Hi, all, I would like some advice.
I purchased two zebras 2 months ago and lost them within 3 days. The water was tested and I acclimatised them prior to adding them to my community tank which had been running for 9 months with no problems.
No other fish were affected but the two zebras died on the third day. I returned to the LFS who once again checked the water and the nitrite read .01ppm which was enough to have killed them. The LFS kindly agreed to replace one of them and I have had him for one month and he is looking great.
I have now reserved a second zebra and he is very small, I will be adding an additional filter prior to bringing him home to ensure stability of the water, but is there anything else I can do to ensure I don't lose another one (at £100 a time = who said this hobby wasn't expensive!!!)
Also: I am concerned that my current zebra isn't getting enough food (probably why I had the Nitrite spike in the first place) as he is competing with 10 cory, 2 yo yo loaches, 3 plecos, gouramis etc. Is there anything I can do to make sure he actually gets some of the blood worm/flake/tubifex I feed the tank. The food has gone within the minute!!!
Also: I am currently cycling a 70 litre - is this big enough for Zebras and, if so how many would you recommend. I know this will take about 3-4 months to fully mature. (Juwel internal filter and Eheim external filter)
Advice, please
Hi Seahorse,
Welcome to the forum.
One way of ensuring your zebra gets enough food is to partition the tank with a tank divider. Another way is to put some food into a receptacle like a clay plant pot saucer near his hideaway just before lights out. You could do this quite easily by puting a piece of uplift tube through some polystyrene then floating it, with one end in the saucer. The food then can be dropped through the top end. Any extra can then be removed the next day, if the others havent eaten it by then.
Your 70 litre should be ok for a few zebras. I use a 50 litre for breeding.
What method are you using to cycle your 70 litre tank?. If you put some of your "cheaper" fish in there together with a weekly dose of CYCLE you will find that it has fully cycled within a few short weeks.
Your external filter should be fine for this tank. Recently a friend who has a 300ltr Jewel tank and Jewel internal filter called me in a panic, saying all his fish were in a bad state. When I went round there, and after doing a few checks , found that a lot of blood worm had been sucked into the internal filter and had gone bad , thereby polluting the tank. If you are careful please use it , but be aware of this scenario.
One very important point is that Zebras prefer a warmer temp of approx 84 F rather than the 75-77F a normal community tank is kept at.
They would be much happier in their own warmer tank or possibly with some peaceful "playmates". I have mine in a bare bottomed tank with some Corys and Rams. Once you have them in their own tank and if fed during the day , they will get used to this and come out in the open more often.
Regards,
Des.
Welcome to the forum.
One way of ensuring your zebra gets enough food is to partition the tank with a tank divider. Another way is to put some food into a receptacle like a clay plant pot saucer near his hideaway just before lights out. You could do this quite easily by puting a piece of uplift tube through some polystyrene then floating it, with one end in the saucer. The food then can be dropped through the top end. Any extra can then be removed the next day, if the others havent eaten it by then.
Your 70 litre should be ok for a few zebras. I use a 50 litre for breeding.
What method are you using to cycle your 70 litre tank?. If you put some of your "cheaper" fish in there together with a weekly dose of CYCLE you will find that it has fully cycled within a few short weeks.
Your external filter should be fine for this tank. Recently a friend who has a 300ltr Jewel tank and Jewel internal filter called me in a panic, saying all his fish were in a bad state. When I went round there, and after doing a few checks , found that a lot of blood worm had been sucked into the internal filter and had gone bad , thereby polluting the tank. If you are careful please use it , but be aware of this scenario.
One very important point is that Zebras prefer a warmer temp of approx 84 F rather than the 75-77F a normal community tank is kept at.
They would be much happier in their own warmer tank or possibly with some peaceful "playmates". I have mine in a bare bottomed tank with some Corys and Rams. Once you have them in their own tank and if fed during the day , they will get used to this and come out in the open more often.
Regards,
Des.
Des, thanks for your reply.
Intreresting about the problem with the blood worm being trapped in the Juwel filter - the sponges don't seem to trap the muck evenly, when I clean it out it seems to be in clumps, perhaps this could be my problem. When I have the new Eheim 2224 set up and matured I should feel a bit more confident about it. At the moment, when I clean the internal filter media in tank water it takes another week to settle down and I think this is were my problem arose. I also think the tank is at it's limit with it's inhabitants and, together, with me being nervous about the new zebras not getting enough food I probably overfed slightly. (Trigon 190 litre)
What do you feed your zebras on, I find the blood worm (which I defrost) just float all over the place and very few are left to settle on the bottom for the zebra. I also feed flake and I am not sure whether the zebra is interested in this as they are omnivores.
