by jsalas623 »

Oh I see so u bought them as adults. I wouldn't worry Zebra Pleco's are very hardy fish. I got 6 myself but their F1's tank raised their nearing 2" now. I got them when they were about 1" in length and let me tell you I know exactly how you feel. When it comes to Zebras their really shy fish u practically have to put the food close by them for them to eat it.
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

I was pretty lucky, I got a fish guy who hand picked these guys out for me. All I had to do was feed them, and change water for a little over a year and now I have a spawn. I look at these guys even now i still have difficulty picking out which ones are the females, just the extra hairy males I can pick out.

Yeah I figured out just how tough they are, I have two really busy seasons during the year where I work 7 days a week and up to 14 hours a day so even tho I tried to keep up on maintenance these guys did get neglected at times. I had cichlids that did not fare as well during that time.

Do you actually shut off the current when you feed? I have a fluval external filter, an internal filter, and an air pump running, but I never shut anything off. I have like hundreds of trumpet snails that pick up anything the zebs don't pick up. I pretty much feed twice a day and they usually look pretty fat, but I wonder if maybe they are actually eating the snails.

Bob
jsalas623
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How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fertile?

Post by jsalas623 »

No I leave the filters on I use Repashy foods so I just drop it close by where they hide and usually by next morning it's gone. The tank stays cleaner that way and I get less waste from the food. It's alot more expensive but when it's in gel form it stays intact so u get more for your money. Before I would feed them crushed flake and also pellets but the flakes would get everywhere and the pellets would powder and spread every where so 60% if not more would be wasted food. I use Cherry red shrimp and MTS for the cleanup crew.
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

I tried the meat pie version I never actually saw my plecos eat it. There would always be a chunk of it left in the morning usually covered In snails.

Which version of the rapashy do your plecos eat? I have mine on a diet of worm flake and shrimp pellets. The flake food I guess might be a bit of a waste as a lot of it seems to float in the current until the filter picks it up.

On another note I actually had another I assume partial spawn as I could see a egg last night but this morning there was nothing there but this afternoon I have a female being trapped in the same cave again. Looks like my first spawn has at least 10 wigglers as the male is guarding at the front of the cave so I can see the eggs in front pretty good.

Boy it is so hard not to look

Bob
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by jsalas623 »

In regards to feeding I use the following: Repashy - Soilent Green, Meat Pie, and Community Plus. I usually cut into 1/2 inch squares and give them like 3-4 of them. The Meat Pie I usually see the next morning but the Soilent Green and Community Plus I see that most of it is gone. I feed them also Kens Fish food of the following: Spirulina and Earthworm Pellets. Also I feed them Frozen foods of Cyclops, baby brine shrimp and Mysis shrimp. That is good that their starting to spawn cant wait til mine start spawning which will be like in 2 years!! :(
planted90
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by planted90 »

Wow that is quite the variety. I never did try giving my guys the green rapashy, I just assumed nothing but meat, I'll have to give it a go when things settle down.

Good luck with your plecos, hope you have lots of spawns
Bob
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Re: How can you tell if the eggs from a zebra pleco are fert

Post by jsalas623 »

Nah you got to mix it up I feed mostly repashy foods though and on Saturdays i give them zucchini which they have been eating for now who knows when they get bigger if they still will eat it. Sundays I don't feed them anything that way they could clean up their digestive system. Thanks your Zebra's will get it right eventually in regards to the males guarding the eggs. Just post up pics of the progress that way when mine start spawning ill have more info!

Thanks,
Joseph
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