Zebra's Settling In...

Two Months In

 

After the first few days of sightings both zebra's did a fantastic job of hiding as expected.  I usually could spy their stripes around the tank, but it was very difficult to get a good look at them.  It was always a treat to sneak up to the tank after lights out and watch them scurrying all about the tank to their heart's content, at least I knew they were still alive!

 

They eventually found a nice little niche in one of the rocks to call their home. Although I couldn't really see them very well, I always knew where to find them and to point them out to visitors.  That was until a couple of weeks ago when I decided to bravely turn their special rock around to face the front!  Then they became easy to spot and were basically always on view, even though they felt safe and hidden.  I then changed around a few of the plants and the other rocks, unfortunately no others had a crevice as deep as their favourite, but I felt that the tank now better suited their needs.

 

I'm not sure quite what happened but I think in the process of moving the rocks Xingu must have scraped himself against a rock and it appeared that part of one of his black stripes was faded and patchy.  I was worried that the injury was at risk of infection and loaded the tank with natural meds to help him heal.  It worked and after about a week or so they suddenly began to feel very comfortable.  It was as though a switch was turned on and they both sprung into action.

 

What were once reclusive and shy creatures suddenly became active and even dared to eat in front of me during daylight!  Prior to this I could only presume they were eating as I normally never saw them leave their protective shelf.  Both fish took turns in darting about the tank bravely and leaping over the spray bar and parachuting down through the bubbles.  It was incredible to watch and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it!  It was probably something they had done regularly at night when no one was watching, but to witness it in broad daylight was an amazing Christmas gift...

 

I have noticed a considerable size difference now between Rio and Xingu, with Rio a lot larger in size.  I wonder if it is part of this size difference or simply because they feel like the tank is now their home, but I have noticed they are spending more time apart and trying to set up their own individual territories within the tank.  I have several caves of different sizes and shapes throughout the tank and had been disappointed that they seemed to be ignored.  However, I have recently begun to notice Xingu trying them all out for size before he scurries back to the safety of his shelf, however, I think Rio has claimed the shelf.  As the bigger out of the two I guess Rio is more dominant now and appears to be kicking Xingu out!

 

The snails are a never ending chore to manually remove from the tank, I have resisted introducing any snail eating loaches due to possible compatibility issues.  However, I did purchase a twig catfish (Farowella) to help with some minor algae issues.  Hopefully in the new year I will be in a position to buy some more tank mates for them, it will be interesting to see how they accept some new zebs into 'their' tank in the future...

 

 Injury to Xingu side... (healed in less than a week!)

 

 Xingu on left, larger Rio on right

 

Farowella Catfish (Twig)



Zebra's Arrive at Last!

Xingu and Rio Fly In

 

I was finally ready to receive my first shipment of two Zebra L46 and was excited to wake up yesterday to a message on my phone letting me know that they were on their way.  I drove down to the airport, once my phone call was received to let me know they had arrived, and collected them.  Both were obviously well packed in their large foam box, very healthy and much larger than I had anticipated, which was very pleasing.

 

These, my first two zebs, were flown over from a breeder in Melbourne, Australia.  He purchased his zebra colonies over 7 years ago.  He has two different colonies, both from overseas and probably wild caught.  Since the Brazilian government banned export of these fish in 2006 it has become impossible to obtain fresh wild specimens.  This breeder was very fortunate to have received what he believes to have been one of the first two lots of them arriving in Australia before the ban.  His initial shipment arrived via Singapore from Germany, the second shipment he received also came from Singapore and it is unknown whether they were wild caught or bred.  However, it has taken both his colonies over 5 years to begin breeding.  He has both colonies in one breeding tank so there is a good mix of bloodlines and strong genes with their fry.  He believes they are, in fact, wild caught as they took so long to begin breeding.  Tank bred L46 have been known to begin breeding from 3-4 years, this clearly depends on the colony and other factors.

 

Therefore, I hope my two zebs I purchased prove to be strong and healthy little guys and in a few years time may breed themselves.  I'm not 100% sure yet but I believe at least one of my zebs is a male, possibly both.  I have named them Xingu and Rio after the river they originate from in Brazil.  My two are 5-6 cm long and classed as sub-adults so I am pretty happy with that, the breeder estimates they are just over 2 years old.

 

So far so good, both fish appear healthy and were very active immediately when unpacked from their foam box.  They were carefully acclimatised to their new tank water and have so far settled in well, I even managed a few photo's before they inevitably went into hiding.  Fingers crossed my two survive their experience of flying interstate and thrive in their new tank. 

 

I'm looking forward to purchasing some more specimens possibly early next year.  I have some on hold with a different breeder in Western Australia who also has two colonies and has been breeding zebs for a few years, his first colony was purchased approximately 8 years ago.  I'm just waiting for the fry to grow out some more so they get fat enough to survive the flight to South Australia.  I want to mix up my gene pool as much as possible in the hopes that in a few years time mine will also begin to breed.

 

 Tank Complete...

 



Rio still in bag...

 First picture of Xingu (suspect male)

 



Xingu showing how hairy he is!

 Xingu again...

 

Xingu showing who is boss of the tank!

Xingu close up... 

Xingu in all his glory!

Xingu and Rio found each other on their first morning

with a Flagtail Panda Cory supervising!

