Anyone bred L46 Zebra plecs - tank size

[simonas]

I bought 6 x zebras recently and plan to buy a few more if I can

What size tank did anyone out there breed yours in ?

They are in my discus tank currently but I think I will buy them their own seperate tank or use a sump chamber when its empty

Thanks

 

[Naughts]

@TwoTankAmin ???

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When I was in mey zebra heyday years I started with a proven breeding colony of 13 and 5 of their fry. They went into a 30B (gallons). It is basically 36L x 18W x 13H.

I filled it with wood, river rounds and slate but had it bare bottom. It also held about 9 caves. After a bit of time that became 8 caves and the plants came out. I kept it bare bottom.

I considered that maximum potential cover and hiding places of varied sizes mattered. Fry need places they fit and bigger fish do not.

When I began getting more Hypans from the Big Bend and other places. I began using 33Ls. They actually have smaller footprint than the 30B. A 30B is 3 x 1.5 ft. = 4.5 sq. ft. and a 33L is 4 x 1 ft. = 4 sq. ft.

Bear in mind that the fish need warm water whic means it holds less oxygen. Good surface agitation is important. Good dissolved oxygen is more important than a high low rate. One of the more successful breeders I used to know used air powered Poret cubefilters in many of his pleco breeding tanks. I copied that as well as using Hamburg Mattenfilters in a few of my pleco breeding tanks.

Just as an FYI- the first fry hunt I did in the zebra tank yielded 53 fry, I had a filter mishap that caused me to have another 10 or so in my first grow tank plus I pulled a cave with a dadon soon to be free swimmers so that meant another 13 or so.

When working with grups it is importent toi get all of the group as soon as possible. they will fight to work out the pecking order both for males and for females. After that adding new fish distupts it. If they are spawning, this will cause it to stop until the new pecking order is worked out. I was taught this by the lady who arranged for me to get the fish. She knew I had two adult zebras already and she warneed me not to mix them with the group I was buying.

 

[MaloK]

I have not bred zebras.

I had a pair of small bristlenose Ancitrus with a thick layer of sand, one big flat rock on top. And a copious "bouquet" of spinach as cherry on the top, that was always maintained. It still needed a 75 gallons tank and very strong filtration for one pair.

The objective is to get as much babies as possibly and get them out.

The pair made at least a hundred thousands babies... The spinach are perfect to catch all teens and move them as fast as possible before they are in the mood...

And make sure you can sell all that before before the next run... My father tough me all I need to do it.. And insisted on some points. And I did comply.

As an early teen I had a lot of duties and a lot more money than the average kid at the time.

I was selling teens BN's 2$ a piece in the 80's and my mom was literally tripping... Looollll

So as Zebras are Ancitrus I would do the exact same with them from start. to see how that goes.

Just need to isolate a couple... I leave that to you.

 

[Ceez]

I'm using 40g breeders and 50g's. I have 1 20g long but I don't like it at all. I'm gonna switch it up to all 60g frag tanks (48x24x12) soon and 80g (48×24×16) frag tanks for grow outs. Reason being is water quality will be better for my once a week water changes and I can grow out many more fish in a larger tank.

My short term experience would lead me to say best thing you can do is pay attention to your TDS. I keep my TDS between 50-60 for water changes and i change 80-90% of my water weekly. Once i started doing this my fish started breeding regularly. My fish all breed well and my 173s are finally starting to trap. There's quite a few German breeders who really preach TDS and once I got that dialed in my fish started to trap and make babies.

The next thing I would say is quality food. These 2 things seem to be the ticket to the success of these fish in my tanks.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Zebras are not Ancistrus, they are Hypancistrus. They need different water and food than Ancistrus. Zebra have unique needs.
Loricariidae

Hypostominae

Hypancistrus
Loricariidae

Hypostominae

Ancistrus
They are the same Family (Loricariidae) and (Hypostominae) but different Genera. Then it goes into different species.

I know people who have been able to spawn them in harder water then Ceez or I do. What sets them off initially is change. My tap is in the 80s ppm range for TDS. But is is well water cand over time can change based on area rainfall or lack thereof. <u lowest tap reading has been 52 ppm and the highest about 116 ppm. These are chnages over years for the most part. But multiple heavy rains cna drop the pH while dought condiotions raise it.

Diet matters as well as water temp. and oxygenation more than a specific TDS. But most zebras sold today are not wild caught, they are tank bred or farmed (useally in Asia/Indonesia.

Zebra spawns are small- 15 is a decent one. My last BN spawn was over 100 fry.

 

[simonas]

Thanks guys some really helpful info there. This little group of 6 I have has become super bold in the last week or so as I moved a group of large blue botia out . This has had a great impact on the tank
Food wise, a mate of mine runs EBO foods which has a great selection that is ideal for the likes of zebras, with insect, seafood,mussel little pellets and mine are going for it a fair bit

Early days yet as they are only about 4cm long but once they are in there own tank I am hoping to give it a good go.

Interesting point about adding the new fish and it makes total sense but I am money barred from getting more at the mnute, they have become pricier than when I last kept them

 

[TwoTankAmin]

They should not have increased in price, In early 2020, I and a partner imported 328 zebras from a well respected breeding operation in Indonesia. 278 of the were 1.5 inches and 50 were almost 2 inches. What we paid for the fish was $32 for the smaller and $70 for the bigger ones. However, there were box charges, clearing charges and shipping charges, So the ultimate cost of the fish landed in the states was ultimately $37.151 and $75.157 per fish. The sellers have a bagging machine and the fish were packed 1/bag.

