Right now looks like I have 1 male and 4 females. I was going through the threads and saw many people seem to have problems getting females. I had the other problem. A few years ago when I started collecting them all I could find was females. It was my great joy when I finally came across my first male. In those years since I had 1 ( what must have been my other male) die so now I am down to what I believe is a single male.
I just made a deal to get a few more fish to add to my colony. I have my choice of males and females. What do you people think I should get? I am thinking I should get at least 1 more male first. These are 1 year old captive bred fish, so they may be difficult to sex?
Best sex ratio in a colony?
Hi,
The general rule of thumb with most tropical freshwater fish is more females than males. With Zebra plecs you will probably get one dominant male (depending on your size of tank). If you are sure you have one male and four females and have the GREAT opporunity to get some more zebras I would personally get 1 male and two females OR (depending on your wallet) 2 males and three females. Not only will this cover you should you lose your male, it will also add new genetics to you colony.
Cheers
Tom
The general rule of thumb with most tropical freshwater fish is more females than males. With Zebra plecs you will probably get one dominant male (depending on your size of tank). If you are sure you have one male and four females and have the GREAT opporunity to get some more zebras I would personally get 1 male and two females OR (depending on your wallet) 2 males and three females. Not only will this cover you should you lose your male, it will also add new genetics to you colony.
Cheers
Tom
Looks like the Aquabid thing is going badly so far - I won the first bid today , but it seems that quite a few people have emailed me saying nobody can get a hold of the person. I think I am up to 7 different people that have emailed me saying the same things. Perhaps the Ex wife got the computer also 
Might have to talk to Barbie about that offer.........
Might have to talk to Barbie about that offer.........
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jerms55555
- Obsessed!!
- Posts: 360
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:50 pm
- Location: Los Angeles
This guy seems to be talking to me now. Took me several hours to calm him down. Wants me to do a PU after 9PM tonight. I want to see the fish and pick out a nice male.
Anyways, this guy seems a little unstable. If I don't answer back in 9 hours from now, then I am probably dead LMAO
Just in case here is the info he provided
James Vu
1717 Harvard Ave #18
Seattle WA
Update - address does not exist - It is a parking lot between a church and the address 1715 ( 1714 is across the street)
Anyways, this guy seems a little unstable. If I don't answer back in 9 hours from now, then I am probably dead LMAO
Just in case here is the info he provided
James Vu
1717 Harvard Ave #18
Seattle WA
Update - address does not exist - It is a parking lot between a church and the address 1715 ( 1714 is across the street)
Last edited by LyreTail on Fri Jul 01, 2005 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Females are harder to find lately. I know a couple people with spare males if you need them. I personally have a male I'd trade for a female and I know another member with a few spare males that's within driving distance of you that would do the same. Definitely buy females if you can, IMO. There are 3 of us with adult groups that I know of besides the person auctioning those zebras, all in Washington State. It shouldn't be too difficult to swap males at a later date to open up the gene pools. I make a trip to Seattle once or twice a year, on average, and my stepdaughter drives from UW over here about that often also.
Barbie
Barbie
[url=http://www.plecos.com][img]http://plecos.com/plecosbanner.gif[/img][/url]
This is a bit of a complicated one, as it depends on whether or ont breeding has already occured, from what I have seen.
Initially it is a good idea to have possibley more males than females. Then once you have a breeding pair, you introduce another female.
Ideally I like a colony of 1 male and 2 females, but this is obviously dependant on the females being interested in the male. The other side is that the males may not show any interest in breeding.
The female initiates the fight for the cave, if the male is not interested, nothing will happen.
In short, alot of it is chance. You may have 10 females and one stud. In which case, many females will spawn. or quite simply the male may not be interested.
I personally think, as Barbie stated, the more females the better. They do seem to be difficult to obtain, so if you get the chance, grab them.
Rob
Initially it is a good idea to have possibley more males than females. Then once you have a breeding pair, you introduce another female.
Ideally I like a colony of 1 male and 2 females, but this is obviously dependant on the females being interested in the male. The other side is that the males may not show any interest in breeding.
The female initiates the fight for the cave, if the male is not interested, nothing will happen.
In short, alot of it is chance. You may have 10 females and one stud. In which case, many females will spawn. or quite simply the male may not be interested.
I personally think, as Barbie stated, the more females the better. They do seem to be difficult to obtain, so if you get the chance, grab them.
