L46 (Indo Bred) found at LFS

[sapusapu]

i found this guy at my lfs last night, they were told as real zebra l46 from indo ..price is still a mystery.
their size about 3-4cm, i am a newbie but i would like to know more from the pros bout keeping this beauty.thx

[Matt30]

Hi fella

Zebras are great, most people keep them in species only tanks as they don't compete for food well, there like wolfs, they live packs,they require good quality, you need high turn over and big filtration, and they like it hot and because of this you want air stones/ diffusers in situ because 02 is depleted quicker in warmer water, personally I think the aim is to have lots of tiny bubbles going to the surface, slower the better to oxygenate the water.
You need a TDS meter and depending on TDS of the water you are going to use you may need a R/O unit or get it at your LFS.
make sure they have lots of hiding places caves/ slate ,and don't expect them to come out and about like other pleco's they are nocturnal, if they do this then there's probably something wrong.They require a protein diet, but will eat de- shelled peas,well mine do anyway.
They grow very slowly and if your thinking about breeding them it can be a nightmare, if you pick up 4-5 and they all turn out male, then you need to find someone willing to sell an adult female etc, On the flip side they can live over 10years !
I love them, I think next to L134 there one of the most stunning tropical fish I have ever seen, saying that they are expensive and unless you know what you are doing, I would start with something much easier like Bristlenose or something,
I have only been keeping mine for 3yrs but when your doing 70% water changes every 5 days it feels a lot longer, I'm sure one of the other can give you more advise, good luck

[Hitch]

A very nice looking specimen. They are, in my opinion, a very easy species to keep and relatively easy to breed. I have been averaging about 1-2 broods every year without even trying to stimulate them or condition them. Here is what I think:

1) Tank: as with all plecos, larger footprint is more important than height (although not too big of an issue if you only have 1 zeb so far). A properly cycled tank is a must, 0 ammonia and nitrite.

2) water: pH and hardness is not too big of an issue in my opinion. They need stability, so I generally advise against messing with RO water unless you have your own RO machine (or work at a place where you have reliable RO water--reason I am saying this is that I find RO water bought from my LFS differ from time to time) and know what you are doing. Most of the people I know who is in my area who have successfully kept and bred these guys use tap water. Which in Toronto here, is semi hard and have a pH of 7.6ish. A friend who lives far from the main city has kept and bred them in well water, which is a much harder water.

3) Temp: high, my tanks are 82 at their lowest, and mostly at 84ish and at times 86F. Due to this, this will affect the plants and other fish you can have in their tank (so I have generally limited their tankmates to rummynoses, discus and sterbai corys). With increased water temp also comes to proper aeration of the tank. You can either put an air stone in, or (in my case) I just make sure one of my filters output creates sufficient ripple of the surface for aeration.

4) Food: they are carnivores, so give them the appropriate foods. My zebs are on a staple of (not in any order): hikari carnivore, hikari sinking wafers, earthworm sticks, NLS H2O, This is then enhances with occasional treats of (again not in any order): bloodworms (if your zeb is still small, melt the cube in a little dish and cut it into pieces), cooked prawns and boiled, de-skinned peas).

5) Compatibility: these guys are extremely peaceful to the point of pushovers, You would need to worry more about tankmates bullying them than the reverse. With that in mind, you also need to careful not to put fish that are too aggressive towards food. Since they are also not the best competitors of food.

I think this covers the general points, and of course everyone is going to their own methods and tricks towards their zebs (from husbandry to breeding), so what I recommend is to read as much as possible, get as many opinions as possible, so a search of zeb husbandry on this forum, reach their profile page, read their related articles in Shane's world. This way, you would be able to figure out which method or which combination of methods work best for you.

Best of luck and welcome to the zeb hobby and the community.

[Dave Rinaldo]

http://www.zebrapleco.com/

[Matt30]

Some good advice there Hitch, re R/O I should have pointed out the reason I use R/O is that the tap water were I live
fluctuates quite a bit, so I use a mix of R/O & tap water to get the desired TDS so the fish receive a stable PH/hardness.

[Bellenz]

Since it came from Captive breeding program, I believe it can adapt to your water condition much better. For that size, you can feed them pellet food and blood worms. If you do not mind me asking, did you get the fish from New York?