Zebra Babies

[Fishkeeper2004]

Congrats on the fry, lovely pictures. Once they grow enough to sell on, drop me a PM if you have any that aren't already spoken for. If you are willing to sell them at an earlier age for a cheaper price, I would be interested in taking a group of 4 or 5 off you.

 

[ExoticStripes]

If you are willing to sell them at an earlier age for a cheaper price, I would be interested in taking a group of 4 or 5 off you.

I think the earliest you can move them is about 6 months old and these are only just over a month old at the moment so drop me a PM nearer the time if you are still interested

 

[tetraman]

How hard is it to breed them?

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

How hard is it to breed them?

Like most trops, breeding is successful in community aquariums, however diet, water quality, and tank layout are all very important in breeding these, and almost any other fish. If they are happy enough with their environment, and their is a good selection of males and females, breeding should occur naturally.

 

[ExoticStripes]

How hard is it to breed them?

Well i think the most difficult thing imo is getting a pair in the first place. Once you have a mature pair give them the right conditions and let nature take its course! But i think i have been very lucky with mine so i am probably not the best person to ask.

 

[tetraman]

If it's not that hard to breed them why are they so damn expensive?

 

[callum_parsons]

because they are illegal to export unfortunatly. but there are more and more people breeding them now so hopefully in the next few years we will be seeing more in shops anf hopefully at cheaper prices

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Getting adult zebras to breed can be a real hit or miss proposition. The biggest hurdle is getting them started. Many breeders rely on ro water and TDS meters. They will put the fush trhrough a dry and then a rainy season in order to get them spawning. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't.

While all it takes to spawn is a pair, having one doesn't mean they will. Breeders tend to rely on a colony which contains more females than males.

Even if you get eggs that hatch, spawns are small and between the average 12 or so eggs to the point they are "sellable" takes some time. Zebra fry are not easy to raise either, so that is the final challange.

That all said, there is nothing cuter than a zebra fry and I urge anyone who can afford to have these fish try to spawn them as there is no telling how long they will be around in the wild.

 

[Egmel]

What are people doing about ensuring a good genetic mix? Surely you should sell your male and female juvvies separately so that they don't interbreed? I'm just thinking about the long term here.

Smithrc, as for negative equity, get yourself some females and build up an empire!

I'd love to breed these guys, however at the moment I'm only just starting out fish keeping, so I think I'll leave it to the more experienced folk for a while!

 

[smithrc]

Smithrc, as for negative equity, get yourself some females and build up an empire!

- I'm working on it - See the for sale section - time to address the sex balance

as for genetic mix I'm quite lucky - The guy I bought them from had been collecting zebs over a number of years - Then I've added for another different source. Selling the fry together is a good point - BUT in the fish world inter-breeding is common. Zeb breeders do try to get a mix though - I certainly have

 

[dwarfgourami]

About the inbreeding question, correct me if I am being ignorant, but I seem to have a feeling that this is a bigger problem in fish that mature very young (think guppies) and have been deliberately inbred over a long period of time (think guppies). Inbreeding once or twice is probably not a big problem; it does happen in the wild. When we look at a fish like the guppy, that is sexually mature at 3 months and has been in the hobby for almost a century, then the number of generations that a line will have gone through since first wild parents is astronomical, and these are fish that may have been deliberately linebred, so the fish won't have had a chance to choose for themselves. I would have thought it would be enough to introduce new blood in every other or every third generation or so, and with longlived fish like zebras that gives you a bit more time, as you can go on using the same breeders for quite a while.
I've been thinking about this lately as I am now breeding rare small livebearers that probably don't live very long (no figures available) but where new blood is going to be less easy to come by- the only source I know of for either of my two species is the source of my original fish. Still, that's what aquarist societies are for. And forums such as this one

 

[Egmel]

I admit to having absolutely no knowledge of genetics past GCSE biology, so my understanding is probably even more basic than yours Dwarfgourami, I just thought it was an interesting point to raise. If people are trying to create a larger number of Zeb Plecs (or any rare fish) for the aquarium trade then there will be inbreeding, it's inevitable since we are starting with relatively small numbers. However the general population stands a better chance if there is as little inbreeding as possible, and it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

However I fully take on board the difference between these types of fish and Guppies! It was just something I thought I'd throw into the melting pot to see what people were doing to ensure genetic diversity.

I think swapsies are the ideal way forward, when you and a companion breeder raise fry you each swap males or females. This way you can both sell genetically diverse mixed groups.