The Zebra Pleco Tank (L046)

[FishBubs]

Hi Si,
The purpose of boiling the cuttlebone is simply to ensure any harmful bacteria or other nasties are done away with and not plonked into your tank. I would try little bits at a time rather than a whole one. I will need to check but i do think i have read a ‘dosage’ for cuttle bone but only you know your own tank. Pop a bit in, then monitor ph and so on

[Staffylover]

Your new fish look lovely and chunky, I definitely have the fish acquisition syndrome, but I am not restricted to one breed or even type of fish and get regularly tempted by all kinds of random stuff, this also applies to tanks in my case so even worse for my wallet!

[FishBubs]

My name is fishbubs and i am also a fish aquisitioner’oholic.

[plankton]

Crushed coral may not be enough for the shrimp. If you use "cuttlebone" you can break a small piece off, boil it for a couple of minutes and then pop it in the tank, the shrimp will graze on it.
It's also cheaper then crushed coral (which I'm always very dubious about with fish in there - mouth damage) and last for ages.
I'm currently toying with getting shrimp again, but I need to save up after my own new additions....

I normally stick a bag (old sock) of crushed coral in the filter and top up every months or so. Always worked when I had the thriving shrimp tank of 600+ shrimp. Only difference is I had less 'tree' in the tank back then to lower PH. I've already ordered some cattle bone when you previously suggested it. Hopefully arrives soon.

Loads of new yellow shrimplets hatching the breeder box today.

Why do you boil the cuttle bone first by the way? To soften it? Is this essential?

It makes it sink better, and does clean nything else off as well.

[Si4geckos]

Morning all. Update and questions.

Shrimp are doing fine now I've added the crushed coral. I see a fair few around and also a very berries female yesterday.

Secondly the baby zebra are doing excellently. I went away for 4 days with work, didn't feed them and I swear they still grew. Each are a good solid inch/ 25mm long now. All 6 still looking fantastic and getting stronger and older.

On the note of getting older, inspired by this forum, I installed fish CCTV with night vision. I always wondered what went on at night as there was sometime a crater outside one of the caves so I wondered if breeding attempts were happening. Cue addictive watching! As soon as the lights go out it all kicks off. Males fighting, females trying to get in caves, chasing, arguing. It's surprisingly aggressive.

'Fish dad' (who raised the last fry) mostly protects one cave, while another 7 fish try and get in it for various reasons. '2-spot' another male, constantly argues for that cave, while 'brummie-barbara' (female that came from birmingham and mother to the babies) constantly tries to fight her way in, presumably to lay another batch of eggs.

Weirdly, they all fight over 1 cave and leave the other 8 or so empty. After about 30 mins of fighting, fish dad wanders off and goes for a midnight mooch. Nobody is interested in the cave then and it stays empty. Then eventually he returns and it all starts again. Barbara tries to get in, but fish dad keeps booting her out.

I googled it and too many males can cause territorial behaviour and aggression so last night 2-spot got moved to the big tank, so hopefully fish dad will have a nicer more peaceful time, and let Barbara back in.

I'm now tempted to try and divide the tank into sections somehow and split the big group into pairs or smaller groups/ trios.

I'm also going looking at a cheap larger tank tonight 90x60x65cm (350L), rather than 100x40x50 (180L) currently.

Any thoughts of how to effectively and cheaply divide tanks? Anything else I can do to encourage fish dad to let Barbara in?

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Si

[Martinspuddle]

Any thoughts of how to effectively and cheaply divide tanks? Anything else I can do to encourage fish dad to let Barbara in?

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Si

Egg crate. You find it on eBay, Amazon or aquatic retailers.


Image courtesy from Fit Filtration

[Si4geckos]

Any thoughts of how to effectively and cheaply divide tanks? Anything else I can do to encourage fish dad to let Barbara in?

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Si

Egg crate. You find it on eBay, Amazon or aquatic retailers.


Image courtesy from Fit Filtration

That's the sort if stuff I've seen. Just the holes look the perfect size to get a pleco stuck half way through it?

[Martinspuddle]

Any thoughts of how to effectively and cheaply divide tanks? Anything else I can do to encourage fish dad to let Barbara in?

Thoughts appreciated as always.

Si

Egg crate. You find it on eBay, Amazon or aquatic retailers.


Image courtesy from Fit Filtration

That's the sort if stuff I've seen. Just the holes look the perfect size to get a pleco stuck half way through it?

Most egg crate I've used, has 12.5 mm square holes and I know my 3.5" inch Ancistrus adults can't through it or stuck.

[plankton]

Put them in a breeding tank and let the others get on with their bickering?

[Martinspuddle]

Put them in a breeding tank and let the others get on with their bickering?

That would probably be a better idea.