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Posted: **Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:48 pm**

My big male is back in with a female, as of last night. They seem to be keeping him pretty busy, so I am intending to swipe this clutch and see how they hatch without him. I feel it's a bit risky, but I also want to see if he'll always spawn again within a couple weeks of when I take the fry, no matter what stage they were at. If he will, and they'll hatch alright in my fry containers without him, it would almost double the number of spawns I could raise. Is anyone hatching eggs like this? Or is the male always raising them?

Since my second male has now spawned, I intend to have a fish shuffling party and give him more females than the one single. It's just hard to convince myself to mess with that hierarchy in the main tank, when it's working so well.

I'll try to take pictures this time of development stages and dates and what not. I did a great job documenting my first few L260 spawns, then didn't really have spare time when the zebras got going. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get in and write an article about it (like everyone keeps bugging me to do!) hehe.

Barbie

Posted: **Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:04 pm**

Hi Barbie

I have one male that continually gets his egges taken away on day three.

The reason behind this is that none of the fry seem to survive outwith the cave in this particular tank. Why I am unsure, but I thikn I have one rough canabalistic zebra

.

I remove them on day three as they seem to stand a better chance of survival if the dad continues to clean them and roll them. The eggs hatch after another 2 dyas, and the majority of them seem to survice. The only downside is that out of every 10 or so eggs, at least 3 or 4 tend to get trapped in the shell. If this happens with the male he seems to manupilate the sell with his mouth until the fry are free. This is slightly more difficult using hands!!! When this does happen i very gently pick up the egg and roll with my thumb and forefinger. 90% of the time this works although I have ocationally caused the yolk sac to rupture. (Which causes me to feel guilty for days).

Unfortunately this does not seem to induce another spawn, but i think this is more down to the fish themselves.

SO long as I keep the airflow high, and the base of the fry trap continually clean with a high flow rate running through it, the fry do just fine.

Hope this helps.

Rob

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2005 2:57 am**

Shoulda known not to discuss it, he let her out of his cave without a spawn, so it's all just a false alarm anyway

Barbie

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:42 am**

Bummer!!.. Oh well he's just keeping you on your toes to mkae sure you appreciate all his hard work!!!

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2005 2:43 pm**

he is not, he's punishing me, because he can :p Dang fish!

Barbie

Posted: **Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:16 pm**

Hi Barbie......................maybe slip some viagra him his cucumber?........just a thought

Posted: **Sat Jan 22, 2005 1:14 am**

A little Barry White music perhaps?

Posted: **Sat Jan 22, 2005 1:44 am**

They were back in the cave this morning, so hopefully he's done punishing me for swiping the last batch of children!

Barbie

Posted: **Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:14 am**

fingers crossed then barbie

ZebraPleco.com • The complete Hypancistrus zebra resource

Hatching eggs?

Hatching eggs?