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Recently i have added my male zebra to a new group of unsexable juvenilles and has started to get a blue tinge all over body and fins, this is normal isnt it? and what is the smallest size that zebras will spawn, i have heard that it is 1 1/2 inches is that correct? Is there any tell tale signs that they are ready to spawn?

Blue tinge means it is very healthy and happy. I'm not sure about the min size for breeding though. In the past, I had heard that it was very difficult to get those types of fish down under, has that changed?

One last time NEW ZEALAND is not a state of Australia. Kiwis and Koalas do live in the same country . It is hard to find zebras in australia for they are on the prohibited list and for the ones that are available the price is about $1000 for a sub adult . Here in New Zealand it is still hard to get them but because the market is small, so the wholesalers dont like having these expensive fish siting in tanks for months, the price in New Zealand ranges from $160-$300.

Hi!

1 1/2 inch is way to small for them to spawn, I would say they usually becomes mature at around 2 1/2- 2 3/4 inch... under that size they are not mature.
Cheers
Yann

Wheyhey calm down he didnt say Austrailia, he said "down under".How was he to know that they are easier to obtain in NZ.

Didnt mean to sound aggresive, its more of a joke aussies and kiwis have with the americans. Aussies dont like kiwis being assiocated to there country and kiwis like people to know we dont need aussies, so accept my humble apologie. All will be settled when the all blacks win back the rugby world cup Its not really easier to get them here as you have to order at least 10. I actually feel sorry for the aussies for the royal panaques are not allowed either. I think at the moment they are reviewing the zebra for the allowable list, I hope that the retailers and wholesalers dont great greedy. I have some photos of my zebras and snowballs at http://community.webshots.com/user/macka130

I know that they are 2 different countries . I just assumed that the laws would be similar with all of the exotic wild life "down there".

It would make sense if the laws where the same but they are not, I think the reason is as we are a sub-tropical country Hot summers cold winters, but australia has extremly hot summers and very mild winters. Not many fish would survive a winter in NZ as the temp difference is to great. At the moment the temp has been up around 26-32 degrees and in winter it drops to -5-10 degrees, ofcourse depending where you live. Alot of fish that arnt on the allowable list get in as MAF dont know what they are checking when shipments come in, as frontosa are not allowable list and have been coming in big numbers.