Rob
The perfect white lie..."Of course I didn't pay that much for the fish honey"
thanks for the info - It looks like the Aqubid Zebras were a complete scam once again.
Before I moved my Plecos to this longer tank they used to shove each other around a lot especially in and out of caves. this past year there was a lot of action in the tank. They were previously in a two foot long 1 foot wide tank with a pair of Apistogramma that were spawning. The new tank is twice as long
Should the caves be spread out or all stacked in close proximity? My plecos now seem to sit in their new cozy caves and do nothing at all. even when I put food in. they used to be good at comming out when food was put in the tank.
Perhaps too much light. I think I will pull the Java ferns and leave the lights off. They can get ambient light from the window. I'll look at getting a real low wattage light made for them. I notice they get out more with the lights off.
Before I moved my Plecos to this longer tank they used to shove each other around a lot especially in and out of caves. this past year there was a lot of action in the tank. They were previously in a two foot long 1 foot wide tank with a pair of Apistogramma that were spawning. The new tank is twice as long
Should the caves be spread out or all stacked in close proximity? My plecos now seem to sit in their new cozy caves and do nothing at all. even when I put food in. they used to be good at comming out when food was put in the tank.
Perhaps too much light. I think I will pull the Java ferns and leave the lights off. They can get ambient light from the window. I'll look at getting a real low wattage light made for them. I notice they get out more with the lights off.
You only need one cave. With just one male, the females will take up residence in the general vicinity under other decor, but they won't use the cave unless they're ready to spawn. The less decor, the more apt the male is to get them in his cave, I was told. That doesn't mean you want them all stressed and exposed, but you definitely want the decor minimal.
I set the caves crosswise in the tank, so the current is blowing by the front door, usually at the end of the tank away from the source of flow, so they are out of the "eddy" where waste would build up on the bottom.
My tank is a 40 gallon long with 80 watts of light. It's on a timer for 6 hours and they get ambient room light the rest of the time. I don't think your java fern will thrive at 86, personally, but the light shouldn't be your problem. The squabbling you used to see was probably bickering about the pecking order among the females.
Barbie
I set the caves crosswise in the tank, so the current is blowing by the front door, usually at the end of the tank away from the source of flow, so they are out of the "eddy" where waste would build up on the bottom.
My tank is a 40 gallon long with 80 watts of light. It's on a timer for 6 hours and they get ambient room light the rest of the time. I don't think your java fern will thrive at 86, personally, but the light shouldn't be your problem. The squabbling you used to see was probably bickering about the pecking order among the females.
Barbie
[url=http://www.plecos.com][img]http://plecos.com/plecosbanner.gif[/img][/url]
I also have 40 gal with 80 watts on 5 to 6 hours per day with a timer- so I guess that is OK. I suppose my Plecos are just uncomfortable being moved a couple of weeks ago.
I will pull the plants an extra decor. Might as well copy someone that has had success. Temp still at 82 to 84 deg right now and going to be raised to 86 deg Sunday , Java fern doing OK except a couple that were burned with the salt treatment for the acclimation process when moving to the new tank. Half of the salt is gone now after last weeks PWC.
I would hate to loose the Java ferns as they took me about a year to grow LOL. they seem to take a long time except in my CO2 injected high lit tanks where they become monsters
I will pull the plants an extra decor. Might as well copy someone that has had success. Temp still at 82 to 84 deg right now and going to be raised to 86 deg Sunday , Java fern doing OK except a couple that were burned with the salt treatment for the acclimation process when moving to the new tank. Half of the salt is gone now after last weeks PWC.
I would hate to loose the Java ferns as they took me about a year to grow LOL. they seem to take a long time except in my CO2 injected high lit tanks where they become monsters
Changes made to 4 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot tank today
Light reduced to 40 watt single strip "aqua glo" bulb
Temp now up to 85 deg
Plants removed
partial water change done to remove plant matter
3 caves and other decor removed - three left on far end of tank
5 zebras now fighting for control of remaining hiding spots. Pretty viciously I might add. I have never seen them quite this beligerant in the three years I have had them.
Light reduced to 40 watt single strip "aqua glo" bulb
Temp now up to 85 deg
Plants removed
partial water change done to remove plant matter
3 caves and other decor removed - three left on far end of tank
5 zebras now fighting for control of remaining hiding spots. Pretty viciously I might add. I have never seen them quite this beligerant in the three years I have had them.
