new to breeding l46

[mikeyboy31175]

hi ppls not to be a swell head but tuck me less than 12 months to get theses to breed i found over the top filtration with hi airation more then four in a group for them to compite 30 degres c good food get them into a comfort zone with lights off for a few weeks then big water change move things around cave wise keep food the same and lights on on a set time and off they went the more ppl get these to breed the better

[TwoTankAmin]

Just to be sure nobody gets a swelled head, Mine took 2 weeks and produced over 500 fry in 3+ years.

There is a bit of luck involved with spawning zebras. Some people get lucky like I or the OP did, others, who are accomplished breeders, have failed despite doing everything "right." I have not been able to get my F1 group to spawn no matter what I have tried. So from one big success to another major failure. Same keeper, same water, similar set-ups and methods.

What it boils down to is there are never any guarantees.

Aside from that, congrats mikey. Any zebra spawning is a good thing.

[psionic001]

Hi guys,
I haven't been around here for a long while due to work commitments and a house move.
I'm one of the ones trying to do everything right and had only one spawn probably 4 years ago now.

Can I get some current advice?
I have the water at 29-30°C in a 200l tank with about 14 Zebs.
I change the water once every week or two with a 50% cool water change using rainwater if available, otherwise I use dual carbon filtered water and some water ager.
They eat spectrum foods, and sometimes frozen brine and other protein type foods.
I have a power head going most of the time for a bit of flow, and a large Eheim 3 pro external.
I have a ton of different types of caves from Box/Slate & clay narrow tubes, to Lava rock and wood with holes.
There's some anubis plant in there, and a gravel bottom. I had bare bottom tank for 3 years and it was nice and clean, but had no luck there too.
Lighting is a new multi spectrum LED light.

Any help, ideas or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Matt

[TwoTankAmin]

Have you considered trying to run an actually dry to rainy season? This would involve several months.

Bear in mind how the seasonality works. During the dry season water levels lower, flow rates are slower, water temperatures rise as will the the pH and TDS. This is not an overnight phenomenon but one that builds over months.

Then as the rainy season begins the first stage is the barometric pressure drop the comes with the onset of the rains. At the same time the snow melt in the Andes is happening. The result is very quickly water parameters change with a sharp drop in temperature and TDS and a lowering of pH. The current is stronger and water levels are higher.

Of course a good high protein diet helps with live foods being ideal. However, the seasonality is not a few week thing, it is much longer term. For the dry season one builds over several months. Then try to time your rainy season onset with a local storm. I am a firm believer in the effect of the barometric pressure drop as an important trigger. The numbers I have seen from the Xingu show that the pH change is the smallest of all the parameters. In the wild it may go from the low 6s to about neutral. For TDS the numbers were about 15 ppm and 85 ppm. However, in tanks zebras have proven to be fairly flexible in terms of the absolute numbers. it is the change that matters. So one person may work with TDS changes between 20 ppm and a 100 ppm while another uses something like 150 and 300 ppm. The key is the change.

There are multiple ways that one can simulate the seasonality. You can use your tap and RO water, you can choose to raise your tap paramters artificially and then use straight tap to lower the numbers. The method is less important than the changes themselves. It is important to build the dry season over time but then the onset of the rainy should be very rapid.

Finally, my experience with having Hypancistrus spawn shows that when they are ready to start spawning, they are like randy teenagers/you 20s people who are like rabbits. This will go on for a few years. And then suddenly they are no longer going nuts. They start to spawn less and less frequently. My initial group now spawns occasionally, often not doing so for many many months or over a year. My personal belief is that the females stop producing eggs at the same rate even though the males are good to go for many more years.

One last note on all of this. the one other thing I have noticed that will work against breeding is overstocking. It appears yo focus the fish on competing to breed and this includes males fighting and subordinate females eating eggs or wigglers in order to get the chance to spawn themselves. Sometimes the number of fish involved and the sex ratios may work against us when working to spawn the fish. I have seen people have success by breaking down a group into pairs or trios and vice versa. There are simply no sure fire methods which will guarantee success.

Plenty of people have tried for a few years to get their zebras to spawn, then thrown in the towel and done nothing and a year later they get spawns. There are just no guarantee here.

[mikeyboy31175]

just picked up my new w/c l46 m/f back in the game