Spawning..

[Plastic Mac]

Ok this sounds like a dumb question....but how do you spawn?

With other fish I've had it's been fairly simple, add fresh water...bing, bang, bong...eggs, voila! However as we all know with zebs that elusive first spawn is not quite as simple.

I've recently done my first proper attempt at getting them to spawn this week...no luck and no surprise on my part either as I'm still not sure I'm doing everything right or doing it as best as I could.

Here's a simple run down of what I did...first I left the tank for a week, no water changes just feeding...and I tried to leave them alone as much as I could. Over the week about 10-15% of the water evaporated...and the temp was about 29.5C.
On Monday I removed another bucket load or water from the tank and then added a lot of water back in to the tank...enough to put back the buckets worth I had removed as well as what had evaporated and some more so the tank was completely full....I also added the water slowly so it didn't drop the temp that much...when all was done the temp was about 27C

PS. I use ro water with Kents RO Right

edited to add: I normaly have a spray bar outside of the water to create aeration (along with the air pump)...during the week I sunk it into the water so there was less aeration and when I added the fresh water to hopefully spawn them I then brought the spray bar back up above the water level to add more oxygen again.

I then added some food and left them alone again...am I doing it right?

I'm still left with several questions though:

How long should I leave the temp at 26-27C for attempting to spawn them before realising nothing is happening and putting it back up to the 29-30 that they like? A couple of days? a week?

How often should I repeat the process?...once a month?

Basically if anyone can give me some tips on how i could improve the process, or what I maybe doing wrong it would be most appreciated.

I know at the time I had several more questions...which I have now forgot...I'll add them as I remember them, thanks

[dave]

I waited some 18 months for my fish to spawn, they were bought as adults, well I'm not so sure.

There is a thread on here about how long these things can produce fry for, and it is a long time, but within this thread somebody suggested males take 12 months longer to mature than females. I don't know, and hopefully people don't make things up. If your fish were bought as a group they may all be of the same age and all that is required is patience.

An obvious question is do you have males and females, for the life of me with the exception of 3 large males I find it difficult to distinguish the sexes.

If you have wild fish males are likely to predominate as the are a lot easier to catch in the wild, the reasons are listed in the datz book.

I'm no expert, and whether it is chance or not, can't think what else it is, I noticed another 3 fry in the tank 2 days ago.

Suggestions

Try moving the caves around, mine have a preference for caves at the calmer end of the tank.

I have 4 had spawns in 6" long cave, 1 spawn in a 3" long cave, and the last one I have no idea. Try different cave sizes.

Letting water evaporate, I really am not so sure about, inbetween water changes the quality deteriates, allowing evaporation in my mind will just speed the process up.

We all try to simulate the rainy season, which leads to a change in chemical composition and temperature, which triggers spawning, it may be both who knows. I have no doubt that the water quality is superb despite change in chemical composition.

Trying to spawn zebras from water that is deteriating rapidly, who knows.

These are just a few thoughts.

Dave

[Plastic Mac]

I waited some 18 months for my fish to spawn, they were bought as adults, well I'm not so sure.
There is a thread on here about how long these things can produce fry for, and it is a long time, but within this thread somebody suggested males take 12 months longer to mature than females. I don't know, and hopefully people don't make things up. If your fish were bought as a group they may all be of the same age and all that is required is patience.

Thanks for the info,

My reasoning for letting some evaporate was, some people have reported firsts spawns whilst on holiday or after having left water changes for a while. No doubt partly this is due to them being let alone but I would have thought this is kinda what happens in the wild..Summer, the water level drops, and so deteriorates until the rainy season arrives with fresh water which puts the river levels back at maximum.
As for water quality it shouldn't be a problem...there's an external eheim massively over-rated for the tank they're in and and UV filter straight after that. I normally do 25% water changes twice a week....so a week without shouldn't create an issue.

Try moving the caves around, mine have a preference for caves at the calmer end of the tank.
I have 4 had spawns in 6" long cave, 1 spawn in a 3" long cave, and the last one I have no idea. Try different cave sizes.

I've tried several cave layouts...and figure I have the best one at the moment. The only thing I am not sure about is whether I've left enough hiding places round the tank for the other zebs which can't have their own cave...

An obvious question is do you have males and females, for the life of me with the exception of 3 large males I find it difficult to distinguish the sexes.

As for knowing the sexes...I know I have several males lol If I have any females...not absolutely sure.
I paid for two females about 6 months ago, they were 5.5cm at the time....so it was still to early to be sure I think.
I've put photos up on here before with the hope that there'd be females in the bunch and there never is! So I haven't put any pictures on these two, to date...just because I was enjoying the thought of having some for a while. I guess I should face my fear and put some pictures up.

[jerms55555]

What has helped me spawn mine was increasing the temp. to about 88-90 degrees and feed them EVERYTHING! Make sure that they are fat. I noticed when the temp. is really high, they eat alot and they also get really big! During ths time I "try" to vacuum the left over food and there is little water changes, if any!I have a 60 gal tank and let the water level go down to about 3/4 to 1/2 the volume for about 1 -2 months are until i feel the zebras are ready. And this is done through evaporation and cleaningI than fill the tank with RO water that has been stabalized and change the temp on my heaters to read 81 degrees. This usually starts it for mine. But as you know everyone has different experiences and methhods! But just make sure they are "plumped up"/ well conditioned and they will spawn for you!

[dave]

Sorry about not being able to use the quote box.

The point is taken about the rising and falling water levels.

The following is just an idea.

The area is basically mineral free, and even with a reduced flow, it amounts to more water changes than any of us are prepared to make.

In addition by the time it arrives at the zebs home, the preceding river is one enormous biological filter, and I don't think any of our mechanical substitutes can attain the efficiency of nature.

Now if the river recedes so much the fish are isolated in lakes or pools (This I doubt) then I can see there maybe a mineral build up, or chemical build up.

I really don't know though, there is so much to learn about these fish.

Dave