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Very Exciting Indeed.... But Help Needed!
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:18 am
by andrewcoxon
hi guys,
iv got a tank with 5 zebras in it. two 1 year olds and 3 what i thought were males. however over the past few weeks iv noticed one of the males was starting to leave his cave and take up refuge under a plant pot, then tonight there is 2 of them in the save cave and alot of tale twitching going on. could this just be to males arguing over a cave or should i start getting excited.
please help.
cheers.
andy
Hi
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:09 am
by dave
Start getting excited, in my experience 2 males never occupy a cave without one getting evicted very quickly.
Dave
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:34 am
by andrewcoxon
ok i can see eggs!!! GET IN THERE!!! now what do i do? keep normal water changes and normal feeding.... or just leave them alone?
thanks!
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:47 am
by discusbabe
Many congrats!!!
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:37 am
by andrewcoxon
well i think i can see eggs..... not really sure if my mind was playing tricks and all i saw was some silicone...... but i dont want to piss him off by shining a light in there!
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:43 pm
by Mindy
Leave it a few days. If he's still in there in a week's time, I bet he's guarding babies.
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:18 pm
by TwoTankAmin
Shine the light in. If it were not for my trusty flashlight I would never know what is going on in my caves. The light has not seemed to put anybody off or cause any harm as far as I have seen to date.
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:20 am
by zebra_man
dont touch them, just leave them. Shinning a troch could stress the male and he could eat the eggs!
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:25 pm
by Jojoyojimbi
zebra_man wrote:dont touch them, just leave them. Shinning a troch could stress the male and he could eat the eggs!
like you'd know from your massive experience?
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:35 pm
by TwoTankAmin
All I know is I have shined a light into my caves numerous times to check on what is up (normally mornings and evenings every day). When there have been eggs in there the male has moved to keep them all hidden but as far as I can tell, the males have never eaten the eggs. I have spotted eggs 7 times since the end of April and have gotten fry from the first 6 and the 7th just happened in the past few days.
The males are not happy about being lighted up, but I would describe their reaction as first annoyance and then rpotective.
I would also note I have used the same practice with bristlenose plecos and have not had them eat the eggs as a result either.
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:05 pm
by Barbie
I own them and if I want to look at them I do. Period. I got chewed out pretty extensively for it before I got anything spawning and I'd pretty much stopped looking. I haven't noticed a decided drop in spawns once they start going due to my checking for eggs.
We do definitely encourage people with experience to offer advice but please, don't redigest warnings you've read and repeat them as god given fact zebra man. It leads to the continuation of many of the "myths" involved with this fish, something we're working diligently here to correct.
Barbie
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:11 pm
by Dale90g
No need to tak shots at anyone, being cautious isn't bad idea. However, I also flashlight the caves, just to know what the heck is going on. Male let a single fry out a couple of days ago, or it escaped - whatever. I didn't know if he had any others, so I lit the cave up, a couple of different times. Saw movement so he has at least one other. If I didn't see anything, he would get moved back to the group tank, and another male with his brood would get moved out.
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:26 pm
by McEve
Taking a picture with the flash on is another way of finding out what he's up to in there, and a lot less annoying for the male.
The fish clearly shows that he doesn't appreciate those torches, so why not leave him in peace as much as possible?
I don't think the disturbance will make him eat the eggs though.
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:08 pm
by Barbie
I honestly wasn't taking shots. While exchanging advice is greatly encouraged, exchanging hearsay, especially not factual hearsay, is definitely going to be discouraged. People breeding zebras have different experiences. We LOVE to hear about those! If you haven't had actual experience with things it's much safer to say "I've read you shouldn't, or I intend to do things this way..." in order to keep from having the misunderstandings such as: zebra_man wrote:[/color]dont touch them, just leave them. Shinning a troch could stress the male and he could eat the eggs!
I'm not recommending anyone point a light into the cave and keep it there long term, but you can definitely peek in to see what's happening without the male eating the eggs as some form of retribution. Some spawns aren't fertile, some males kick out eggs. You can do eveything exactly the way everyone recommends and still have things go wrong. I'm on my 11th zebra spawn now and I've lost count of the other Hypancistrus and Ancistrus spawns to be honest. I listened to this "myth" religiously at first, but it really isn't something that causes anything more than protective behavior from the males, or maybe potentially snub nosed fry . Wouldn't that be a laugh if I caused them myself with my lack of patience? It would definitely be a far more reasonable response from the males, IMO.
I'm not trying to pick on anyone here. We REALLY want a free exchange of information, just not misinformation.
Barbie
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:26 pm
by Plastic Mac
McEve wrote:Taking a picture with the flash on is another way of finding out what he's up to in there, and a lot less annoying for the male.
The fish clearly shows that he doesn't appreciate those torches, so why not leave him in peace as much as possible?
I don't think the disturbance will make him eat the eggs though.
I've had exactly the same experience. Using a flashlight causes my male to panic in the cave, shoving himself as far forward as he can. When I take a picture with my camera using the flash he takes no notice at all. I guess it's due to the flash being over so quick, by the time he notices it's done, so no need to panic (well that's my theory anyway lol). You also have the benfit of being able to zoom in on the picture and see exactly what is in the cave.