Expectant zebra dad!!!!!

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:51 pm

I can barely contain my excitement let alone right this post. I need to find a brown paper bag to breath into because I'm hyperventilating

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A few hours ago I lifted the cave where all the action has been happening recently thinking it was empty as I couldn't see the male, I don't know why I guess I was just curious. I did a quick check with a flashlight and I could have sworn I saw an egg mass of about 7 eggs. I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me as they were totally clear. I couldn't believe it and thought that I was mistaken as they were right at the back of the cave and fairly hard to see as the male was doing a pretty good job of blocking the view. It so happened that my brother came around and I got him to have a look, when he said those eggs are huge that confirmed it for me.

I'm sitting here a nervous wreck now and wondering what to do. I'm worried that lifting the cave may have spooked the male enough to eat the eggs. Do I leave him alone to get on with the job in hand? I was thinking if it would be ok to move him to a small tank I have setup just for this sort of occasion. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I would like to say a big thankyou to all the members here for helping me to realise a dream

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jerms55555 · Post by **jerms55555** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:59 pm

GREAT JOB, ADAM!!!!!

I think you need to relax and stop thinking so much....

I think everyhting should be fine and you should leave the eggs alone....but someone here with better experiences will give you a better answer, but until than maybe you should wait???
Anyways great job, man!!
Anything different you did to get them going that you can recall??

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:25 pm

hahahaha I knew it!!

Fantastic Adam! I'm so happy for you!! And I can relate 100% with what you're going through - stop hyperventilating, sit down, take a deep breath and keep repeating a mantra of some sorts until your pulse is down to normal

You haven't spooked the male. I know people that take the cave, male and eggs and move it to a different tank, and the male don't care one bit. Very singleminded and focused he is - he's got one thought in his mind - protect the eggs - even if the sky falls down. The exeption to this is if another male is constantly harassing him, then he will get spooked enough to eat the eggs.

I've even heard of somebody that accidently turned the cave upside down while the male was out for a moment, resulting in all the eggs falling out. he put the eggs back in the cave and pretended it never happened, and the male came back and kept guarding and nursing the eggs.

MAN, this is so much easier when it's not my fish we're talking about

Good luck Adam! I'm pretty sure everything will be just fine if you leave him to it.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 11:03 pm

Thanks guys

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It looks like the months of on and off simulated rainy seasons, rearranging tank decor and caves had nothing to do with it. In the end I just let them be and ignored them for the most part and guess what they spawn. I even cut down on the number of water changes and opted for bigger and fewer. The only "recent" change I made to the tank was the addition of a couple of new slightly smaller caves, that said both sets of caves are occupied.

Another thing I've noticed is that the male guarding the eggs is quite small in comparison to some of the other males. Surely he can't be the Alpha

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McEve so you think that it should be ok to move dad and eggs to the other tank?

Thanks again guys

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Adam.

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 11:11 pm

good job bro. im happy for ya

hopefully theyre fertile

so how long have you had your zebras adam?

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:12 am

Why do you want to move him Adam?

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:20 am

I'm just a bit worried that he will not be able to hold his own against some of the bigger males. Hold on a minute I'm slipping back into tinker mode again, I will resist and leave him alone

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Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 12:44 am

Congratulations

Looking forward to seeing seven tiny zebras

Andrew.

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 1:53 am

Congratulations Adam !

VERY NICE

Your experience is so simular to mine that it is unbeliveable.

Samme thing happend, i gave up simulating rainy seasons, and left them alone. The water changes where altso spaced furter apart. One day when i was looking for an missing zebra, i found the eggs. Did the same as you, lifted the cave and found one of my smaller males guarding eggs. I had the same thoughts as you as well, what should i do, had i ruined it by lifting the cave, and would the bigger males leave him alone. I was totally exstatic. Altso tried removing the fry from the male on several occations.

I asked nearly the same questions as you on this forum, and got a lot of good answers.

So my advice to you is the same advice i got, leave them alone, and let them figure things out on their own. If the bigger males start to harase him, i would consider moving the cave, but not before.

I left them alone and now i got my 6th spawn about 14 days ago

Hope you get to experience the same

Regards

Tom

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 2:36 am

Cheers Andrew, I shall get some pictures just as soon as the male lets me look in his cave for long enough

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Thanks Tom,

The events leading up to our spawns are remarkably similar

. I must admit it is difficult to just leave things be, the temptation is for me to give the dad a helping hand but I will not. I'm just a bit worried that he may be harrassed by the other males so I am tempted to take him and his cave out. Howevevr I will let him get on with it, he seems to be a good dad because I see him fanning the eggs. Well I think that's what he is doing, his fins are gently beating. I can't believe that you are up to six spawns already

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Post by **Barbie** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 6:11 am

Congrats Adam! I wouldn't mess with him just yet. Let him get a feel for things. If you remove him from the tank, another male might assert dominance and you'd have to let the hierarchy get reestablished before they spawned again. They won't hurt the fry, IME. Here's hoping your first spawn is fertile!

Barbie

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 11:36 am

Adam, take some deep breaths... think clear blue ocean... there you go... calm... calm....

Oh and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Des · Post by **Des** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:24 pm

Hi Adam,

From one breeder to another, what can one say, not a lot ,apart from saying CONGRATULATIONS .
I know that when I had my first spawn, I had to have a large Scotch to calm me down !!!!! and come down from Cloud 9.
Get ready with your floating fry container , if you require to remove the fry.
My second (fertile) spawn is being well looked after by the male and hasnt left the cave for more than a few seconds. Since he is looking after them, thought I would keep the babies with him.

Well done , again,
Des.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 2:10 am

Thankyou everyone for all the very kind comments and much needed advice

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Done about a million things around the house today so as to keep my tinkering hands off the zebra tank

. I have decided to leave dad to it as he seems to be doing a good job. He hasn't left the cave once not even at meal times, He remains deep in the cave most of the time. I managed to sneak a picture but he had most of the eggs covered, sorry it's not very clear. You can just about see a couple of eggs under his right pectoral fin, the remaining eggs are on the left side of the cave, honest

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du ma · Post by **du ma** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 2:34 am

sweet.............are you sure theres eggs in there??

jk