am i missing something?

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:14 pm

i have 7 adults in a 40 gallon tank. 2 male and 5 females. ive started the dry seasons two weeks ago. ive cut back on the feeding while i gradually increase the temperature up to 90 something degrees. i did not feed for the last 3 days of the dry season. and two days ago, i did a large RO water change and dropped the TDS from 470 to 270 ppm and from 90 something degrees to 83. yesterday i did a water change again and dropped the TDS to 190. all the zebras in the tank were well fed before the dry season started. females are plumped and fat. i have 3 caves in there, 2 made of the black slates that some of us use here and the other one is the ceramic light house that was was seen on one of the articles in planet catfish. the dominant male took the light house and the other male took the cave on the far side of the tank, a younger in the middle. there are currents going through in front of their cave, i did a few testings and the water is clean. i still dont see any sign of spawning activities. did i missed something? any opinions or sugestions? i can post a picture of the tank later and tell me if im doing something wrong.

im also goign to continue with the water changes tonight to see if anything might occur.

is 20 gallons too small to house 7 zebras? what if proper filtration is provided?

thanks

Post by **Barbie** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:32 am

It took me 8 months of that stuff, with redecorating, different temp fluctuations, more food, less food, you name it before my fish finally did anything. I had them in a 20 with no results. When I moved them up into the 40 gallon long (basically two 20s in length), they spawned within a few weeks. I also have a pair in a 20 that spawned though, so don't give up hope. I don't know exactly which trigger worked for them, as it doesn't seem to be quite the same as with the L260.

The waiting, thinking your fish might be sexually challenged or something is the hardest part. Keep in mind it's IMPERATIVE the caves are the right shape and size so the male can hold the female inside to prove he's a fit parent.

Barbie

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:47 am

It took me over a year, i tryed everything.

When it finally happend, it was over tree weeks since the last waterchange.

The waithing is the worst. I went tru i all, starting to belive that something is wrong with the tank, the caves, the food, the cycling and finally starting to think you dont have both genders. And then when you have got an ulcer and forgot all about it, it happens

Regards

Tom

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:53 am

Sounds like they might need two or three weeks with steady parameters and a little less food after the "Rainseason" before they start?

I was also doing rainyseason, changing and moving their caves so forth, for over 6 months. I then took a breather and left well enough alone, and it took 1 week before they started. Three things happened at the same time, the PH dropped in the tap water, I put a new cave in, and I removed one powerhead. I had other things to think about the pursuing week, and that's when it happened.

Ed_R · Post by **Ed_R** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 12:54 am

Barry White and romantic lighting. A good bottle of fine wine might work too. And if that doesn't try tequila and some ZZTop;)

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:54 am

haha...i actually drew a picture of a male with babies behind him for some motivation.

ill save the alcohol for my self if everything else fails

McEve,
i read an article on plecofanatic on stimulating the raining season. it said to feed less when the temperatures are high and feed heavy when stimulating the rain. can you tell us your process of stimulating the drought and rain?? im hearing different things from different people.

thanks...

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:47 am

Hi du ma,

I don't think the process, and what triggers the spawn is fully documented, or even found yet. That's probably why there's different opinions and documentations of this process.

What I did was heavy water changes with colder water, the temp was down to 24C after each water change. I left the heater on, so the temp would rise to 29 during the night. I also had a 1200L pr/h powerhead in addition to the filtration. I then stopped the water changes and removed the powerhead, and a week later they spawned. I didn't make any changes in how often I fed them, or how much.

It's also worth mentioning that the tapwater suddenly dropped in PH at the end of the period where I did heavy water changes, and two new caves were introduced.

What the trigger was I'm really not sure of, so I will do some experiments to see if it's possible to find what makes my group spawn, but I do believe they need a period with a stable enviroment after all the "fuzzing" before they spawn.

Several people have reported that they spawned a week or two after they had given up trying to make them. My interpretation of this is rather that they got the stable period they need before spawning - but I might be wrong in concluding this of course! I've been wrong before

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:07 pm

Hi Duma,

Sounds like you are doing everything possible to stimulate them. I too was doing the same thing a couple of months ago and nothing was happening. I then left them alone for a while and a couple of males took up residence in two of my caves. One is still in his cave and I haven't seen him come out of it once. He has been visited by a few females and there appears to be a queue of females forming on his doorstep. I'm not too sure what's happening or has happened due to the position of the cave I can't see inside.

I had the terrible habit of tinkering with things which was probably disturbing them. I try to leave things alone as much as possible now.

Give it time mate it will happen

.

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:54 pm

one more thing that i also notice is that the same females are always around the same males, sometimes i see them in and out of the males cave but nothing happens

Tariq · Post by **Tariq** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:48 pm

http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Hzebra.html

maybe some tips here.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:29 pm

Duma,

Looks like your zebras are sizing each other up, sounds like the females are trying to decide on a suitable partner. How long has this behaviour been going on? It's pretty much the same story with my lot too, looks like the females can be really fussy. I've noticed that some females will only stay in the male's cave for a few hours whilst others can stay for days.

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:48 pm

the females were like this at lease 2 months ago, even after i moved them to a 40 gal, they stayed around the same male. last week, a female was in the cave for 2 days but in the outter part of the cave

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:01 pm

The females can be very picky, and not always follow what the hierarchy says they should. I have one female that insists on going to the subdominant male. She stays in his cave for two - three days before she goes to the dominant male to lay the eggs.

I think she's in love with the subdominant, and would much prefer to be with him, but realize that the eggs won't survive if she doesn't lay them in the alphas cave