1st few days of receiving Zebra Pleco's - Tips?

upc239 · Post by **upc239** » 16 Dec 2011, 05:18

Hi everyone. I was wondering if you can give me some suggestions and tips... what to do during the first couple of weeks of receiving some Zebra pleco's L46.

This is what Ive done so far:

1) Ive acclimatized them using the drip method...4-5 hours
2) Placed them in a cycled tank...temperature 29 celcius
3) They were previously in PH 7.2 water and now in PH 6.6, TDS a bit high at 210PPM
4) I did not feed them 1st night. Now im trying to give them blood worms and frozen krill and some zucchini.
5) I have the lights on for 9 hours a day, but im thinking i should keep the lights off to limit stress
6) I have 20x of them in a 55 gallon (48inch long). Sizes of fish range from 1.5 to 2.5 inches

Is there a way to lower the stress from the shipping?

Any advice is appreciated. This was a big investment

Thanks

Suckermouth · Post by **Suckermouth** » 16 Dec 2011, 05:24

Keep lights off. What's the hiding place situation like? Make sure you have enough hiding spots for all of them. Otherwise there's not too much else you can do except monitoring them.

upc239 · Post by **upc239** » 16 Dec 2011, 05:34

Keep lights off. What's the hiding place situation like? Make sure you have enough hiding spots for all of them.

Thanks...
Im going to keep the lights off for now... There lots of caves (allthough the caves are too big..)i didnt realize how small they are until i got them..
The tank is barebottom, but i think they have enough places to hide...theres also some driftwood

At first I wanted to put an infrared camera to watch them at night....until i found out that they can see the infrared lighst...and might just stress them out even more

Suckermouth · Post by **Suckermouth** » 16 Dec 2011, 06:28

Hmmm, I didn't know zebras could see infrared light.

wrasse · Post by **wrasse** » 16 Dec 2011, 06:51

upc239 wrote:Is there a way to lower the stress from the shipping?

strong oxygenation and strong current.

vanillarum · Post by **vanillarum** » 16 Dec 2011, 11:37

Zebras are actually pretty easy to keep. Mainly they need warm, clean water. I keep the lights off in my zebra tank, which is bare bottom. Mine will not touch zucchini, so you will need to see how yours do with it. I have an AC 70 filter and a sponge filter (it's a 40B), and I keep the temp at 85°. I also use an Aquaball 1212 for oxygenation, and an Aqueon pump for a little flow. The clean water and the oxygenation are more important than the flow. Like the PP stated, make sure there are enough hiding places. A hiding zebra is a happy zebra. Once they become acclimated, they will become more visible. Mine are at the point that when I walk by the tank, they don't scatter, they just stay 1/2 in and 1/2 out of their caves ! They will come out at feeding time, providing it is dark. I feed mine (like all my fish) every other day. Mine are kept in a windowless basement room, where the only light is from the other tanks, but it is enough to see them pretty well. Good luck.

mistern2005 · Post by **mistern2005** » 16 Dec 2011, 14:57

I'd recommend against feeding bloodworms to juvenile zebra plecos.

upc239 · Post by **upc239** » 16 Dec 2011, 22:17

mistern2005 wrote:I'd recommend against feeding bloodworms to juvenile zebra plecos.

Im concerned of the blood worms as well...but i really want to make sure these guys start eating..They are not moving much since I got them and im a bit over cautious I guess.

matti2uude · Post by **matti2uude** » 16 Dec 2011, 23:27

I've read that you can chop up the blood worms so they don't choke on them. I use to feed mine earthworm sticks, nls and hikari.

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Andrewjw · Post by **Andrewjw** » 17 Dec 2011, 00:50

Mine have never been very fond of blood worms or krill...what's wrong with good old fashioned pellets??? Mine breed routinely on a diet of ONLY Hikari Sinking Carnivore pellets...in fact this ends up being the preferred food of all my fish! Andy

CanadaPleco · Post by **CanadaPleco** » 17 Dec 2011, 00:53

I wouldn't worry if they are not eating the first few days...

Also try feeding the same foods that the seller was using, which I believe is kens sticks and NLS, check with him to verify though.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 17 Dec 2011, 01:10

mistern2005 wrote:I'd recommend against feeding bloodworms to juvenile zebra plecos.

Yes indeed, because when they are small teenage plecos, the blood in the bloodworms turns them into a , right.