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Who triggers the spawn the male or female? , i ask this because There is a member on here who has had a suprise spawn from his F1's and they didn't any/little encouragement, i am gettin 2/3 F1's at the end of jan and i was wondering/hoping the females did all the pushing as it were?

Hi Shell,

It would appear that the male entices the female by displaying at the mouth of his cave. If she likes what she sees then she may start hanging around the male's cave, by the side or sometimes on top. She will eventually attempt to get into the male's cave. At this point there appears to be a test of strength between the two fish and there is usually a bit of a struggle. If the female succeeds in getting past the male by squeezing underneath him then they could be holed up in the cave for days or even weeks. Cave trappings do not always result in a spawn, first timers will often have a number of dry runs.

With regards to triggers, they are not always required. Often zebras will spawn without out any encouragement but they certainly should be considered for stubborn to spawn groups.

Adam

I assume you're talking about my spawn Shell.

I had noticed over the past few weeks prior to the spawn that there were a couple of zebras, which I suspected as being females, were hanging around the males caves. The male would sit hanging out of the front of the cave and push out his pectoral and dorsal fins. I never actually saw either of them trying to get in or trapped in the caves but where my tank is situated is quite busy so I assume any 'action' happened when the house was empty or during lights out.

I'm a big believer in leaving them to it and just providing them with the best environment in which to feel comfortable and settled. This has worked for me with previous fish I've had breeding and I honestly think it's the best method. I can't say it'll work for everyone as it would seem that WC zebbies require a bit of stimulation to trigger a spawn.

My tank is in the only place in the house it fits which does happen to be the busy really busy part of the house i think this might be an issue but there is also alot of peace during the day and late at night it is just the evening period it gets busy, would this make a difference if it was totally quite all the time?

I believe all/most of mine are Wild Caught ( unfortunatly )

I constantly get the male/s hanginf out of there caves flairing up there fins but the females just swim on by if at all i had a bit of action a few weeks ago but to no avail !!

I am going to introduce 2/3 F1 females at the end of jan so i hope this may make a difference as i think it is just my females not playing ball.

You seem to be in the same position as me regarding tank location. I often have my nieces running through the inner hallway, I live in a bungalow, which is where my tanks are so they're gonna get disturbed by the movement. I do think they've got more than enough quiet time tho so I don't think the activity is a big issue.

Since the majority of yours are WC then you're probably going to have to try inducing a spawn, you're certainly not unfortunate having wild caught zebbies!! It does sound like you've got spawning activity. It was my understanding that the females matured before the males so I would have expected the females to start the chasing, it's for this reason that I think I only got one fry from both spawns. What size are your zebbies?

I had changed my tank decor around about 4 weeks prior to the spawn cos I wasn't happy they had enough hiding places. I also added some bits of cover in between the caves where the females could 'check out' the males without being in plain view. When I caught all my zebbies and put them in a poly box I noticed at least 4 that I suspected to be fat females, it's these that I think the males spawned with; by the way I'm sh*t at sexing them!!

I have 2 males at about 4.5 years old and 1 male at 2.5 years old, and 1 female at 2.5 years and another at 2 years the action was with the younger female and the older of the males strange if you ask me.