What the h... is happening

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 8:03 pm

First of all i am not giving up, just got started

The reason why i took the eggs, is that he didnt show them any inntrest at all, in fact it looked like they annoyed him.
In the future i will leave the eggs with the male.

Is it possible to see if the eggs are fertile ?

Regards

Tom

zebra046 · Post by **zebra046** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:52 am

is there a possibility that you have two males breeding, and two females breeding the first spawn is from the alpha male and the second spawn is the beta male with the second female, that got rejected when it tried to spawn with the first male, as soon as you swiped the fry out, the male went and took over the beta males eggs, this is normally what happens in my tank and the easiest way to avoid this is to take the alpha male out until the 2nd batch have hatched and collected or you can just move the eggs to the alpha males cave and he will take care of the eggs till they hatch,the only reason why I dont often do this is to give the fish a rest from his egg watch and also he has a bigger tendency of eating the eggs because he is starving and was bothered, if its a good male you wont have any problem.
eggs are normally slightly yellow and clear

congratulation, your patience finally paid off

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:04 pm

I dont think i have 2 males breeding, because i have not seen any other male involved.
The thing is that the 2 biggest males that i will call the alpha and the beta male, are not ivolved in spawning at all.
The one that had both spawns are a smaller male.

I removed the fry cave after he had left it for the other cave, so i think it was his spawn.
My teori by looking at the eggs are that the eggs were no god, and thats why he removed them from his first cave and at last rejected them.
I have seen a lot of ancistrus and pleco eggs and these eggs looked ruined.

is there a possibility that the female have had the eggs to long and that they were ruined already before they were laid ?

My other teori for the alpha and the beta mail is that they are to fat and lacy, because they are really fat almost to big to fit in their caves.
Is this possible ?

Regards

Tom

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:45 pm

Hi Tom

This is excellent, despite some small teathing problems sound like your zebras are well on their way to successful spawns. The problems you are experiencing sound just like an inexperienced fish. Firstly, the male must learn how to fertilise the eggs, so the sheer fact that some the first spawn hatched is excellent.

The second spawn in the next cave, was probably induced by the female, and therefore the male fealt harrased, or intimidated, thus not fertilising the new batch.

As for his husbandry, I wouldn't worry about it, he is obviously eager enough, just a little inexpereinced. The first spawns from one of my males was kicked around the tank for 2 days before I finally managed to save a couple and only one hatched!!

Keep smiling Tom, despite being very , very frustrating, you are past the hardest bit. Oh.. guess what... it doesn't get any less exciting or nailbiting. When I got my fist fry I was absolutely extatic, however I still get disaponted if even one egg doesn't hatch or I loose a fry!

Keep smiling!!!

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:50 pm

Rob wrote:Hi Tom

This is excellent, despite some small teathing problems sound like your zebras are well on their way to successful spawns. The problems you are experiencing sound just like an inexperienced fish. Firstly, the male must learn how to fertilise the eggs, so the sheer fact that some the first spawn hatched is excellent.

The second spawn in the next cave, was probably induced by the female, and therefore the male fealt harrased, or intimidated, thus not fertilising the new batch.

As for his husbandry, I wouldn't worry about it, he is obviously eager enough, just a little inexpereinced. The first spawns from one of my males was kicked around the tank for 2 days before I finally managed to save a couple and only one hatched!!

Keep smiling Tom, despite being very , very frustrating, you are past the hardest bit. Oh.. guess what... it doesn't get any less exciting or nailbiting. When I got my fist fry I was absolutely extatic, however I still get disaponted if even one egg doesn't hatch or I loose a fry!

Keep smiling!!!

Hi Rob

If you look out the window you will se my smile

i am so extatic that i have not sleept for 4 days, and when i finally get to sleep i dream about zebras

Regards

Tom

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:46 pm

Just a little follow up !

The eggs i tok was ruined.

But 2 days later they spawned again, i dont know how many, but i have counted at least 5 soon ready to leave the cave.

Last night they spawned again, same male and same cave. Saw a nice eggclutch this morning.
I think this male is the real cassanova, have seen several of the females sneaking around his cave for days, just wating for him to let them in.