Thanks for info regarding feeding, do you use this for blood worm?
The filter I have ordered for the 70 litre is an Eheim 2213 - do you think that this will be OK together with the internal Juwel?
Intreresting about the problem with the blood worm being trapped in the Juwel filter - the sponges don't seem to trap the muck evenly, when I clean it out it seems to be in clumps, perhaps this could be my problem. When I have the new Eheim 2224 set up and matured I should feel a bit more confident about it. At the moment, when I clean the internal filter media in tank water it takes another week to settle down and I think this is were my problem arose. I also think the tank is at it's limit with it's inhabitants and, together, with me being nervous about the new zebras not getting enough food I probably overfed slightly. (Trigon 190 litre)
What do you feed your zebras on, I find the blood worm (which I defrost) just float all over the place and very few are left to settle on the bottom for the zebra. I also feed flake and I am not sure whether the zebra is interested in this as they are omnivores.
Thanks for info regarding feeding, do you use this for blood worm?
The filter I have ordered for the 70 litre is an Eheim 2213 - do you think that this will be OK together with the internal Juwel?
Des,
Forgot to answer your query regarding the cycling of the 70 litre - I have transferred 7 danios from the Rio 240 (they have been used for cycling 5 tanks so far and still going strong) and will add Nutrifin Cycle (in stock) as you suggest which should speed things up. I shall test after a few days and as soon as I see the ammonia going up, in the past I have done a 10% daily water change (more if necessary) so the fish aren't stressed.
Forgot to answer your query regarding the cycling of the 70 litre - I have transferred 7 danios from the Rio 240 (they have been used for cycling 5 tanks so far and still going strong) and will add Nutrifin Cycle (in stock) as you suggest which should speed things up. I shall test after a few days and as soon as I see the ammonia going up, in the past I have done a 10% daily water change (more if necessary) so the fish aren't stressed.
hi Seahorse,
Regarding feeding, I have used that feeding idea in the past, but since I use bare bottomed tanks for my plecs now, I just throw the food in . If you just put the FROZEN blood worm into the tank, or through the tube, it WILL sink.
I use a lot of different foods. Do you want the list ? Well you asked for it !!!!
JMC high protein food ( with the yellow lid)
JMC catfish pellets
Zm protein (ZM 400)granules (obtainable mail order direct from ZM foods)
Tetra prima
JBL Novo plecochips ( has woodfibre)
Sera Viformo tablet food
Sera Spirulina tablet food
Hikari Algae wafers
Hikari Sinking wafers
King British Tropical flake
Frozen bloodworm ( very occasionally)
Frozen home made mix ( my adaptation of McEves Norwegian Plecfood recipe :- 2 lbs frozen prawns( without shells) , 2 lbs frozen mussels, 1 lb frozen spinach and 2 partly boiled carrots. Defrost and put through a food processor until very fine. Then put into plastic bags, flatten and freeze.
I use the JMC high protein food and my home frozen food mix on a daily basis, and the rest occasionally.
In my 25 gal tank, I use a Aquaclear 301 powerhead with venturi running an undergravel,in a partitioned part of the tank, using Hortag (clay balls). This powerhead is rated at 127 US gal p/h. I am not sure of the rating for the Eheim.Since zebras, like well oxygenated water , it might be advisable to have the spray bar above the water level or use an airstone.
When I use an external filter, I use a coarse sponge on the inlet to prevent food being sucked in.
One bit of advice. If you add the Cycle directly into the filter media rather than into the water, it will work a lot better.
What is the temp of the tank with your zebra?.
Sorry for the long post.
Regards,
Des.
Regarding feeding, I have used that feeding idea in the past, but since I use bare bottomed tanks for my plecs now, I just throw the food in . If you just put the FROZEN blood worm into the tank, or through the tube, it WILL sink.
I use a lot of different foods. Do you want the list ? Well you asked for it !!!!
JMC high protein food ( with the yellow lid)
JMC catfish pellets
Zm protein (ZM 400)granules (obtainable mail order direct from ZM foods)
Tetra prima
JBL Novo plecochips ( has woodfibre)
Sera Viformo tablet food
Sera Spirulina tablet food
Hikari Algae wafers
Hikari Sinking wafers
King British Tropical flake
Frozen bloodworm ( very occasionally)
Frozen home made mix ( my adaptation of McEves Norwegian Plecfood recipe :- 2 lbs frozen prawns( without shells) , 2 lbs frozen mussels, 1 lb frozen spinach and 2 partly boiled carrots. Defrost and put through a food processor until very fine. Then put into plastic bags, flatten and freeze.
