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Barbie,
I think your zebras are obese and I'm jealous!!

Looking at them it seems hard to judge the sex by bodyshape as they are all wellfed. If you do have any males they should definitly do their thing with a long dry season and a rain.

On a different subject I noticed my QAs looking as fat as your zebras and all seem to have white bellies. Did you notice the male QAs having patterned bellies and being less fat? - That may be a clue for both or us.

Going by the odontoidal growth on the pectorals I think you have the males pegged but it is hard to tell as they seem to get a different appearance from different angles.

Beautiful fish though, really nice and well kept - good job!

They look great, Barbie! I bet you'll have them spawning in no time..
david
P.s. as you well know I'm the LAST person who should be guessing the sex of hypancistrus, so I shall asbstain..

no wonder they aren't having any conjugational visits (my QAs that is).

Maybe your zebras are just constipated

Hey Barbie, what are you feeding those guys??????? they are so rounded that at a glance they all look like they could be ripe females , Good luck

Barbie,
You have had both luck and unluck ...to me all look like females and females are harder to find than males, so get a male then they will breed easily.

Janne

Take them out the tank...take a look on the underside...if all look the same they are females.

Janne

[edit double post]

Wow ... they all look so fat. I am no expert, but from my limited experience, they all looked like female. How big are they? Are they 3" long?

Janne wrote:Take them out the tank...take a look on the underside...if all look the same they are females.

Janne

Hi Janne, Can you actually tell if they are male or femail by looking at their underside? If so, can you tell if these two are 1 male and 1 femail?
It looks like they are, but that's just my own observation (which isn't much).


thanks,

ZebraPleco,

That needs to be much closer to see the different between them.
When they are mature and in good condition the females genitalpapilla will look like a bulb and the males like a small tapp. There are also differents in the shape of the pectoral fin...males have longer more elongated and females shorter which make them look more "compact".

A guess is that you have two males...so sell one or change with Barbie
Janne

Barbie,
the one you have labeled as a male sure looks like a male based on shape, fins and head.

You just wanted to show them off, we are unlucky over here in Aust they are are no-go for us.
But I would love to keep some

Keep trying. Eventuly you will get there. Good luck, if only I had the chance to give them a try !

Woody

Hey Barbie they are beautiful. I wish you the most luck in breeding them. They look very plump, are they fat?

I would also like to ask and bring up an idea. Many exotic Pleco species are put on red lists and are less and less available every year. If more people helped in the breeding department, I feel this would definitely be benefiting to the species survival. For this reason I have the utmost respect for all the breeders here who actually contribute.

So as for my question, would anybody be willing to make a step-by-step guide for people interested in getting started. For a perfect example, myself!!! I am sure many just like me wish they knew more about this subject, and could help out. I have had fish for some time now and I feel I can take good care of them, but it seems as if though certain species, like the zebra Pleco for example, need extra special care not that of a typical aquarium. From the great amount of reading around I had done, I know I don't post much, I seen many reports that they like to have a current flow, just as a small example of those little things to know. But I;m talking about a nice, easy to understand for beginners layout, a newbie guide if you will, starting from tank layout, to all equipment used such as filters, gravel, airstones, suggested minimum tank size, test kits...etc... I have yet to find one anywhere on the Internet, or anything exclusive of such nature. I think that a tutorial guide such as this can definitely help, especially those who want to get started. I for one would personally love in helping out, I am fascinated by the zebra Pleco species and would love to contribute, but need to be shown how.

So basically, all this long ranting and rambling brings to the simple point, can anyone or is anyone willing to maybe write a setup guide?

Thanks all for reading this.

I am sorry to sound ignorant, but no I have no idea where any of those articles are. Got any links?

sodapopdima check your PM's

Barbie, I'm curious what your pH and general hardness is---I'm guessing it's difficult, if not impossible, to spawn these guys in hard water?

Hi Barbie,

best of luck on breeding the zebras. I am curious as to what type of feeding routine you have on the guys since I've never been able to get my zebras that fat. I feed mine with frozen brine and blood worms, and sinking pellets (tetra bits, ocean nutrition F1, Life spectrum) twice a day. How often do you feed and with what? Thanks. I'm also trying to get mine in breeding condition and growing some out.

sodapopdima...I agree totally about breeders helping out to make rare fish available to all and that is exactly why I started. I can't say my methods will work for everyone however it has produced 18 healthy babies from 4 spawns so here goes:

Firstly let me dismiss the theory that zebras won't spawn in hard water! I have had success with GH that has been as high as 12.

I currently have the six adults in a three foot tank and run a fluval 304 external filter. I have provided lots of caves mainly out of slate so they can pick one they like...don't be too fussy about making them look pretty because 3 of the 4 spawns have been in cracks between the slate not in the caves I thought they would like. The temp is a constant 86.

Ok now for some background and my method


In the wild zebras spawn during the rainy season which is usually between July and august..to breed zebras you have to trick them into thinking the heavens have opens by doing a 30% water change at 2 degrees cooler than the water in the tank (84).

Turn off the heater till the temp goes down to around 76 then turn the heater back on till it reaches 84.

Now just sit back and watch the action

Hope this helps

Barbie,

We have one or two people here in the UK that are breeding Zebras, I even gave them a go for a while. When I first got mine (12) I spoke with Ingo Seidel who was one of the first, if not the first people in the world to breed them. His advice to me was very simple keep them warm 82º F+ and make sure that the water is sparkling clean with a good flow.
The caves should be small i.e. just big enough for them to get into but not big enough to turn round in. I think the depth of the caves is important as well, they should not be much deeper than the length of the fish.

Sexing I was told is easy but I did not find it that easy. Personally I think you have a majority of males. I do not take to much notice of the body shape but look at the head from above, males are quite square and females more pointed. Males show pronounced pectoral fin spine bristles and opercular spines, they are also very bristly along the sides of the rear half of the body.

Looking at your pictures especially No 11/14 you can see the different head shape . Top left and second from the left look more pointed (females). Another thing that sometimes shows in males that are on the verge of breeding is the tips of the pectoral and ventral fins go red.

If you have what I think is an abundance of males it may be they are more concerned with dominance instead of attracting a mate, it could be worth just setting up a pair or two on their own.

With regard to dry season conditioning , I am not sure if it works for zebras as their natural environment is in very deep water, up to 8 metres.

Don't know if any of this helps.

Ian

barbie,

Relax...I think you caught the two males in males.jpg. Body shape goes out the winodw when they get a plump as this, since the v-shaped look of the males gets distorted. I would however follow Janne's advice and vent them. Since you're doing comparisons, its pretty easy. Just try not to let the males see you coming at them with a magnifying glass, it may set them back a month or two.

pl*co_farmer wrote:... I would however follow Janne's advice and vent them. ...

What do you mean by vent them? Sorry but I am not familiar with the term....