ZebraPleco.com • The complete Hypancistrus zebra resource

When you freeze the food it's very important to make sure there are no airbubbles in the mix. Be very thourough when you pat the mix flat inside the plastic bag.

John wrote:I like to be in the middle of that at 30 degrees.
I don't think it's healthy in the long run to keep your fish constant higher then 30 degrees, because their metabolism works faster at this temperature and probably decreases their lifespan.
It's ok for a little while (around 6 months max) to get your fish eating, after that i think you should lower your temperature.

Sorry John, got it wrong !
I have to admitt, i have been caught up in getting my zebras to breed and 32 degrees is a good temperature for conditioning them to breed, but after reading "Datz - All Numbers", section on "Keeping And Breeding L Numbers" (P-18to20), what they say about plecos that like warmer than usual water, is basically what John said.

@ Andrew: you should read this one to (everybody should):

http://www.datz.de/GHIZ2DH6qAnAaEIZ2DHA ... BF1C213C8C

http://www.datz.de/Vorlagen/Webapp/Cach ... _63213.PDF

If you can read german and can afford a DATZ membership it's the best infosource on (new)L-numbers, breeding and aquaristic info you can get.

As for the temperature issue, i visited a german breeder who keeps his whole stock at 30 degrees and has about 500! youngsters a year for sale.
All fish healthy breeding and youngsters very good growing.
As breeding stopped with his fish he lowered his temperature for a little while and brought it back up together with a big waterchange and they would start again like clockwork.
What was very interesting was his water, it came from a private well.
I hear several stories of people with very succesfull breeding programs who have a private well, so maybe the purity of this water has something to do with their succes.

I keep mine at 29.5C and they're breeding and seem to be quite content. I've found that clean water is of the outmost imprtance to the Zebra, more than any other parameter.

About well water. Not all well water is clean, some wells have bore water which would kill the Zebra immediately. Sounds like the breeder you have visited is very lucky with his well water

Just wanted to point that out so that everybody don't rush out to get well water for their zebbies

McEve wrote: About well water. Not all well water is clean, some wells have bore water which would kill the Zebra immediately. Sounds like the breeder you have visited is very lucky with his well water

Ofcourse you must have a very clean well to use this, but if you have a well like that i think it is an advantage, it is water "cleaned" by nature not the city tap water with chlorids and other chemicals in it like i and many other people have.