Advice required please

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:51 pm

Smithrc,

I was very surprised by the short period of time for the first spawning to arrive.

The previous owners had said that when they had moved house or when the zebras had been moved to another tank that it had taken them a few months to settle in again.

They seemed to settle into my tank within a couple of days so I was very pleased with this, and even more pleased to get some intitial spawning action, although I do realise that there is a good possibility that it may not ultimately be sucessful, but I will do all I can to allow them to do what comes naturally and keep my fingers crossed too!

Regards

PaulH

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:52 pm

John,

Thanks for the congratulations, I think I am doing everything I can in terms of environment (caves, cover, hiding places etc.), water conditions and feeding to give them the best chance I can.

Regards

PaulH

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:54 pm

Zebrapl3co,

I am sure that the previous owners good care of the Zebra's has something to do with the speed of the spawning.

I have probably just provided the last "key/s" to get them to spawn, regardless of how much is down to me I am very pleased to see a spawn of these beautiful fish in my tank so soon.

Regards

PaulH

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:42 pm

Just a quick update.

The egg that was ejected and put into a breeding trap by me has fungussed today, maybe the male knew it was not viable.

The eggs that are still with the male look fine from what I can see. I only look once a day as I don't want to disturb him too much.

I am not sure how many eggs there are, but there does not look to be too many. I think there may be 6 to 8 eggs. Is this normal for the first time around?

Regards

PaulH

Stevie.K · Post by **Stevie.K** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:24 pm

Hi Paul

It depends on the age & size of the female, one of my smaller females around 3" has smaller batches of around 8, than my larger female.

Still all good to get any eggs & fry

Let dad do his bit he knows best

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:56 pm

It is now 6 days since the eggs were laid.

Other than the one egg that was thrown out of the cave on the second day things seem to be going well (fingers crossed).

The male is still looking after the eggs very well and on my once daily check today the eggs have definitely hatched. I could see at least a couple of the eggs with wiggling tails so that is good news.

There are varying opinions on this site and others about whether to leave the fry with the father or whether to remove them to a separate small rearing container/breeding trap separate from the adults to absorb their egg sac and grow on.

My inclination is to leave the male with the young, as so far he has been very good with the spawn, however, I am anxious about something going wrong and losing my first batch of youngsters and I want to give them the best chance of becoming free swiming and then developing further. I read someones post and they said "the male can look after them better than an airstone" and obviously with an experienced male that should be the case.

What would the members on this site do in my situation? If it was not my (and my males') first ever Zebra spawn I would have no doubts about leaving them with the male.

Regards

Paul

Jamie24 · Post by **Jamie24** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:16 pm

if i were in your position, i would leave the male to it, if you think about it, you let him get on with it/ learn how to do it he is going to be succesfull, maybe not this time but next time or the time after that, inevitably you will have losses, but fewer if you let the male tend to them and get acustomed to bringing them up. and as they have spawned this is a good sign and are almost certainly going to spawn again i would say. before the male kicks them out of the cave to start spawning again you could then remove them into a fry trap untill they rech a size you think is safe to release safely back into the tank or transfer into a growing on tank?

just my thoughts, J

Stevie.K · Post by **Stevie.K** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:58 pm

Hi Paul

All my fry have been hatched & brought up by dad, if the eggs have hatched the hard work is done by the male & you will see he will soon sit at the porch & keep a eye on the fry.

Just before the fry are ready to leave the cave I move the cave & dad into a fry tank containing the same water they where in, i use bare bottom for the fry tank & feed micro worm & crushed food, after they have left the cave I move dad back to the breeder tank.

It works for me but other people will give you their views, so do what you feel is best

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:04 pm

Thanks Stevie.K and Jamie24 for your advice.

I am going to leave the fry with the male and hope that he carries on being a good father, he is doing a good job so far.

I like the idea of removing him and the cave and the youngsters before they leave the cave (just in case the other 4 adults cause any problems). Unless I set up another tank the only one I have available contains 4 juvenile Zebra plecs, just over 1.5 inch in length. Do you think that moving the male, cave and young zebra's to this tank would be a viable option? I don't want to jeopardise the safety of the 4 youngsters, or for the youngsters to hassle the male and the fry.

Maybe I should just leave evereything as is and when the fry leave the cave, catch them and put them in a breeding trap for feeding/growing on until they can go in with the 7/8 month old youngsters.

Regards

PaulH

Post by **John** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:21 pm

Suggestion: a soon as the eggs have all hatched take the cave with dad and fry into a breeding trap in the breeding tank.
Put dad with cave back in the tank as soon as the fry starts wandering out.
This way you avoid the hassle catching the small fry's.
Read Jo's zebs contribution here:http://www.zebrapleco.com/forum/viewtop ... ght=#31171

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:55 am

Thank you to everyone that has given me advice so far.

The latest update is that the male is still doing a great job looking after the fry, they are still in the cave with him.

It is difficult to see past the male to get a good look at the youngsters but I have seen at least 3 at a time, I suspect that there could be as many as 6 or more.

It is now 12 days since the eggs were laid, the fry look very well developed and are moving around in the cave quite actively. They look most like somewhere between photo 13 and 16 in the spawn diary photo's on the right hand side of http://www.zebrapleco.com/breeding.php

I am very pleased they have made it this far. At what age would you expect them to start leaving the cave? They are still in the cave in the main breeding tank with the male, I do not want to disturb him too much but I am keen to get them into a breeding trap before they leave the cave into the main tank as it would then be quite difficult to catch them.

Regards

Paul

Zebrapl3co · Post by **Zebrapl3co** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:04 am

Well, the hard part has yet to come. I think at around day 14, they will have eaten up their yoke sacs. It takes another week to 2 before they die from hunger. It's after the 14th day that they need to come out at night and learn to eat. Those that do not learn to eat will eventually die of starvation. It's this period that is the hardest for me because if you are not careful, you can lose the entire batch. I don't want to shock you but also don't want to leave you oblivious either. Hope for the best but also leave a bit of room for the worst.
Good luck,

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:13 pm

It is now 17 days since the eggs were laid, most of the babies are still with the male in the cave.

I moved the male and cave into a separate small tank a couple of days ago.

There is at least one baby that obviously left the cave whilst still in the main tank with the adults that I see once in a while.

There is at least another one that has left the cave in the new smaller tank, but all of the rest of them are still in the cave, you can see a few of them in the attached photo.

At what age are they likely to all leave the cave, I am anxious that they leave and start eating.

Jamie24 · Post by **Jamie24** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:29 pm

congrats glad its going well!

good luck with them! i would return the male back to the rest of the colony as soon as possible if i were you and the cave, putting it back in exactly the same position and way it was before! but leave the fr in this new tank ou have them in... but just what i would do

J

PaulH196 · Post by **PaulH196** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:14 pm

Jamie,

If I could get the fry out of the cave I would put the male and the cave back exactly where he came from.

Problem is the fry are not coming out and I don't want them to come out in the main tank, so the cave and male are staying put in the new tank until the youngsters leave.

Any suggestions on getting them out would be appreciated.

Advice required please

Update

Update on first spawning

Further update

Photo's of babies in cave with male