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Hello!

i have had 4 spawnings since i have gotten my group of 6!

the recent 4th spawn has inspired me to post again to ask more questions!
this forum is good enough that i get most of the answers i need through searches. but this time i thought its always nice to share your happiness =)

my group consists of 3 males, 2 females and one unsexed. all are full grown adults size ranging from 3.1inchSL to 4.1inchSL! i attained them in Nov 07.

their first spawn occurred in mar08. it was a disaster. i shown my torch so often that i made the male eat all his eggs.

after which i continuously change the tank environments thinking that its the positioning of the driftwoods and caves that are the reasons why they are not spawning.

eventually, i switched my 60x30x36 to a 60x45x45.

filtration runs with a 1350l/h canister and a 960l/h canister with spray nozzle. both canisters are filled with eheim substrate pro, biohome, biohome plus, ADA bio rio and ceramic rings.

i started to leave them alone, only viewing them during feeding time and offing the lights minutes after throwing food in.

in july this year, they finally started spawning again.
second spawn in july: 5fries out of 15eggs survived.
third spawn in august: 9fries out of 20+eggs survived.

4th spawn this month: ???

here is a photo of my set up.



2,3,4th spawns all took place in the wood hole above the slate cave at the bottom left of the tank.

now my questions.

today when i switched on my room lights, the male got startled a bit. his first instinct was and always is to exit the wood hole (that has less cover) and dive into the slate cave below it. i noticed the female exited the wood hole(having been trapped for the past 2 nights). i shown my torch into the breeding hole, and omg i could visually count 24eggs!!! there could be more...

QN: is this considered a big spawn?

i switched off my lights and he returned to the wood hole to fan the eggs.

QN: will this make him eat the eggs since he left them for like a few minutes and then return to them? or are L46s very good parents and will return to care for their eggs as hard as they would have even after ditching it for awhile?

QN: do fathers leave their eggs to feed at night??

spawn no.2 hatching!


daddy in his slate cave below his breeding cave during non breeding periods.
odd habit of his! but lets me know when he is ready to get jiggly with females. probably lets the females know too.....

24 is a very large spawn.

As for flashlighting. Since day one I have normally used my flashlight to check on caves twice a day. When I think I may have a spawn, I do it more often. I have never had this result in the dad eating the eggs. In fact the only two spawns I have lost completely came when I had to move caves with eggs or wiglers and dad to a trap for a few hourse to break down the tank to remove other fry.

However, every group is unique and some folks do have a problem using a flashligh and havig the dad get spooked and eat the eggs. Based on your experience, I would be reluctant to use the flashligh but based on mine I will continue to do so.

I would note I have mine in a 30 breeder with a 30w fluor that is on about 7-8 hours a day and it seems not to have any effect on spawning. They will spawn when they are ready, not when we want them to. In fact many folks get theiir best results by just leaving them alone completely.

removed the eggs today. Day 3 of spawn.

23 fertilized eggs! decided to hatch them myself as the 3rd spawn counted more than 20 egg shells but only 9fries. do not want to take the chance again.

i am suspecting that father zebra does not leave the cave to eat but eats 1egg from the batch everyday to sustain his health.

Try using a egg tumbler to prevent mould and fungus on your eggs, a quick search on google for fry egg tumbler will show you what I mean, works well.

On of my males is notorious for eating eggs, so now I remove them immediately and rear all his eggs by "hand". Much better survival rate, then my other pairs I leave them to it and they do just fine.

It all depends on the circumstances and the setups I suppose.

I used to think that the male never left the cave until all of the fry had moved out, I now know that he leaves the cave at night to feed once they have hatched their tails, I do not sleep at nights due to working night shift so on my nights off I am awake all night on occasion I have caught my alpha out of the cave when there has been wrigglers in the cave.
The male will eat or eject any eggs that are not fertile I have tried various method removing the eggs, removing the male cave and eggs into a trap, I have found it best to leave them be although it will work different for everone I am sure.