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Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f trio?

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:47 am
by lzebra
hey everyone
I am wondering has anyone here been successful at breeding from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f trio? If so, what advice can you give?
I have a trio (f/f/m) (one female is particularly hairer than the other) for about 2-3 months but no luck yet. I purchased these guys from an existing breeding colony a few months ago. Apart from one of the females going in the males cave a few time 6 weeks ago, nothing much has happened since then. I hardly see the male as he is looked inside his cave most of the time.
Water considitons:
4 x 2 x 2 tank
Temp. 29-30C
TDS 140-160
GH: 4-5
KH: 1
water flow: 1500l/hr cannister, 1000l/h interal filter, corner filter and 2 x 3000l/hr pump
4 caves (suitable size for adult zebs)
dw: hollow dw about 1/2 length, a 3 ft piece, 3 other misc moderate sized pieces
plants: some anubius
substrate: was bare bottom, now has 1cm layer of silica (2mm gravel/sand)
food: OSI shrimp pellets daily, frozen blood worms three times a week, frozen brine shrimp weekly, white worms weekly

any advice?

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:46 pm
by Stevie.K
I have had success with 2 groups of m/f/f, I wouldn't put f/m/m groups buts thats just my opinion I would try a bigger group that is more female heavy with 2 or 3 males.
Good luck with breeding them I would say everything looks good with your tank, patience is the biggest thing you may be lucky with getting them to breed soon or they may take years to start as I have females that I have had for years & I am still waiting. :wink:

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:15 am
by lzebra
Thanks for your reply Stevie k
They've bred before. They were from an existing breeding colony. The male was the alpha male. I'm told he is not a regular breeder like years ago as he is getting older, my guess is he is 7-8 years olds. Im thinking of adding another mature male to add competition to my colony to spur my alpha male along. Any thought about this strategy?

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 6:46 pm
by Joby
I have a m,f,f trio breeding that originally came from a larger group. 4 spawns so far with only 2 resulting in fry though. He usually takes turns with the females :D

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:33 pm
by Stevie.K
lzebra wrote:Thanks for your reply Stevie k
They've bred before. They were from an existing breeding colony. The male was the alpha male. I'm told he is not a regular breeder like years ago as he is getting older, my guess is he is 7-8 years olds. Im thinking of adding another mature male to add competition to my colony to spur my alpha male along. Any thought about this strategy?
No harm in adding another male to the group with there being a couple of females in there already, it may spur the group on & create a new Alpha.
I used to have a larger group were 2 males were spawning for 6 months at a time with 2 or 3 females & would take it in turns to breed in the same cave after their 6 month break, very strange!

Here is the best pic I took with 2 females in the males cave. :lol:

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:20 am
by lzebra
Joby wrote:I have a m,f,f trio breeding that originally came from a larger group. 4 spawns so far with only 2 resulting in fry though. He usually takes turns with the females :D
Joby, how long did you need to wait when you got your Zebs to breed when you got them from a larger group?

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:22 am
by Joby
lzebra wrote:
Joby wrote:I have a m,f,f trio breeding that originally came from a larger group. 4 spawns so far with only 2 resulting in fry though. He usually takes turns with the females :D
Joby, how long did you need to wait when you got your Zebs to breed when you got them from a larger group?
I was very lucky in that they spawned within a month of moving to their new home :D

Others I have brought in are still not interested a year on so I guess it depends on the individuals :roll:

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:06 am
by lzebra
Cos they've breed before (not for me, but for the previous owner many many times) i'm getting impatient after 3 months of waiting :frustrated:
Atm i'm trialling to induce spawning via a method written by Christophe Girardet on plecoplanet.
===start quote====
1st day: Normal temperature 28°C. Switch the heater off and let the temperature fall to 22°C over two days.
3rd to 8th day: Stopped feeding, no more water changes and let the temperature stay at 22°C
9th to 17th day : Raise 1°C per day until 30°C and in the meantime give live food again, progressively more over time.
18th day: Water change of 50% with similar water (as explained above)
===end quote===

(having the temp down at 22C for 8 days and not feeding for for 5 days was the scariest thing ever, every night i was coming home fingers cross that my zebs were still alive. They all pulled through fine :D )

I'm on the 15th day so let see what hapens after a water change. Hope this works cos it driving me bonkers :loldude: :loldude:

Query: has anyone tried this method? and if so, was it successful?

Lzebra

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:07 am
by Joby
Oooh you're braver than me but I wish you luck :)

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:31 pm
by TwoTankAmin
Everybody has their own method to try and induce spawning. What works for one person may or may not work for another. My experience has been that the most important aspects of trying to induce spawning are:

1. Big water change after allowing TDS to rise via skipped water changes. The new water has a much lower TDS level.
2. Timing the big water changes to the arrival of a decent storm which is preceded/accompanied by a drop in the barometric pressure.
3. Good power feeding of a good quality high protein diet. Even for the vegetarian/algae loving plecos, adding protein to their diet is essential.

My personal experience has been that the temperature changes many swear by are not all that necessary in most instances. Only when there is a stubborn case have I even thought about trying them. The Hypancistrus can live in some poor conditions for a while just fine and do seem to handle, if not thrive on parameter changes that might be harmful to other fish. This is often why new owners often have plecos and corys spawn soon after being put into a totally new tank/environment.

I wish you good luck with what you are trying. Most of the battle is discovering exactly to what your particular fish will respond.

Re: Anyone successful bred from a pair or f/m/m or m/f/f tri

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 8:08 pm
by toddy123
hi mate i was like that i wanted my zebs to spawn yesterday all i did was 15% water changes every day with 2 cubes of frozen blood worm and a sprinkle of tetra prima didn do any of that turn the heater an that of but then i guess each to there own and i constantly kept my tds at 100 an it only took me 2 an a half months to breed mine keep it simple my friend because simple works lol