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Hi,

Lost a large male zebra today.
A week ago, due to being short on tank space, Put a pair of Hypancistrus Inspector( which are the same size as the zebras) into a breeding tank already containing 2 pairs of Zebras. There were 4 caves in this tank. Two nights ago found that the male Hypancistrus Inspector had blocked the entrance of a cave, behind him in the cave was a male zebra. I switched the lights off that evening not worried about it. How wrong ,I was. The next evening found the male zebra mauled and in a pretty bad state , just like the picture of Valhallans fish. This morning found a lot of fungus on the back half of the fish, so put some fungicide into the tank.
Unfortunately the fish did not survive and found him floating at the top of the tank ,when I arrived home this evening.
It doesnt matter how they die, whether it is due to a fight, disease or whatever, It still hurts pretty bad when one dies, especially when one had the chance to save it earlier on and didnt.

Des.

Damn Des, thats terrible man, I am sorry to hear that.

Don't beat yourself up about it mate, you live and learn as some might say.

Oh no We're loosing too many fish these days! I'm so sorry Des I was thinking about putting my two groups together while rearranging the tanks, but I don't think I will now - there's one large alpha in each group. That spells disaster doesn't it. I had no idea they would fight to death.....

It's sometimes hard to know just how fish will react though. I put the L333 in the large tank today, and the L135 went bananas! There's two caves in the tank that the Peckoltia never use, but he was not having any L333 moving in either of them! He attacked them fiercly! I ended up taking the Peckoltia out to let the Hypancistrus' settle in properly. Better safe than sorry is the lesson learned lately

Sorry about your loss Des

I'm really sorry to hear about the male zebra Des, what can I say other than I know only too well what you're going through . I still kick myself about the one I lost recently . There definately seems to be a spate of zebra deaths at the moment, purely coincidental of course. Don't beat yourself up about it too much, I guess it's just one of those things. As you said when I lost my zebra it's brave of you to share the experience with us but I'm glad you did, someone else could quite easily have made a similar mistake.

Sorry mate

Des,

so sorry to hear of your loss.

OH, I'm so sorry Des, thank you for sharing with us so we can learn a lesson.

Hi Des,

I'm very sorry you lost your zeb . As has been stated a couple of times now, it's almost like something is going around (across the Atlantic?). I said in the other thread that misery loves company, maybe I shouldn't have

Val

Hi Guys (and girls)

Thanks for your comments.
Have taken some photos a couple of hours after I fished him out. Will try and post them when I get a chance.
Their fighting injuries dont look that bad (including Valhallans). I wonder whether they die due to something else e.g. "osmotic shock" and whether we can prevent this ? Maybe salt in the water?

Des

I'm not so sure salt is a good idea.... I've seen several reports of the Hypancistrus being extremely sensitive to salt, but... keeping an open mind to the experience of the members of this board, maybe this is exaggerated?

I know I lost a fry within half an hour when trying to save one from "what's wrong with my baby" with salt, while another recovered within hours when I upped the hardness with GH+

Might be a different case altogehter though....

Maybe their hearts give up from the extreme stress....?