Do they eat bogwood?

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.

User avatar
McEve
Hypan-guru!
Posts: 2871
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:33 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by McEve »

Several people have suggested it's for digestive purposes, and I believe that is indeed the case. It's common to think that the Zebra doesn't need anything but hidingplaces and water, but it's starting to look to me as though they might appreciate the bogwood and plants I keep as well. They don't touch the plants normally, although Sharko has a picture that suggests otherwise. But I do belive they at least feed of the rotting parts of the plant.

I think the Zebra might still surprise us, and once again, what a terrific forum this is. I have learned so much since it started!
Dr. P
Mentally Certified!
Posts: 462
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:59 am
Location: Fife, Scotland
Contact:

Post by Dr. P »

Bogwood = L46 All Bran :lol:
Sword Pies. As Good as it Gets - Guaranteed!! [img]http://www.refreshdesign.co.uk/dale/scotsmile2.gif[/img]
Adam
Moderator
Posts: 1604
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 2:50 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by Adam »

Funny you say that Dr P but I have noticed that they are crapping like there's no tomorrow since I put the bog wood in the tank. Sorry to bring the tone of the conversation down guys :lol: .
User avatar
Barbie
Moderator
Posts: 1146
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:07 pm
Location: Spokane, WA, US
Contact:

Post by Barbie »

It's also possible that some of the bacteria and "fauna" on the wood aids in digesting the higher protein diets the fish are receiving. I do know that they sell probiotic cultures for animals that have long digestive tracts to help stimulate that bacteria when they are being treated or stressed. I'd assume that the fish have to be getting that bacteria from some source in their environment. The fiber from the wood is definitely a good thing for them. Mine rarely gnaw on it, but I do occasionally find piles of "shavings" in a species tank, so I assumed that meant they were having the midnight munchies or something! Each of my chambers in the fry condo has a small piece of wood in it, also.

Barbie
[url=http://www.plecos.com][img]http://plecos.com/plecosbanner.gif[/img][/url]
User avatar
sharko
Groupie
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:29 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by sharko »

Until somebody prove me wrong i would say one reason they do this is because of the fiber in the wood.

I had my zebras in i tank with 3 cory, and saw with my own eyes one zebra grazing on a Anubias nana leaf, you can cleary see the teeth mark.
This picture will be included in an article on H. zebra i am writing.
As i don't find any other reasonable explanation to this conduct i have concluded that they did this out of hunger.It seemed to me they left the anubias plant more alone when more food were given, but they did not leave the anubias entirely alone though... :?:
Last edited by sharko on Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Visit my home page and sign my guestbook:)
User avatar
sharko
Groupie
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:29 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by sharko »

Here is the picture of the Anubias nana

http://www.nettakvariet.no/galleri/show ... 500&page=2
Visit my home page and sign my guestbook:)
User avatar
du ma
Obsessed!!
Posts: 142
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:32 am
Location: Los Angeles

Post by du ma »

dang...i had dozens of anubias in my tank, 14 fish and no one touched it.

sharko, did you starve your fish?
wandj
Obsessed!!
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 6:48 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

Post by wandj »

If I remember Bio class right, herbivores can digest plant matter because the have the enzyme "celluase".

I also know that a friend of mine had a Zebra spawn quite awhile ago, but he sold them. I saw the tanks they were in. The tank had lots of Cichlids, catfish, and was over 90 gal. The tank had a gravel bottom but the only decor other than that was a HUGE pile of driftwood in the middle of the tank. There were no caves by the way. My friend said they all lived in the driftwood and he found fry one day. He told me that he spawned all the fish in the tank by using peat water. He even keeps an Arowana in his tank and it is soft water....goes against the rules there. Anyway, this part is shocking, but he told me he changes out 90% of his water during water changes!!!
I don't know if he was kidding with me. But he is an older gent and seems like a lifelong fish head. He is known in the community that if you can't spawn a fish, take it to him and he'd do it!

Wow....

Question about those Endlers you had.....I have some too, but have not had them with Zebras yet. Did you find that they ate the Zebras' food? Did they leave it alone because they are so small? Did they act as dither fish? Just want to know if I should mix them.
User avatar
sharko
Groupie
Posts: 89
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:29 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by sharko »

du ma wrote:dang...i had dozens of anubias in my tank, 14 fish and no one touched it.

sharko, did you starve your fish?
No not on purpose anyway,i took it slow because the filter had only been running for 3 weeks without fish in the tank.
When i had 11 in the tank it was at first a little difficult to know how much food was enough...so i used the anubias plant as an indication, which is- if you think about it - not a bad idea.
Visit my home page and sign my guestbook:)
Adam
Moderator
Posts: 1604
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 2:50 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by Adam »

Hi Wandj, I hope that your zebras are ok now. That sounds right about the digestive enzyme celluase, If I remember correctly carnivores also produce the enzyme but in far smaller amounts than hebivores.

The story about your friends experience just goes to show how adaptable zebras can be. Perhaps we pamper our zebras too much.

Going back to zebras eating drift wood, there's no denying that they eat the stuff be it for roughage or other reasons. What perplexes me though is what do they eat for roughage in the wild as it is highly unlikely that they would come accross drift wood in the fast flowing waters of the xingu.

As for the endlers whilst I've had them for quite a while now I am yet to put them in with the zerbras. McEve seems to have no problems with them being in with her zebras. I would imagine that they would eat pretty much what the zebras do with the exception of frozen shrimp as that would probably be too big for them to handle. They are quite good little scavengers and are quite adept at picking food off the tank floor. I have also noticed that they graze on algae quite a bit which can't be a bad thing. Being so small I doubt that they would disturb the zebras at all and may infact be good dither fish, McEve would really be the one that can comment on this.
User avatar
McEve
Hypan-guru!
Posts: 2871
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:33 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by McEve »

I didn't find them to be good dither fish, but that might be because my group is quite a lot out and about anyway. Perhaps I'm spoiled that way :) Mine eat when the lights are on, and I can generally at any time see at least half the group.

However, the Zebras didn't mind the Endlers, and I don't have the impression that they took the food out of the Zebras mouth. They graze quite a lot on algae, as Adam say, they even eat brown algae.

I don't think we pamper the Zebras too much :D I think Wandj's friends Zebras only confirm how important it is with clean and well oxygenated water. With water changes as heavy as that he would have accompished this, although it wasn't mentioned how often he did the water changes?

Wouldn't there be roots on the river banks? That could be one possible place to find it..... They do seem to eat it if it's available, so I'll pamper them, what the Zebby wants the Zebby shall have! :lol:
Mindy
Mentally Certified!
Posts: 446
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:51 pm
Location: Bristol UK

Post by Mindy »

My endlers are in another tank and they do eat until everything is gone. But I haven't seen them in competition with any other fish. However, in the tank where my Zebras are now, there are 2 Honey Gouramis and 1 stray female guppy that came in with a plant. It's a standard sized, fancy guppy (variety unknown) and it is the greediest thing I have ever seen. She eats until I'm sure her sides are about to burst. :shock: She never stops, and I do wonder how much of the Zebs food she's eating. If she can see it, she'll eat it. Even if the tank lights are out and there's just a bit of light from the hallway shining in the room... it's enough, she'll keep on grazing. I don't know if Endlers are different to fancy guppies in this respect, but I thought I'd mention it anyway...
Post Reply