Going To Try To Breed Ice Blue Zebras

[konor123]

I just bought some adult ice blues. 1 male and 3 females.The male is 13cm and females are 10-11cm. The person I bought them off said they had bred before but the fry have never survived.
I want to try breed them but don't have a clue on how.

Any tips on how to breed them?

 

[Stoty]

i would assume nature will probably take course, and if they bread before chances are good they will do it again. good luck.

 

[rifty]

few questions first what size tank are you kepping them in and are there any other fish in with them?

tips for breeding are good quality food and weekley 50% water changes ( i used tap temprature water which seems to stimulate breeding)
a mirror also helps give a single male a rival this takes the heat off the girls and seems to make a male fish more interested in breeding.
Your fish are a good size so you should be able to see if females egg tubes drop and are ready for breeding you may find all the female go into season at the same time if so cool if not do you have another tank to move holding females to? the only other advise i can give you is use ceramic pots as caves so you can see whats going on and have plenty of hiding places for the gang!

 

[konor123]

Thanks for the reply. They are in a 260 L tank with five 7cm Yellow labs. I do have a spare tank I could use for holding her but its pretty small-20L. Is that big enough? If not I can always just strip the fry.
And I do have some pots and caves for hidey-holes.

 

[Malawi MaD]

20L might be a little too small for the female but if you strip the fry they should be ok

 

[konor123]

If they do breed how long should I wait until I strip her?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Roughly 14 to 20 days is when i remove the females to a separate tank. Id strip the female at 18 to 20 days

 

[rifty]

i strip females around 12 days still have the fry with egg sacks but get a larger harvest?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Do you add the fry into a tumbler? You could be doing a better job than the mother if your getting a larger batch of fry ?

 

[rifty]

tried a tumbler but failed! i put the fry in a fry trap you knw the little plastic floating ones! with an air stone on a pretty low setting also net the vents if they are in a tank with other fry to stop them getting munched! never lost a fry doing this way

 

[Malawi MaD]

Ah that's brilliant that mate, must really help the fry progress well, do you sell on your fry or keep them yourself? DONT forget the pics of the shed

 

[rifty]

i sell some from time to time mainly sort mates out with a tank after talking their ears off about fish so much they get one to shut me up!
plus been building up my own stock to what i want so swap some for equiptment etc along the way!
the shed is coming on should have the last 4 tanks in tomorrow then just get the fry run up too and its all in ill try to get photos but having too much fun setting it all out to take any at the moment. where are you in the uk pop over when its done if you not too far!

 

[konor123]

I have seen the male ice blue vibrating in front of the female twice but straight after the shimmying he darts back into his cave.
Is this a sign of breeding?

 

[Malawi MaD]

I have seen the male ice blue vibrating in front of the female twice but straight after the shimmying he darts back into his cave.
Is this a sign of breeding?

Yeah, sounds like it. Hes trying to attract the female into his cave/breeding spot.

i sell some from time to time mainly sort mates out with a tank after talking their ears off about fish so much they get one to shut me up!
plus been building up my own stock to what i want so swap some for equiptment etc along the way!
the shed is coming on should have the last 4 tanks in tomorrow then just get the fry run up too and its all in ill try to get photos but having too much fun setting it all out to take any at the moment. where are you in the uk pop over when its done if you not too far!

Would love to mate Im in Leeds atm but live in Northampton dont no how far that is from you?