Prices are now lower for the same fish.

My advice then would be you for not to add new fish gradually but to wait to get more until you can afford to buy them all at once. That way you will only have to deal with the pecking order disputes one more time. If your current six begin spawning before then, you might consider making a second group instead of putting the new ones in with the established group.

I bought several kilos of the Ebo-Aqiaristik food directly from them in Jan. of last year.
One kilo each of the Softgran Insect and Mussel.
One kilo each of the Shrimp and Veggie Sticks.
75 gm of the Artemia SuperSoft Granules (great for fry asnd other small mouthed, fish which need meat in their diet).
Total about 9 pounds US.

I am down sizing and have since sold all of my breeding groups of Hypancistrus since then save one, the WC 173. I am now almost out of the Mussel and Shrimp and getting low on the rest. The cost to get the stuff in smaller amounts from sellers in the states is pretty pricey though.

Zebras do need some veggies, but this need is greatest when they are young. I also feed a lot of frozen foods to my breeders and kids. For breeding, live is best, but I do not do live for a few reasons. Frozen is the next best option to live, imo. I am also a big user of the Repashy Gel foods. I use the Bottom Scratcher, Spawn & Grow and Spoilent Green. I mix each of the first two 80/20% with the 20% being the Soilent Green. I also use the soilent green on its own for the few ancistrus I have. But I also found that corys I have seem to eat is as well.

 

[anewbie]

I'd love to spawn L206 but I don't ahve a dedicated tank for them; as for BN spawning; i wish there was a way to keep them from spawning. I had this wonderful fish - it was a very large male nannacara amolae. It would park above the bn's cave and wait there all day and all night and as soon as a fry would leave the cave it would snack on it. Best spawn control i had - but still 50+ frys managed to escape and grow and grow and grow. When i moved i thought i got rid of them all (gave to pet shop); but then i found 4 more.... sigh. you just can't get rid of those things.

 

[simonas]

They should not have increased in price, In early 2020, I and a partner imported 328 zebras from a well respected breeding operation in Indonesia. 278 of the were 1.5 inches and 50 were almost 2 inches. What we paid for the fish was $32 for the smaller and $70 for the bigger ones. However, there were box charges, clearing charges and shipping charges, So the ultimate cost of the fish landed in the states was ultimately $37.151 and $75.157 per fish. The sellers have a bagging machine and the fish were packed 1/bag.

Prices are now lower for the same fish.

My advice then would be you for not to add new fish gradually but to wait to get more until you can afford to buy them all at once. That way you will only have to deal with the pecking order disputes one more time. If your current six begin spawning before then, you might consider making a second group instead of putting the new ones in with the established group.

I bought several kilos of the Ebo-Aqiaristik food directly from them in Jan. of last year.
One kilo each of the Softgran Insect and Mussel.
One kilo each of the Shrimp and Veggie Sticks.
75 gm of the Artemia SuperSoft Granules (great for fry asnd other small mouthed, fish which need meat in their diet).
Total about 9 pounds US.

I am down sizing and have since sold all of my breeding groups of Hypancistrus since then save one, the WC 173. I am now almost out of the Mussel and Shrimp and getting low on the rest. The cost to get the stuff in smaller amounts from sellers in the states is pretty pricey though.

Zebras do need some veggies, but this need is greatest when they are young. I also feed a lot of frozen foods to my breeders and kids. For breeding, live is best, but I do not do live for a few reasons. Frozen is the next best option to live, imo. I am also a big user of the Repashy Gel foods. I use the Bottom Scratcher, Spawn & Grow and Spoilent Green. I mix each of the first two 80/20% with the 20% being the Soilent Green. I also use the soilent green on its own for the few ancistrus I have. But I also found that corys I have seem to eat is as well.

I'm in the UK and for whatever reason they have shot up in price. Even the biggest and best shop in the UK Pier aquatics that always sold them att £85 now has them in at aboutt £120 and said to me they were struggling to get them in.

I ordered some bottom scratcher I have heard good things

Their seperate tank is being cleaned and set up over the weekend I am going to wait a while till I add them I think and use some tetras in there first to cycle it properly

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The market is flooded with zebras. they are now be farmed in Asia in multiple places. The problem with this is they do not like to sell in small quantities. Usually the minimum ordered from the farms coming to the USA is 50. But to get the best prices one needs to buy multiple boxes. We got the cheap prices mentioned above with an order that was close to $14,000. Almost no store wants that many and can spend that kind of money in a more profitable manner.

That leaves the wholesalers who want to markup the fish between 50% -100% and so does the store which usually marks up 100%-300%. Consider that the common schooling fish will sell for 35 to 50 cents each in quantity to importers. The prices stores charge is a lot more.

And then there is the fact that stores would ideally like to sell the fish as quickly as possible. So the more expensive the fish the harder that gets. A retail store must care for and feed fish. Most folks who want to buy zebras are generally knowledgeable enough to know if a zebra is healthy or not. If it is to thin or damaged almost nobody will buy it.

Most of the plecos I worked with are not even sold in stores, or at least not unless it is in the more recent past. Zebras are not the most expensive B&W Xingu Big Bend Hypancistrus.