Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh - I can't do this anymore...

[INXS]

A canuck eh?
So now I need to wear a helmet and watch out for hockeysticks and pucks too?

Yes the angel thing is problematic, it seem the instincts have been bred out of them after decades of captive spawning.
I wish you well and if these guys get the hang of childrearing maybe I can help redistribute these fish.

Maybe he is just very randy and has figured out a way of being able to shag on a more consistent basis ?

[Adam]

Adam, thanks, it helps to get this feedback as I have read the breeder register and feel like a dunce having had 6 spawns and only 2 fry
How many spawns have you had and how many fry?

It just seems like it was such a long wait to get them to finally spawn and now that they are spawning I'm extatic but yet there are no/very few offspring.

I wlll work on rectifying the problem, BTW the hormball is on another batch of eggs

Adam - I know you didn't really disclose the amount of zebras , etc, but I'm curious as to what you have set up?
Are you getting different males spawning within the same tank ? Is it a big tank? Or are there several colonies? And if so how big are they?
THanks

Hi INXS,

Sharing experiences is what the forum is all about and if I can save you some of the heart ache that I have gone through then that's good enough for me.

Until recently I had only managed to raise 22 fry from 10 spawns, pretty poor. However the last two spawns have resulted in 24 surviving fry, two spawns by the same male back to back, the total fry to date is 46. I just lost 9 eggs to fungus yesterday, a first time spawner in another tank left his eggs. I really wouldn't worry too much about your success rate for the time being, the male will get the hang of things eventually, I'm sure of it. My first 2 spawns resulted in no fry so don't be too hard on yourself.

I currently have four tanks setup for the zebras, soon to be five. Three of the tanks contain breeding groups and one is a grow out tank for the babies. The tank that is producing all the spawns at the moment contains 13 zebras, did have 14 originally but one of the males was killed. Of the 13 fish 3 are definite males 5 are definite females as I have observed them spawning. The remaining fish are juveniles that I can't sex. The tank is a 380 litre Rena filtered by an eheim 2128 thermo, Rena XP3 and Eheim Aquaball internal filter. I also have a Hydor Ario 4 in there for supplementary aeration and a Maxijet 1100 power head for current. There is also a Rena air pump installed for aeration in the breeding traps. All the current in this tank flows in one direction. My other tank setups are very similar with the exception of the grow out tank. I haven't had different males spawn in the same tank and doubt that I will. My second Rena tank setup has just started to show spawning activity, thats where I just lost the spawn of 9 eggs and I noticed that the same male has another female trapped today. The third group shows no real spawning activity other than the occassional sleep over. They just sit around eat, ****, get fat and have the occasional tank riot.

Sorry to ramble on but I hope this helps as I believe you're planning a new setup for your zebras.

Regards.

Adam

[INXS]

Adam,
thank you very much for the detailed description, it helps tremendously.

THe 22 fry outof 10 spawns makes me feel better and hold out hope.

I have my group in a much smaller tank - 30 gal or about 120 litre. It ended up that way as I had them spread on 3 tanks ranging from 80 litre to 220 litre and there was no activity - I decided to stick them all together in the middle tank as I had read about migratory behaviour at spawning and large groupings - it apparently worked in the end.

I also had 14 to start and had a male killed so now they are 13 plus the two fry that are looking good.

The two different scenarios I'm contemplating are either moving them all up to either a 160 litre, 300 litre or 500 litre the other scenario would be to leave them be since they are doing well and only split them up when they get to about 20-25 fish total so I would have 2 colonies with 10-12 fish each and split the adults apart. I have come to believe that they need to be in a group to actually spawn.

I also have no real idea on the sex ratio on my fish but I know there is at least one male and one female. I would guess about 50/50 maybe a few more females.
THanks again!

[NetsuaiAngel]

NetsuaiAngel,
"anytime you're visiting Vegas! - a years worth of massage" ?? Say - you're not working at the "Bunnyfarm" are you??

Now now

The bunny farm is in Parumph, which is about an hour away from Vegas. There's a lot more to Vegas than just "The Strip" of casinos and nightclubs

I'll take you to our indoor rock gym. That's fun! Very bouncy floor mats!

Thanks for the details of your setups. It definately gives great insight!

[jerms55555]

I just wanted to drop in and say GOOD JOB Adam!!!! I havent been around, busy with work and all!!! Its the busy season of Academy Awards and Im off designing !!!! Well anyways good job Adam!!! So what are you doing different now than you were doing before?? Do you think they just settled in? Or did you change your water parameters?? I dont mean to steal your post INXS....