Disappearing Zebra Pleco Fry?

[mistern2005]

First time experience happened to me on Saturday....

Normally after precisely 15 days, I remove my zebra pleco fry from the cave with dad and put them in a breeder trap in the grow out tank. Generally speaking, after such move I sometimes lose about 10-15% of the fry over the next few days. To mitigate this my experiment for the current brood was to leave the fry in the cave with dad about 20 days - which I did. When I went to get them on Saturday, there were NO fry in the cave. Now, I didn't fully tear apart the breeding tank looking for the fry, but I looked pretty darn well and didn't see any fry hiding anywhere. Could the fry be hiding somewhere? Of course. Is it possible they hid so well I couldn't find one of them? Not likely.

I'm concerned that the fry "disappeared"....either perished or were eaten. The only co-inhabitants, other than zebra plecos, are some rummynose tetras....not a usual suspect since I also keep a small group of rummys in the grow out tank....

Any ideas? Is it more probable that I am not seeing them or more probable dad ate all the kids?

[jvision]

I'm pretty sure that when rummynose see something that will fit in their mouths, they'll eat it. I had a school of 80 or so in a large (130gal)planted tank that would wait til fry were free swimming (angels, BNs, corys) then would attack until every fry was picked off.

[TwoTankAmin]

I have seen a few triple red cacs, not hugely bigger than rummy nose, eat a spawn of close to 75 bn in about 48 hours or less.

That said, zebra fry are master hiders. My first fry catching expedition into my 30 gal breeder tank )36x12x13 inch)yielded abut 56 fry. It was almost impossible to catch site of the fry before breaking down the tank and I have no clue there were that many. I also have a method for this which involved setting up a 16 gal, Rubbermaid with an airstone and a heater. As I remove wood etc from the tank, they go into the Rubbermaid. I do this because the fry will find their way into crevices in the wood. If the wood isn't in war aerated water they would likely die. The point is they are expert hiders.

So it is very possible most of the fry are still in the tank. But it is also possible they are not. For this reason I always keep spawning zebras in a species tank. They make very expensive snacks.

[mistern2005]

A triple red cac I could see eating fry - slightly larger mouth, more attitude. But rummynose tetras...wow...in my tank they only half-heartily go after small live foods. Lesson learned...time to shuffle some fish around. I'm hopeful they are hiding...

Do you think it possible the father ate the fry?

[pleco_breeder]

I know this has been said before, but tetras are definitive predators. Someone posted some time back that neons have even more impressive dentition than piranha. I didn't believe it so I looked under a microscope. I still wouldn't say more impressive, but their teeth are definitely evolved for tearing off chunks. Fitting the whole thing in your mouth isn't an issued if you can just cut off one bite at a time.

That having been said, TTA is correct about being master hiders. It may be difficult to imagine a bright white and jet black fish being difficult to see, but when they squeeze into a tight hole it breaks up their silhouette exceptionally well. Even for a human eye they're difficult to see. I can't imagine how a fish would be capable of finding them if they're actively trying to hide, which they do most of the time.

Larry

[2wheelsx2]

I don't know about H. zebra fry, but in my 100 gallon square tank, I have 6 adult discus, of which 4 are continuously spawning and all the fry get picked off by the tetras (Rummy Nose, Black neons, etc.), but I also have multiple pairs of P. compta, H. sp. (L333) spawning continuously and I've seen fry continuously and many of them have grown into adulthood. They hide in the roots and plants and rocks that I have the tank scaped with. I don't know if your tank is barebottomed, but if there are wood and rocks I would say the fry have escaped and are hiding and you won't know until they start to get bigger.

[mistern2005]

I've confirmed that some (or all?) are just hiding. I've captured four and spotted another two. They hide super well in the main tank. Hopefully there are more and not too many were "converted" into snacks!