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I had my first spawning for this year 08 mid January, Found another spawn of 4 a few days ago they looked to be around 5 days old. Found another spawning of 6 wrigglers in a diffrent cave last night a my question is how many females would or could they be from at least 2 or does it have to be 3 with the time span from the first spawn in January. They had been on a breeding break since late June 07

Just passed the zeb tank looked in and the alpha has a female in there with him again!!! I did a big water change yesterday same as always things are getting a little crazy in there tank

Congrats Jo

That's really nice, but I am just curious, are you zebra females really yonge? why so few eggs per batch?

The first female to spawn this year I have had for over 6 years and she is wild caught so age is ??????? she has been spawning on and off for 4 years and usually spawns between 10 - 15 this was her first spawn after a 6 month break the second and third to spawn this year are likley to be around the 2 - 3 year old mark maybe a little less hence the smaller spawns. The one in the cave again now with the alpha is the first main female she is too big to be another young one, It is so hard to tell who is who when it comes to the ladies in the tank in all now there are 49 zebs (17 fry) all various ages the adult males are easy to spot they are really massive and hairy and stay in there caves all the time. I now know for sure that as of this year I have 3 active breeding females in the colony which is good to say the least . I am now setting up a second tank with the idea of a couple of my own fry and adding a few bought or swapped zebs to add to a new bloodline, to do this I will have to sell some babies later this year and cap the main colony at 40. Well this is the plan so far anyway everything can change
There were no more eggs on Saturday but she is in there again now so I am staying away from the tank at the moment, I really would like to take a peep with the tourch

Ain't it fun when the tank turns into a regular orgy

As for shining in the "torch" (aka flashlight across the pond), I have been pretty much performing a morning and an evening cave check daily since I got my colony in Apr 06 and it has never had any deleterious effect.

I had to take a look this afternoon with the tourch when I got up, I just had to know what was going on - the females still in there as of now I see eggs on the way

TwoTankAmin wrote:Ain't it fun when the tank turns into a regular orgy

My mum says there "over sexed" whatever that means

There are now eggs in the alphas cave this afternoon there was a female in there then by tea time she was out of the cave (no eggs) now a couple of hours later there is a big pile of eggs not sure how many I have now put the cave male and eggs all into the super trap
I love the zebs spawning process its like the female is never quite ready in and out the cave for a couple of days Hokey Kokey

Last night 22nd there were 2 wrigglers in the trap they had been booted out of the cave, over the course of today there has been another 12 wrigglers ejected 14 wrigglers, there around 4 -5 hollow egg sacks, I don't know if there are more in the cave I will take a look later, if dads done I will pop him back in the tank - I hope the 14 make it !!!!

Nice going Jo. I am always amazed by the first visit where the fm is trapped for a day or two and there are no eggs and then after another, much shorter visit there are a pile of eggs.

I think the fm zeb just wants to cuddle a while first :p

Interesting little rituals they have good luck with them

good luck with your zebs jo you seem to be doing well

Thank you - the fry are all doing well the latest are starting to get there stripes now cute. Will take some pics tomorrow, I have a few days off work starting tomorrow yipeeeee so I am going to set up my second colony tank got all the bits I need in place and the last of the fish from that tank are going to there new home tomorrow so I can crack on will post some pics of the fry and the new setup, starting the new colony from scratch so it will be a long job but all good things are worth a wait, I decided not to split my main colony they are so settled and happy I just don't want to tip the balance

The latest fry taken a couple of days ago not the best picture but I am not good with the camera