Spawning setup for zebra plecs?

[gex18]

I have 6 zebra plecs in my 400L discus setup but would like to breed them?! Have had them for 1 year now, what setup is required? I have a 24" tank and would want to know what decor to include and paramters to adhere to. What temp, ph, kh, gh etc. Barebottom or not? Plants or not? What diet should i include? Should i imclude dither fish? Have any of you guys had succesful spawning / setups?

[Silurus]

There is a wealth of resources on this site. Look around and you will find them.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s_r_245.php

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s_r_273.php

[pleco_farmer]

This is my standard setup for hypancistrus research...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9957

...has worked well for L-046, L-066, and other small species who apreciate a bit of current.

[gex18]

I have purchased an 18" x 12" x 12" tank as this is all i can fit in the space. Will this be ok? How many can i fit in there (i have 6 in total)? Will be filtered by fluval 2 filter and a fluval 4 owerhead to provide current. Bottom will be fine quartz gravel, with several broken plant pots (for caves) scattered on the bottom of the tank. Diet will consist of frozen beefheart, bloodworm daphnia, hikari tablets and tetra prima and brineshrimp. Sound ok?

[pleco_farmer]

Tough question, because it lies outside of my experience. The smallest footprint that I work with is 30X12X12. You are practically cutting that in half.

In a 30X12X12, I keep 2M/3F, and the females all breed with the dominant male. Given a variety of caves, the males tend to take up residence at opposite ends of the tank. The social order in group of zebras is important to consider. In fact, if I remove the non-breeding male from a working tank, spawning will decrease dramatically. Shuffling up the cave arrangement can put them off for several months.

Your other parameters seem right, although be sure that the substrate is nice and rounded, they do poke around in the gravel. Drop in the caves and watch how they interact. Fighting can be pretty intense, especially when it takes place inside a cave, it sometimes leads to fatalities. I would definitely remove excess males as soon as you can identify them.

For feed, I do stick to frozen bloodworm and frozen brine shrimp and the small hikari sinking wafers. I would avoid the beefheart, and strictly limit other quantities in such a small tank. I rarely feed more than alternate days as well.

[MatsP]

Does anyone see a problem in breeding these fish "in situ" with the Discus?

I guess once the fry starts coming out, the discus will have them for dinner?

Will discus get problems with a lot of water-flow from another power-head?

How about splitting off part of the discus tank with some sort of separator plate?

Just some thoughts...

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Mats

[Tristan]

Hi gex

Good to see you are trying to breed these little devils. I have a group of 11, most of them too small at the moment but they will get there. Try the link below, the forum has a load oc breeders there, really useful and frendly community.

Cheers

Tristan

http://www.zebrapleco.com/

[gex18]

Have purchased a 24 x 12 x 15" tank for some queen arabesques. Will get a 30 x 15 x 18" for the zebs at a later date. Any1 know of any for sale in england?

[MatsP]

You can search for fish for sale at TropicalFishFinder.co.uk if you want.

I don't think L260 is that rare. I did a search, but when I posted a previous reply, PlanteCatfish timed out. In my search I found like 10 different places that say they have L260.

I have seen them at my semi-local branch of Maidenhead aquatics. They have shops in many places, so there may be a branch near you.

Having said that, I always try to get my "own" LFS to get the fish I want, rather than find a shop that has them. That is if you have a good LFS that you like, of course.

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Mats