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The guy I bought this Zebra from suspected that it was a male but the more I look at him/her I think it's a female. What do you think?

There is one hair on the left side that does extend past the pectoral fin but that is the only one.

Here's 4 pics of the same Zeb...

Yep i'd say male, young adult male... about 2.75-3.00" im guessing?

very hairy chew, spiny pectoral fins and triangular shaped body with broad head...


J

You're right about the size estimate. He/She is just under 3 inches, about 1/8th of an inch under. But it's not young at all. The previous owner said that he had the zeb for about 5 years and when he bought it, it was fairly grown already. So the zeb is definately a full grown adult. Does that help out at all?

The easiest way to identify it is to add a cave in your tank and look at its behavior. If it is a fully matured fish as what you said, it will not take very long to find a answer. It usually takes 2-3 days for a male to guard a cave. It does that, it's a male.

my guess is hairy female because its pinched at the gill plates, males are a lot wider at this point.

I added a cave last night and he/she still hasnt taken it. I asked the previous owner if the zeb ever took a cave and he said it never stayed in a cave but wouldn't let any others stay in it either. I dont know what that means but I guess I'll see if it takes my cave.

If it's a male, will it definately take the cave or is there a possibility that it won't even though it's a male?

Is there any biger male with him? All males are very careful to take a cave especially when they are in a new place because they might get themsleves trapped and killed by another bigger male. If there is no other male and he is old enough, he will take a cave very quickly.

I would guess it is a well matured female if she is 5-6 years old as what you said. I had a hairy female like her too. She was even older. You need a big and strong male to handle her.

There is a Big Bad male in the tank with him. I actually had to seperate him from the rest of the group cuz he looked like this ->

This is why I'm so concerned to see if it's a female or not. I'm not putting any males with this guy anymore. He doesn't seem to harm the females or juvies but beats the crap out of other males.

There's two caves in the tank currently. The definate male has taken one but this morning I found that he's switched to the new one. hmmm I guess it's a waiting game from here?

i would add a few more caves in this case and spread them appart in the tank, this would reduce the chance of fighting...

hmmm.... yea, that sounds like a good idea, thanks! They are in a 10 gallon tank for now. I will be moving them into a 25 gallon long in about 2 months. Do you think this is too small for them even though it's temporary?

I have an extra 20 gallon that's empty that I could use but if I move the water and filter from my 10 gallon over to the 20, I'm afraid there might be cycling problems since it's twice the water volume even though the Filter on the 10 gallon currently is rated for a 20-50 gallon tank. - OOPS I just derailed my own thread I just made another post about this here: http://www.zebrapleco.com/forum/viewtop ... 1954#31954

25 gallon seems fine to be a breeder tank to hold 4 zebs. 10gal is definately too small.

twinspots_goby wrote:25 gallon seems fine to be a breeder tank to hold 4 zebs. 10gal is definately too small.

Yea, definately, 10 gallos is too small but will it be okay as a holding tank for the 4 zebs for 2 months?

Update: So he/she took the cave for a few days and then now gave it up. The tank has only the one cave, some slate and the occupants are the adult zeb and two juvies. I have put a divider in the tank to seperate them from the other male until I figure out if it's actually a male or female (I also moved them into a 20 gallon tank).

What does this mean? Do I have to wait longer to see if it will take the cave?