Zebra Pleco owners - I have questions!

[Burks]

Hello

I might be getting two Zebra Plecos in the coming weeks and if I do, I want to be prepared.

The tank I'm planning on putting them in is a 40g breeder with a Rena XP2 canister filter, pool filter sand substrate, and planted with mainly Java Fern and a couple other plants here and there.

Tankmates right now include:
8 Albino Corydorus
2 unknown Corydorus
3 Ablino Plecos
6 Dwarf Crays
4 Amano Shrimp

Does this setup seem to be a good setup for the Zebras? On all the articles I've read it seems to be ok but I'm looking for more backup on that idea.

Thank you all.

[Riley]

How big are the zeebs going to be? If they are going to be F1 juvies there is no way I would put them in the that tank. I would either put up a fry trap for them so I could grow them up for a long time (like a year plus) before I would introduce them to that tank. I think it would be way to hard for those lil guys to get food.

If they are a decent size (like 2 inches plus) I think you would be alright. Just make sure they have some caves and such to hide in.

If it is was me, I would put them in a tank all by themselves, that is alot of money to to put in tank.

[LS1Andrew]

I'm not a zebra pleco owner, but I do own fancy plecos.

The zebras do not compete well for food, and since almost everything in that tank will be mostly on the bottom, I don't think the zebras will get enough.

Zebras do best in a species tank, or at least a tank where they are the only competition for food on the bottom. (Also, LOTS of caves and a nice current) You can keep them with other plecos but it's very tricky and they really do shy away from competing for food.

I'd suggest another tank, or at least some fish that spend most of their time in the mid-high levels of the tank.

Check out planetcatfish and plecofanatics. There are also some zebra pleco specific forums out there too.
http://planetcatfish.com/catelog/spe...species_id=168
http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/

Congrats if you get them, but as expensive and beautiful as they are, I'd try to make life nice and easy for them.

[Burks]

Getting rid of the other plecos and Corydorus is no problem. I have other tanks they can move to.

They'll be F2 (IIRC) and roughly a year or so old.

[Riley]

A year or so should put them at around an inch to an inch and half.

Personally I would keep them in a ten gallon tank for a while until they get some size to them. In a 40 gallon breeder two 1 inch fish are going to have some issues finding the food you put in.

Good luck....if I may ask....how much and where are you getting them from?

[crazie.eddie]

I would get rid of the crays as well, in addition to the corys and other plecos.

Make sure you provide a few caves for the zebras to hide in.

A 40 gallon breeder maybe big for just 2 zebras. A 20 gallon tank is sufficient for 2 people, though a 10 gallon is fine. I grewout 2 juvenile L-046 plecos in a 10 gallon, which looks like this...



As they grew larger, I later moved them in a 20 gallon long planted tank. A few months ago, I acquired 2 more juveniles and kept them in them a the same 10 gallon tank, but I used a sponge filter instead. The power filter blew the frozen blood worms all over.

[MOsborne05]

Wow, congrats Burks! It would probably be pretty cheap to make your own caves, but if you want fancy ones, there is a place in Michigan that specializes in breeding stuff

http://www.cichlidbreeding.com/products.php?cat=9

[Ozymandias]

MOsborne05 i was looking over some of those desines and i think i could probably make some simaler things out of redware

[newshound]

I don't know much about plecos but
some need driftwood to help process food.
and they suck (hahahaha) at getting food vs corys and loaches.
enjoy them!

[crazie.eddie]

Zebra plecos do not require wood for feeding, they only use it for hiding.

Although omnivores, Sub-Adult/Adult L-046 zebra plecos will eat on some vegetation. Very young L-046 plecos do not seem interested in any type of vegetation, or at least, I haven't spotted mine eating any.

[Burks]

Thanks for all the help Eddie. I think I'll be basically recreating your setup. If it works for you, chances are it will work for me.

Are you feeding yours bloodworms/mysis? That's what I've read as what most people feed their Zebras.

Sorry for all the questions but if I'm going to do it, I want to do it right.

[crazie.eddie]

Yes, I do feed mine frozen bloodworms. When I first bought mine, they were about 1" long. You are supposed to cut up the frozen bloodworms for young zebras, since there have been incidents of plecos choking on the long bloodworms. I never knew this so I never cut them up, but I never had any incidents. Besides, as far as I know, fish do not have windpipes and they breath through their gills, which is on their side, so I don't know how they could choke. My 2nd pair of juveniles that I bought were also about 1" and I still fed them uncut FBW and still had no incidents.

I've tried to feed mine mysis shrimp, but they seem to not have any interests with it as well. I would often feed hikari sinking carnivore pellets, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, zuchini, frozen BBS (baby brine shrimp), and some frozen cooked shrimp. I usually feed once a day, before lights out, which many people do. The only signs of food being eaten are the FBW, zuchini (sub-adults/adults) and probably the BBS, though they are so tiny, I can't be positive.

[crazie.eddie]

Yeah, so grow them out at first in a smaller tank, so they easily find food and get used to the foods you will be feeding them.

The caves are easy to make. Just buy some slate tiles at a hardware store and also a wet tile saw, which runs about $100 (USD). Also aquarium glue. If you don't want to spend the time/money making your own caves, there are several people that make/sell them in the US.

Go to zebrapleco.com and read through some of the threads. There are also some people on there that make/sell slate tile caves. I think there is a guy name Noodl3 that lives in Ohio that sells them as well. I believe he still has some zebra plecos as well.

[Burks]

Thanks for all the advice Eddie!

I have a buddy who will cut the slate for me. He's got tons of equipment from when he was a mason/bricklayer.

Will definitely check out that site.

[toddnbecka]

Here's a long-running journal of keeping/breeding the striped beasties you may want to check out: http://www.fishaholics.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288