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4th and 5th Spawn

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:04 pm
by UKCHRIS
Hi All,

Just wanted to report 4th and 5th Spawns.

The same two males as last time, alpha and the second male...

This makes it Alphas 3rd Spawn and the other males 2nd Spawn. 5 babies got kicked out and they are in a trap all others are in the caves with the dads.

No idea how many babies I have in the tank now, but I try to sneak a peak in the dark with a small light and I can see different sized babies which is hopefully a good sign! :D

Re: 4th and 5th Spawn

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:29 am
by TwoTankAmin
Yes it sure is.

Now here is your next problem. All of your increasing numbers of zebras are in one tank. If anything goes wrong in that tank you could lose most or all of them. At some point you are going to need another tank for them so you can spread out the fry to protect against this. It was what I had to do years back. Today I am using 3 tanks.

Re: 4th and 5th Spawn

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:00 pm
by UKCHRIS
Thanks TTA. I have already started thinking about this, in keen to start expanding :)

However my big concern right now is that my alpha male looks Knackered, this is his 3rd in row, and he looks a bit pinkish and also this morning has a big chunk out of his tale!

I'm thinking maybe I should empty his cave into a trap so he can take a break and maybe eat, but don't want to stress him out even more - he is my pride and joy!

Any advice TTA?

Re: 4th and 5th Spawn

Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:02 pm
by TwoTankAmin
I developed a method early on with bn that were spawning in a community tank where the released fry quickly became lunch. I was trying to save the fry when I discovered this method. In order to save the fry the easiest way was to pull the entire cave with dad and the fry to another tank. I tried to do this fairly close to the fry being free swimming.

I would then wait for the fry to come out of the cave before wanting to move it and and dad back. It was then that irealized there could be a second benefit. Pleco dads are real good fathers. So they may not eat much while tending eggs - fry. So instead of returning the cave and dad to the breeder tank right away, i would give the dad a chance to rest and fatten back up f0r a week or so.

I have done this with zebras and it seems to work out fine. It is very easy to put a net over the front of the cave, tilt the cave back so the water wont run out and move it to the new tank.

The other thing to realize about pecking orders in fish colonies is that they are not static. The alpha male is always going to be a target of the other males. The will still occasionally want to make sure he is still really the alpha. Of course, over enough time another fish always replaces him. Finally, sometimes the fight with a dad still tending offspring is not with another male but is with a female who wants to spawn with him and tried forcing her way in.