 

 

 



Dither Fish Arrived

Black Neons and Flag Tailed Panda Corys

 



My new dither fish have arrived to help get my tank up to speed.  There have been several red cherry shrimp having a party all on their own in the tank for about a week or so now. The tank now consists of 6 black neon tetras (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) as they like a healthy water current and swim in the mid to upper regions of the tank. They are larger and faster than the neon tetra, which is actually a different species of tetra, and cope with the higher water temp and enjoy currents.  Fingers crossed they cope as well as I think they will.

After much research I settled upon 2 Corydoras Oiapoquensis (flag tailed panda cory) named for the river they are native to; The Oyapock, in French Guiana. These corys are completely different, except in appearance, than the regular panda corys.  They are more suited to the higher temp of my tank and like the turbulence of high oxygenated waters. They are found in nature in the upstream of the rapids after the Oiapoque River (Oyapock in Brazil), the natural border between French Guiana and Brazil.  Pretty happy with the cute little fellows so far.

So far the black neons and flag tailed panda corys are very active and love playing in the water current. I have another 6 tetra and 2 more corys arriving next week. The tank has cycled very quickly due to the seeding of biomedia I took from my discus tank. However, I'm still being cautious and only adding a few fish at a time.

 

 

Tank Progress One Week Later...

New Gadgets!

 

Lots of new gadgets have arrived over the week and I've enjoyed setting them all up in the new tank.  I've bought 4 pieces of really interesting looking dark grey yingshi rock, I decided to move one I already had in my discus tank with all the lovely added bacteria to make 5 in total.  I now have 3 pieces of gold vine driftwood soaking and a variety of plants.  The majority of plants I have put in there were new: 1 x Echinodorus Latifolius, 2 x Corkscrew Vallisneria, 1 x Narrow Amazon Sword, 1 x Crypt Balansae.  I also bought two pieces of malaysian driftwood with plants already attached: 1 x Anubias Nana and 1 x Anubias Coffeefolia.  I transferred a couple of existing plants from the discus tank, 2 x Red Tiger Lotus and 1 x Crypt Balansae and even 1 x Hygrophila that will help establish the bacteria equilibrium in the tank.

 

I have 3 beautifully handmade brown triangle shaped ceramic caves, 2 x small slate triangle caves (which turned out to be a lot smaller than I would have liked) and 2 x rounded clay log caves which look very natural.  These I have arranged amongst the yinshi rock and driftwood to try for a more natural look.  I also have a hand made slate cave, sectioned into two, currently making its way here from England.

 

I decided on a Hailea 5504, 4.2L per minute, super quiet air pump with two outlets.  One for the small Aqua Nova sponge filter and one for the large 15cm dark grey dome shaped air stone.  Up and running now is my Jager Eheim 150 watt heater which is performing beyond expectation.  After much deliberation for filtration I decided on an Aqua One Nautilus 600 canister filter.  So far I am very impressed with its quiet and efficient performance, it has a flow rate of 600lph and is designed for a tank up to 150L.  I already have the larger Aqua One Nautilus 2700 for my discus tank and have been impressed with its performance.  I love the Aqua One quick release system which disconnects the taps for maintenance, plus the simple primer button which makes life so much easier.  I was very happy with the filter media that came with the filter, but also added plenty of bacteria soaked biological media from my discus tank to help with seeding.  In addition, I purchased the impressive Seachem Matrix porous rock filter media to add in, I love this stuff as it provides both external and internal macroporous surface areas for the bacteria to multiply on. 

I completed the look with a rocky background poster and a cute Heto, adjustable leg, 2 foot T8 reflector light with a 20 Watt daylight tube.  I also got a black 6 way individual switch powerboard with surge protector, I found a black extension cord to keep with the black theme.  I am still waiting on my new HPM 7 day 24 hour digital programmable timer to help with the light automaticity.  I have even managed to source some black suction cups for the black air hose tubing, thanks eBay!  I am going to trial some Fluval pre-filter foam sponges on the filter intake in this tank, I'm sick of finding shrimp in my filters in my other tanks.  If it works I will try to place them in the other tanks too.  Just awaiting on arrival by mail on these products.

I am also awaiting a Blue Planet UView 9 Watt Purifier, I have been very happy with my UV steriliser sponge filter combination in the discus tank, and thought this would be worthwhile in this tank.  Fingers crossed it was a good purchase.

Setting Up The Tank

Tank Set Up

 

Well the journey has officially started.  I have two 4-5cm zebra pleco juevenilles on hold until the tank is ready to go.  I have another four on hold from two different breeding colonies, currently only 2cm and growing out, which I will be keeping a close eye on over the next few months. 

 

I have always loved the process of setting up a brand new tank, deciding which tank to buy, the different filter and all the decisions to make regarding heating, choice of substrate and decorations etc.  It never quite turns out exactly as you envision, however, often it turns out better!

 

Right now I'm in the process of setting up the tank and waiting for all my online purchases to arrive.  I decided upon a 137 litre tank (36 gallon), 30 inches long, 14 inches deep and 20 inches high.  It is a glass aquarium with no frills.  It has a custom made pine stand that my husband is painting black right now.

 

So far I have ordered all the accessories, I already had some black aquarium soil substrate that I had left over so have filled it with that.  Once the painting is finished I can start soaking the one piece of gold vine driftwood that I have so far.  So much to do....