I am a bit worried for him not being outside the cave for over a month now, but i guess he would not have let them in if he was to hungry.

Regards

Tom

fishboy20 · Post by **fishboy20** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:55 am

So Tom, any news on the fry and adult situation? Thank god they know what is going on eh?

Rob replied

Keep smiling Tom, despite being very , very frustrating, you are past the hardest bit. Oh.. guess what... it doesn't get any less exciting or nailbiting. When I got my fist fry I was absolutely extatic, however I still get disaponted if even one egg doesn't hatch or I loose a fry!

That says it all. Getting a spawn gets me excited all over again each and every time. I am extatic over this new spawn just like the spawns previously. I have a new female and male that are spawning and picked up the place of where the old colony that I lost in a move did. I am certainly grateful to see eggs and fry again in my tanks.

For a while there I didn't think I would ever breed these fish again. Now that they have, I am always going to have these guys swimming in my tanks I think. At this point I am probably going to setup more tanks for them so they have plenty of growing room (not that 2 65 gallon tanks was enough anyways). Maybe one day I will have my fishroom filled with zebras.

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:37 am

My 6th spawn hatched monday

Out of six spawns, five where successfull, giving beetween 3-6 living fry each.

Have now about 20 live fry reaching from 1.5 - 2,5 cm.

Have lost in total 4 of the hatched fry

but i guess that is part of the game.

Same male on all six spawns, but at least 2 females involved.

The bigger males in the tank seems not intrested in spawning, and will not let the females inside.

Nice to see that you are back in the game, hope it all goes well for you.
I altso have plans for a fish room, and i have 7 tanks just waiting.
But the plans always gets postponed, but i hope it will be ready before next winter.

Regards

Tom

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:53 am

Congrats on your recent spawning success Tom

.

I too have noticed that the bigger males don't seem to be that interested in the females, I wonder if they be may be too old to breed. I have a male that is half the size of the two biggest males and he is very sexually active, he has trapped at least three different females in his cave so far. I hope that he stops practising soon and gets down to business.

Better get cracking on that fish house, at this rate you will be needing it well before winter.

Well done

.

Adam

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:11 am

Thanks Adam !

The last 2-3 months has been hectic, but fun.

Yesterday i was wondering if the zebras had a better sexlife than me, and my wifes reply was: They definatly has a better sexlife and gets more attention than me

Maybe its time to give the wifey some loving and leave the zebras alone for a while

Regards

Tom

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:51 pm

It probably would be best to pay the wife some more attention, it is pretty easy to get caught up with the zebras I often do it myself

.
My wife's pet hate is that more often than not I go straight to my tanks when I get home and not her. She complains that she is a zebra widow and that she and the kids come a sorry second to the fish

.

Adam

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:12 pm

Oh lord... I can see I have this all to come.

I wake up in the morning and park my half alseep self in front of the tank to stare at the Zebs to see them out and about. And the same at night. I feed them with the lights on and watch for a while and then turn the lights out and watch for while. I must spend at least an hour and a half either fussing with the tank or just sitting on the floor staring into it, poised with my camera, just in case... It's weird how obsessiveness just creeps up on you...

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:31 pm

Mindy, just another 12 posts and you will be officially branded as Obsessed!!

Shell231 · Post by **Shell231** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:02 pm

I like to think i am obsessed and i only have 1! lol i have reasd this whole thread i was wondering tom seems to me you got 6 spawns rather fast! how u manage that! or am i wrong and they were further apart? what was the time between spawns?

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:51 pm

I just dont know how i manage, the male is a sexfreak

6 spaws since 23/1-2005, second spaws was kicked out of the cave same day they where laid, i think it was all bad eggs. The next day a new female was in the cave.

It know it is 2 maybe 3 females spawning with the same male.

When one spawn is hatched, he waits 1-4 days and then he lets in a new female, so there are constanly eggs and fry in his cave.
usually it is between 5-9 eggs and between 3-6 surviving fry.
A have not seen the male outside the cave more than once since 23/1-2005

Regards

Tom