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hi everyone.......just wanted to say...YIIPPPPEEEEE,,,hahaha,,,yeeeesssss etc etc etc.

I now have 13 new zebra's!!!!
i picked them up on wednesday and all arrived safely and are in my new tank..
Im going to eventually transfer all my Zebs into a 3foot tank as 1 big colony. I now have 18 in total.

7 Males
6 Females
and 5 under 2,5" that i can only guess the sex of....think they are 3F and 2M.

I am planning on transfering them all to a 3foot species only tank with lots of caves and cover.
What do people see as the best way to get these critters to breed?
previously i had the colony of 5 in a 2 footer with 1 cave for the only male and just cover for the fems but had no signs of breeding despite lots of effort with dry/rainy seasons etc.

should i put them in 1 tank or 2? should i put in loads of caves or just enough for the alpha males?

Arrgghhh decisions decisions.........suppose i should count my self lucky that im able to make them.

How many liters are a three foot tank? But if you haven't had any fish in the tank that you are now relocating for the Zebras, then Babries advice and don't add all at once

Congrats!! Looking forward to the tatter of little feet

Ps. I would keep them in two tanks, allowing two alpha males to emerge

Hi,
the tank holds around 22 gallons.....dont worry its not a newly established tank, the tank has been running for about 8 months with a pair of oscars so the tank will easily cope with the bio load of 18 zeb's.

McEve....if i split the zebs to groups of 1 male and 2/3 fems i could split them into 6/7 groups, i have the tanks to do this but think they may "perform" better in a large group.

Does everyone think i would be better off splitting the group into smaller groups or better to leave them to roam as they like in a large group?
I figured they may be better being able to select their own mates rather than me choosing for them.

i was told that 6 zebs in a 60 gallon was the max I wouldnt try that many in a 22 gallon

If you split the groups you'll get two alpha males. Only the alpha male are allowed to breed. So, by splitting them in two groups you'll get a better chanse of getting a breeding group.

There's nothing that indicates that they perform better in large groups, except the fact that you have a better chanse of having both females and males in the group if you don't know the difference. I have a breeding pair.... Two fish left by chanse, and away they went and had babies They were previously part of a 7 fish group.

Congrats Andy

Excellent news, have you stopped hyper-ventilating yet!!

I think Barbie and McEve have a good point.

By placing all your zebs into one tank you are reducing your chances of a spawn. You are also increasing the risks of a territorial disputes between the fish. If there are two males in a tank they tend to stay out of each other's way. if you have 7 there is nowhere that they can all form territories, and none of them will feel it is a safe environment.

My plan would be, take the two largest males and split them, even numbers of females and remaining males.

good luck and congrats once again.

rob

I agree with Barbie as well. It doesn't matter how good an aquarist you are, how many years you've been doing it, all it takes is one power outages, a visiting child "feeding" the fish, an exterminator spraying insecticide too close outside...

Never put all your eggs in one basket!

ok,
I think i am going to split the group into maybe 3 or 4 smaller groups.
1 male and 2 or 3 females.
this is because the males i have are very mature (2@ 4" and [email protected]" all with very profound bristles and odontodes etc)
Hopefully this way each male will have its own tank to be "in charge" of and hopefully will feel safe enough to breed with the harem.

Do you guys think a group of 3 or 4 zebra's will be ok and breed in a 24" (12gallon) species tank? or should i use bigger?