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I'm starting to build my colony from scratch & presently got 5 zebras, ranging in size from 3/4" to 1". They are currently housed in a 20 gal tank, sand substrate, bogwood, slate rocks, plenty of hiding places. Water temp is 82F, ph 6.5, outside filter turns water 5x/hour. In addition I got wand airstones & air difusser to add movement, water circulation & inject more air.

I'm gearing for the long-run with this; maybe I'll be pleasently surprised 2-3 years from now. I expect to increase the number of zebras to 12-15 (hopefully) all around the 1" mark. These guys are so tiny & seem so lost in this sized tank that I tend to overfeed a bit and scatter a bit in the front of the tank, just to make sure everybody gets their share. I'm doing daily cleanup with a syphon to a 5 gal bucket (just in case one of them gets accidentally syphoned out). Water gets replaced from a holding tank, and it is about 4 gal, or 20% water change daily. Is there any problem with this routine? Thanks for any advise. Dan

I think its a matter of prefrance but I wouldnt do daily water changes somtimes it upsets more sensitive fish.

I use the same method on my young plecos, only my percentage is 5% daily, i allready use this method for 3 years with no problems and healthy good growing fish.
IMO with 5% daily i keep my watervalues almost constant and they don't get the shock of a big weekly waterchange.

Thanks guys. Nice to know I got the right idea. I'll probably decrease the daily % changed. I'm used to daily water changes from years of dealing with discus.
Dan

John wrote:I use the same method on my young plecos, only my percentage is 5% daily, i allready use this method for 3 years with no problems and healthy good growing fish.
IMO with 5% daily i keep my watervalues almost constant and they don't get the shock of a big weekly waterchange.

totally agree... except I only wish i got that much time each day to do 5% water change. I find it hard enough to do weekly water change...

Ours have just spawned after 6 weeks without a water change....

After a year of monitoring TDS PH hardness etc, Tap water Ro water, large weekly changes, small irregulay changes... Matched temp - Cold water changes... ant it took 6 weeks of leaving them alone for them to spawn.

enough said if you ask me.

smithrc wrote:Ours have just spawned after 6 weeks without a water change....

.

congrats on your spawn hopefully I'll be there someday.
The case is different with growing juvies, 3/4" to 1", which is the only thing you'll find on the market today. Maybe I'm paranoid about getting them all a chance to eat, but I don't mind the daily chore if I achieve the objective. I already ordered an outside Magnum hanging canister filter just for cleaning & returning filter water to the tank. That way I can control the % changed. Dan

True - I'll be over feeding anf will be doing water changes regularly with the fry...

hi

yesterday i made a waterchange in my 200L tank with 11 L-46. The last waterchange was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. You see, the plecos are not as problematic to breed as everyone thinks.

I think the bottom line is... what work for you don't mean it will work for others. Same as "one man garage is another man treasure" or something like that...

Miezekatze wrote:hi

yesterday i made a waterchange in my 200L tank with 11 L-46. The last waterchange was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. You see, the plecos are not as problematic to breed as everyone thinks.

Shhh... dont tell everyone