General care questions

aqua_su · Post by **aqua_su** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 2:51 pm

Hi members,

Newly registered here, have been reading for quite some time. Have been thinking of getting some zebras and jumping in the deep in. However, i have several questions before i acquire these guys.

My basin for them is:
4ft x 2ft x 2ft = 100 Gallon tank

The tank will house simular hypan. sp. (L333) 6cms x 4

I would like to attempt to breed some L46, but obviously costs are factor to consider. These are several scenarios that face me.

I have the option of buying 5 young fry (1 1/2") How old would they be at that size?From the research i have done, would take 18 months for the fry to breed at least (if F1) but i think they are F2.

Having read about breeding behaviour. A lot of people breed them in colonys, with typically more males then females (3M/1F) Does this mean if i was to buy adults i should attempt to buy more males then females to induce female to spawn (opposite to ancistrus species)

The final question is since the fry will be in a large tank, would it be ok to do water change once a week ... 10% (occasionally twice a week, or once every two weeks). UV will be added when fish are introduced for a month to insure the fry DO survive!

Or is a much heavier water changing regime required?

Thanks for the help.

David

Miezekatze · Post by **Miezekatze** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 3:47 pm

hi

if you realy want to breed them, forget the big tank. a smaller tank and water changes every 4 days would be better, in my opinion they don`t like the L333, too.

well, now to the male/female thing.
think about human. man and woman. if there is one man and 3 women, minimum 3 babys can be the resultat of ...

now think of 3 men and one women.... OK.. i think you`ll understand. ^^
in my opinion 1 male on 3 females is the best choice.

f2 would not a problem for me... easier to breed with. but concerning to the size i guess you need minimum another 6 - 12 month to breed with them...

aqua_su · Post by **aqua_su** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:48 pm

thanks for the reply christian,

I am aware that i will be waiting 12 months+ for the fish to mature, the big tank was designed for them to grow up quicker in.

Sorry about the confusion.

David

Miezekatze · Post by **Miezekatze** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:33 am

hi

i don`t think they are mature in 12 months, that will be earlier, but it will also take some time to bring them to spawn. they are not machines

n00dl3 · Post by **n00dl3** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:05 pm

For breeding purpose, I would go with a smaller tank. Maybe 3' x 18" x 12" tank. They are not that big of a fish. You can probably go with your tank size if you're planning to buy 15+ adult zebras.

As for tankmates L333, I wouldn't recommended any. zebras don't compete well for food unlike other plecos. When you want to condition for breeding you want them to eat all the food you fed them. By putting in tankmates they could and will eat all the food and not leave any for your zebras.

1 1/2" zebras are about 1 year old. So it would takes you another 1.5 years for them to be in mature breedable size. I heard/read that F1 will takes about 2.5 years to mautre. Not sure about F2. Hope that will help ya.

aqua_su · Post by **aqua_su** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:53 am

wow i didn't expect 1.5inch fish to be close to a year old... that is a real suprise to me.

I guess they are extremely slow growing compared to other hypancistrus species.

Now i'm two states of mind:

a) they are not delicate (should not be) like typical hypan sp. @ same size

b) selling the L333 to keep solely L46 tank

Decisions decisions, thanks for all the input.

(Miezekatze i quote the 12months from your reply (6-12months) using the upper date) Either way i'm not fussed if they don't spawn. However, i would like to give myself the best opportunity to do so