Over the course of a year I was able to gather a nice collection from different sources and was ready to try my hand at breeding. How hard could it be? I was already getting hundreds of bristlenoses from multiple spawns, surely these must pretty similar?! Good clean water, lots of bogwood, males and females and a couple of slate caves. Why wasn’t anything happening?
So I started to read anything I could find about breeding Zebra plecs. Although there was not a lot of information, those that had been successful seemed willing to share. What followed next can only be described as ‘madness’ (at least it was by the OH) as I tried everything to get these fish to breed. I measured TDS and Ph. I re-created the rainy season! I even started paying attention to barometric pressure! I watched Sky News for the weather reports and ran to do a water change every time there was a hint of a thunderstorm on the way! I did stop short of looking for a Shaman in the phone book to perform a ritual rain dance, but I think you get the picture, I would have tried anything. But still nothing happened. It finally dawned on me why these fish are so rare.
Then disaster struck. While treating another fish for velvet disease in a tank in the same room as my Zebs there was some cross contamination that must have occurred. Even though I am meticulous about cleaning hands between tanks, using different nets etc. somehow I managed to draw the disease into the Zeb tanks and one by one began losing them. In the end I was left with a group of three. I was so devastated that I nearly gave up the hobby entirely. I moved the three to a quiet tank on their own in the fish house and just let them be.
I still delighted in seeing the Zebs, watching them scurry about when I would add some bloodworm to the tank. I moved a few bristlenoses in to keep the algae under control and added a few top swimmers to give them some security. I started treating them like the beloved pets they were instead of as a science experiment. Knowing how scarce they were fast becoming I felt really privileged to have these three.
One day I decided to move the bristlenoses as they were getting quite big and could out-compete the Zebs for food. I picked up a piece of bogwood and held a net under it to capture any that might have been hiding. Something did fall into the net but it surely wasn’t a bristlenose. It had black and white stripes. It took a few seconds to realise I was looking at a perfectly formed half inch baby Zebra plec! I calmed down and carefully placed the baby and the bogwood back into the tank. In total I found five of the stunning little creatures tucked away in different pieces of bogwood scattered around the tank. What an incredible find, especially as I was convinced that I had three males. Obviously not!
So it wasn’t me, it had nothing to do with the rain and even Sky News weather couldn’t take credit. The fish decided to breed when they were good and ready. Yes there is some science behind it but the key factor was in waiting until the Zebs actually reached sexual maturity at a minimum of three inches long. I have had subsequent spawns from the same male and I have noticed some patterns that may have to do with it, but then again knowing my Zebs may be purely co-incidental!
Things that work for me and my brood:
1. Patience! Patience! Patience!
2. Males have to reach a minimum of three inches (since it is extremely difficult to sex the fish it is the males that will take a cave and defend it)
3. A higher proportion of males to females works best as the female likes to choose her man!
4. All of the females will compete for the attention of the dominant male (sorry for the other guys but they just won’t get a look in!)
5. Regular water changes
6. Just before a rainstorm a good clean of the filter media really creates activity (not a guaranteed spawn but lots of attention from the females)
7. Loads of bogwood and caves about 1” high by 2” wide and and approx 5” long
8. Just let them get on with it without too much interference
Once the eggs have hatched and the fry have escaped from the cave I feed a steady diet of finely crushed Tetra Doromin. I picked up this tip from another successful breeder. Since using the Doromin the fry really develop quickly. I feed four times a day. I keep the babies in the tank with the adults as there is no chance of predation from the adults and I don’t keep them with any other fish at the moment.
My Breeding set-up:
Juwel 240L tanks with loads of bogwood and lots of caves for the males.
Filtration: Fluval 404 plus two sponge filters
Substrate: Gravel
pH: 7.6
Temp: 29c
Foods: Tetra Doromin, Brineshrimp, Bloodworm
Four male adults
Three female adults
Several juveniles (sex undetermined)
Babies from ½ to 1 ½ inches
No comments:
Post a Comment