Oh those are both gorgeous Plecos. I’ve been looking at Zebras to possibly start once I get the hang of my own bristlenoses. Have any tips for handling them?
money money money...
grab 1 confirmed female and 4/5 males as not all males are sexually active
spread out caves throughout the tank at least 1 per fish
bugbites/carnivore pellets and frozen worms for food
get a tds/ph monitor and an RO unit
whenever you change the water do a regular 20% tap water with dechlorinator
then turn on your RO unit and run the water very slowly not to cause sudden temperature drops
drop it down to 60tds and change the limit to 6.85 ph for 2 days and then back up to 7.05
try to keep the tds from 60 to 120 and a close to neutral ph
after a few water changes you should be able to tell which male is active and running around after the female...
keep that male..and whichever male usually sits farthest from him in the tank (that's basically a male that is not up to challenging the alpha)
sell the rest of the males for the same price you bought them and get females with that money..2 females for each male
then settings up the caves...many people will say put lots of caves...
honestly you just need 2 caves for each trio...1 for the male and one for a female so that the male can catch one of them in there...
unlike what you see on the internet about flow...you don't need it
just make sure the caves are covered from light
now to prevent deaths...> heater
you basically just need a stable temp...if your home is at 22C and your tank is around 26C with pumps and stuff...set your heater for 27C
you basically want a temperature that won't change because you heated your house and is stable all the time
spawning...some people will put them in breeding boxes..and I do agree for plecos that breed tons
but for zebra plecos I find it better to leave them in there to grow the first month by themselves for some reason you get less deaths than using a breeding box
let me know if you have any other questions
