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Sharing a cave...
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:39 am
by WIS
I noticed that two of my zebras have started to share a cave... they are current 2.5 to 3inches unsexed....
I have reasons to believe that one of them is the dominant fish that is always in the cave (same cave) and hope for a pair... now how long to wait before I know if anything will happen?
Can I still do WCs at this point?
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:24 am
by WIS
I managed to get a picture... Does it look like a prespawn?

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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:35 am
by Edlund
Hey the cave looks way to big for them.I dont think its a spawn.Rather 2 males that can fight over the cave
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:23 pm
by WIS
Almost a day and the both of them are still in there...
Im a little worried that its 2 males fighting... as that may mean injuries
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:53 pm
by I_Need_Zebras
The "mating" in the cave can take anything upto 5 days, just keep an eye on them, and if after 5 or 6 days I would step in and separate them "if" the need arises.
If they are 2 males they will just be arguing over whose boss, fingers crossed though, its a girl and a boy and weee eggs are on the way.
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:20 pm
by John
WIS wrote:Almost a day and the both of them are still in there...
Im a little worried that its 2 males fighting... as that may mean injuries
Can you describe the behaviour, what is going on in the cave?
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:37 pm
by twinspots_goby
Well. It does look like a spawn to me though. The inside looks like facing out. My females all facing out when they lay eggs. The outside looks like a male to me. I hope they will spawn very soon, or it might be a trial for them. I do agree that the cave is a little too big for them. You might wanna find them a smaller one. Males sometime kick out their eggs more offen with bigger cave because they don't feel secured.
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:16 am
by WIS
Update... after 1 and a half day in the cave (Cave A), both occupants left... Cave A was later reoccupied (I assume by the same dominant zebra who has been living there for a while) but no eggs
There are now 2 zebras in an adjacent cave deeper in the tank (Cave B). I had the opportunity to observe them closer... the zebra deeper in the cave has its head orientated towards the exit of the cave, whereas the fish nearer to the exit is tilted at an angle such that its entire body blocks the cave... its head is angled inwards with the tail sticking out...
There isnt much movement in the cave as far as I can observe. When I shine a light to look deeper, they shift about nervously. As such I am trying not to rely on a torch to see them.
I
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:53 am
by John
WIS wrote:the zebra deeper in the cave has its head orientated towards the exit of the cave, whereas the fish nearer to the exit is tilted at an angle such that its entire body blocks the cave... its head is angled inwards with the tail sticking out...
There isnt much movement in the cave as far as I can observe.
Sounds A OK to me

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:29 am
by I_Need_Zebras
Not really a solution to your question, but if the cave in the picture is now unoccupied, I would remove it and place something smaller in there, do a quick search on these forums to get an ideal cave size that the zebs will feel more secure in.
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:50 am
by WIS
Problem is that proper caves are hard to find here in Singapore. More important to me is that I get a spawn going...

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:28 pm
by twinspots_goby
What you can do with the bigger cave is to use a sharp knife to take them apart and use silicon glue to attatch them back together with smaller dimention.
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:29 pm
by WIS
Guess I can only try to do so over the weekend...
My zebras seem to be playing musical caves for the time being tho... There are now 2 zebras(not sure if its the same pair) in a third cave.. the second cave has been vacated (although there was one zebra hanging nearby)....
First cave remains occupied by its regular zebra...
My guess is : -
(1) they are learning how to pair up and experimenting with different partners;
(2) I spooked them into thinking that the cave they were previously in was unsafe, so they switched locations; and
(3) the caves are too big, so they are trying out others in the hope of finding one of a suitable size...
(4) they are just juveniles huddling together and its just that i never had the opportunity to observe them do this previously, thus leading to the fales alarm...
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:29 pm
by Barbie
The fact that a female is so ready that she's going into multiple caves is a good sign. Build a few more caves and add them into the tank. Once the fish have spawned, set something under the front of the cave to make any eggs that get rolled around tend to slide back up under dad's nose. That has worked great for me in the past. I have one Ancistrus that thinks he has to fan like mad and I tilt his cave at a more than 45 degree angle to keep the fry in with him. He always has a good survival rate though
.
Just keep doing what you're doing. The fish take a bit to figure this out sometimes. I've had a pair that took more than a month of cohabiting to figure out what it was all about. Hopefully yours will be a little swifter on the uptake
.
Barbie
white spots on the cave?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:49 pm
by twinspots_goby
I noticed there are some white spots on both the cave and the rocks. What are they? type of bacteria? any harm?