ZebraPleco.com • The complete Hypancistrus zebra resource

Here is that female again. I still think she is very pretty. Too bad.

Last time you'll see her. I also have another male that is not as severe as the other male, but bad enough.

The female could pass as kind of cute, but that male is not pretty!

Don't they use/need their snoute for anything? It don't look healthy, and I wouldn't be surpised if the function of the nostrils are adversely affected either.

Awful

I am still too new with Zebras. I did see the defomity when I got them home. I've had them for 3 months now. Don't tell me that crooked fins is a non-breeding fish too? He sold me lots of those too. Sigh. Maybe I should just flush them all.

I am going to post another weird fish. No snub nose, but different. Wait, I'll be right back...

Thats quite severe.

Does the male have problems eating at all?

rob

Here it is. I don't know if it is a male or female. Any guesses? Now, should it breed? Too much black? I can also post pic of fish with really crappy fins. Should I bother?

Hi Rob. I think he is eating just fine. He is healthy looking and no sunken tummy.

wandj wrote:Here it is. I don't know if it is a male or female. Any guesses? Now, should it breed? Too much black? I can also post pic of fish with really crappy fins. Should I bother?

I don't think too much black qualifies as no-breeder This must be very hard for you wandj, you were so happy to get hold of a nice group, and then it turns out the breeder wasn't .... picky..? about what kind of fish he sold you.

Don't flush them, enjoy them as long as they're living a normal life. As you say, the girl is pretty too!

And you did get a few that is just fine as well didn't you? I for one can't see anything wrong with the male (?) you posted a pic of last

Thanks McEve.

It is really frustrating to realize, now that I know better, that I got a load of crap. I still spent a huge amount of money. And I don't have the heart to flush anything (that'd be cruel). I only put one fish down once because it got fungus so bad it lost its mouth (Checkered Bard). So I already have a few defective fish swimming around my community tanks. One Rainbow with a really crooked body for example. So long as they're not in pain. But I sure the heck wouldn't SELL these things to anybody. Heck, shouldn't even give them away just to make sure some fool does not try to breed them. So I am quite disappointed. But the warning stands.....WATCH OUT FOR CAPTIVE BRED FISH!!!!

Think of it this way, why would a breeder get rid of the good stuff?

Hi Wandj

I tend to agree with Mceve on this one. I do not see any problem with breeding with thelast zebra. The clour pigmentation is slightly unusual, but not something that could (as far as I could imagine) have an adverse affect on the physiological properties of any offspring. Unlike the shortened head, which must reduce the fish's ability to function properly.

Your position on this is very admirably Wandj.

On that note, Mceve, you could have stumbed on something there.

If this shortening of the snout affects the oflactory response then the fish would be slightly less able to sence danger. i.e fight or flight! If this was the case, then then fry in the wild would not survive predation, hence no wild caught adults with the deformity. This variable does not however exist in captivity, therefore the young can survive a perfectly normal life.

Hmmmm..just a thought..........

I would rather say: watch out for breeders with no sense of integrity. A serious breeder wouldn't sell fish that has deformities, be it Zebra or Angels or whatnot.

I'm sure you wouldn't get disformed Zebra's if you bought from Barbie or Rob or any other breeder that loves and know a bit about the Zebra, and I know I would never sell any deformed fish either.

I understand it's not unusual that a batch of fry from any fish has a few fry with deformities, it happens in nature, and it will happen with tank raised fish.

Show us the other fish you bought from this breeder, I'm sure there will be quite a few you can use for breeding

How many did you buy from him? And I think I would let him know about this when you see him again. If he's serious at all he will take it to heart and give you replacements. Maybe he didn't know.

But that doesn't explain why Rob's first fry was a bulldog face. I understand that one egg was hatched in a frytrap?

And... if it's an injury, why do they all have the flat part right in front? You'd think some got the run-in-the-dresser-face from the side, or at an angle as well?

Anyway, better safe than sorry, so as long as we do not know what is causing this, injury or genetics, then better not breed them IMO

Hi Again.

I've been trying to split this post to anew topic to amalgamate it with the other similar post but unfortunately I get an "Invalid Session", so I will try again later.

I have done a little reading, and it would appear that hte "nostril" alongside the lateral lines have ahuge impact on how well the fish identify food, conditions, and danger.

If this is the case, then would it not make sense for the zebras with such deformities to slightly less able to differencitate between safe and dangerous environments. Thus making them more succestible to predators etc.

This would explain why there were no real occurences of these deformities in the wild. As suggested previously, they do not live to maturity.

Fish reared in a captive environment however do not have a predation and can therefore continue normal growth.

If this was the case, then it could be a relatively common mutation independant of environmental conditions.

this does nto answer the question of why, but would explain why they are not found in the wild.

Rob

I think that's a very reasonable explanation, Rob. THough I bet SOME are in the wild, they just aren't FOUND;)
Similar hypotheses are used for explaining the rarity in teh wild of licisitic and albino animals of any species- weak eyesight and no camoflauge make for a short lifespan if you're a prey animal. I would imagine that a weak sense of smell and a weak 'sonar' system would be just as tragic.