ZebraPleco.com • The complete Hypancistrus zebra resource

Hi!
I'm new to this website and I'm hoping to get some help on setting up a species aquarium.

I have just brought home 5 juvenile zebra plecos. They are quite small, a few months old, and I have them in a 10g BB tank at present. Once they get bigger, I'd like to move them into a species tank.

I'd like to set up my 29g tank as a species tank and have some questions about the set up. I have the tank, full hood reflector and heater, an AquaClear 70 Powerhead, an AquaClear 50 PowerFilter. Will these give enough but not too much filtration and aeration? Should I be using a cannister style filter - does this style clean the bottom better than external siphon-style filters?

I have 2 pcs of driftwood on order to separate the tank into 2 "sides", and I'd like to use black sand as the substate. I'd like to use black or gray slate for formations, but my LFS doesn't have it and can't get it. Would slate flooring tiles work?

I've seen ideas for caves from flowerpots, slate tiles cut and silicon-glued, and both black and white PVC pipes. What is your preference?

Plants or no plants? Temperature around 80-82?

Thanks in advance for ideas!

Hi N2Biomes and welcome to ZP.

Congrats on your recently purchased zebras. It's good to hear that you have them in a relatively small tank for the time being. At that age and size they really do seem to do better growth wise in smaller tanks. They dont seem to want to forage big distances in search of food when very young. Presumably a defence mechanism to avoid predation.

The AquaClear 70 powerhead would provide ample flow for a tank of that size even with the use of the venturi (air injection)facility. With regards to the Aquaclear 50 hang on powerfilter, my own preference would be to opt for an external canister filter. The main reason being that the amount of filter media you would get in a canister filter will be far greater. Also as you have rightly suggested a canister filter will be able to take water from much nearer the bottom of the tank which would make for a cleaner tank. That said I have kept 20+ baby zebras in a 12 gal with a Huey Hung sponge filter and an eheim bioball internal filter. However I ended up syphoning off uneaten food everyday.

Natural slate floor tiles will be just fine, this is what I use to make caves. Just make sure that there isn't a lacquer finish applied to them. Easy to spot really as they will have a glossy finish.

My own preference for cave making material is natural slate flooring. That's not to say that anything else will not work, it's all about getting the dimensions right. I don't think that the zebras themselves are too fussed as to what caves are made out of. I have even heard of people using empty plastic camera film cases. I am currently looking into sourcing some of the tubular shaped clay caves from Germany where they seem to be quite widely used. This would only be to try something different not that I think they produce better results.

My own tanks are not planted that's only because I don't seem to have much luck with them. However I seem to be a champion algae farmer.
I maintain my tank temps at 29 deg cel.

Enjoy the zebras and do let us know how you get on.

Regards.

Adam

Thanks for all your great info, Adam! The lil'uns are doing great, eating well. I'll be sure to give regular updates.