I use the JMC high protein food and my home frozen food mix on a daily basis, and the rest occasionally.
In my 25 gal tank, I use a Aquaclear 301 powerhead with venturi running an undergravel,in a partitioned part of the tank, using Hortag (clay balls). This powerhead is rated at 127 US gal p/h. I am not sure of the rating for the Eheim.Since zebras, like well oxygenated water , it might be advisable to have the spray bar above the water level or use an airstone.
When I use an external filter, I use a coarse sponge on the inlet to prevent food being sucked in.
One bit of advice. If you add the Cycle directly into the filter media rather than into the water, it will work a lot better.
What is the temp of the tank with your zebra?.
Sorry for the long post.
Regards,
Des.
Hi Des,
WOW, what a selection of food, I can see I shall have to do some research - I have never heard of the JMC variety. I have been told that Zebras don't eat flake although mine seems to - I only feed the community tank with blood worm 2-3 times a week, the rest of the time mainly Flake and the zebra is out and about and hopefully eating it.
On the 70 litre I will have the internal filter which is 300L/hr and with the additional filter at 390L/hr, for additional oxygen I have the new Haden Ario - do you see this as being adequate for the Zebras.
I have never heard of putting the Cycle directly into the filter although I will certainly do that to help the cycle.
The temperature of the community tank is currently at 80 although I will increase this heat to about 84 in the 70 litre.
The current zebra is obviously quite happy in a very busy community tank as he/she is out and about a lot of the time.
I have to pick the new one up in approx. 2 weeks although I am waiting for the new filters to arrive so I shall leave it as long as possible.l
WOW, what a selection of food, I can see I shall have to do some research - I have never heard of the JMC variety. I have been told that Zebras don't eat flake although mine seems to - I only feed the community tank with blood worm 2-3 times a week, the rest of the time mainly Flake and the zebra is out and about and hopefully eating it.
On the 70 litre I will have the internal filter which is 300L/hr and with the additional filter at 390L/hr, for additional oxygen I have the new Haden Ario - do you see this as being adequate for the Zebras.
I have never heard of putting the Cycle directly into the filter although I will certainly do that to help the cycle.
The temperature of the community tank is currently at 80 although I will increase this heat to about 84 in the 70 litre.
The current zebra is obviously quite happy in a very busy community tank as he/she is out and about a lot of the time.
I have to pick the new one up in approx. 2 weeks although I am waiting for the new filters to arrive so I shall leave it as long as possible.l
Hi Seahorse,
Most of the LFS in London have the JMC foods. ( and the foods are cheap too )Mail order companies stock them too. They are made by JMC aquatics ltd,59 Stubley lane, Dronfield,Derbyshire, S18 1PG. I had bought some Sturisomas from a contact on Aquarist classified some time ago. He recommended the JMC High Protein fish food and all my fish especially the plecs love the stuff including the vegetarians !!!!!!.
Some on here already use the new bubblers. A friend of mine uses one, but its keeps on getting clogged up with sand and stops working, as he has a lot of large cichlids that move the sand about. But your set up should be fine.
Your other alternative is to fit a Eheim venturi on the end of your output from the external filter.
Don't the Juwel internal filters come with an inbuilt venturi ?or maybe just the larger ones.It it does, this should be sufficient.
Regards,
Des.
Regards,
Des.
Most of the LFS in London have the JMC foods. ( and the foods are cheap too )Mail order companies stock them too. They are made by JMC aquatics ltd,59 Stubley lane, Dronfield,Derbyshire, S18 1PG. I had bought some Sturisomas from a contact on Aquarist classified some time ago. He recommended the JMC High Protein fish food and all my fish especially the plecs love the stuff including the vegetarians !!!!!!.
Some on here already use the new bubblers. A friend of mine uses one, but its keeps on getting clogged up with sand and stops working, as he has a lot of large cichlids that move the sand about. But your set up should be fine.
Your other alternative is to fit a Eheim venturi on the end of your output from the external filter.
Don't the Juwel internal filters come with an inbuilt venturi ?or maybe just the larger ones.It it does, this should be sufficient.
Regards,
Des.
Regards,
Des.
