PlanetCatfish.com

Back in March or so, I picked up 3 L46 from a friend getting out of the hobby. Poor fish were kept with African cichlid fry, in an unheated tank. I was told there had been two pairs (friend got the zebras in a trade a few years prior and lost one during the move) so in theory I should have 2m, 1 f, or 2f, 1 m. For a while I only saw two zebras in caves and celebrated that I had males and a female.

But now I regularly see all three in caves. They seem to switch around who gets what cave though.

Do I have a bachelor pad of three males, or do I need to rearrange the tank, get more caves, etc? The tank is 20 gallons with lots of rockwork and about 6 caves.

If you can post some photos I could give you my opinion of their sexes. There are a lot of members with a lot more experience than me that could help you. I am glad that you are in Phoenix. I am in Cottonwood. If you want to sell any of your L46's please let me know. I only have 1 zebra that is about 2" in size, sex unknown. lol Steve.

It is not uncommon for females to take up hiding in caves, especially if there are few other places for them to hide. And I think they do this purposely to help make it more difficult for us to sex them ! I would suggest adding some other places for them to hide and feel safe, and see if that might bring the female(s) out of the caves. Good luck.