#Zebra pleco size how to#
When this species was first being bred in aquaria, arguments raged over how to best keep and breed it. Keeping Hypancistrus zebra is straightforward, especially with captive-bred stock. Because of its small size, relative ease of breeding and status, it is bred and traded in most countries that have a decent aquarium hobby. Thankfully, the Zebra plec’s future looks a bit brighter than many of its Xingu river cohorts. Even if such a wonderful species is at risk of extinction in the wild, does that make it acceptable to fund the smuggling of them into our shops? That’s to say, 'rescue' them before they are wiped out. This activity, as you may imagine, stirs some debate among fishkeepers. When you encounter one for sale it will either be captive-bred or will have been smuggled out of Brazil and exported, typically, from Colombia. Hypancistrus zebra has not yet appeared on it and is illegal to export from Brazil. IBAMA produces a so-called positive list of fish species and those are the ones that may be collected and exported into the global ornamental fish trade.
Many of these areas are rapids and the water is highly oxygenated.Įxports of tropical fish from Brazil are governed and policed by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). There is very little submerged wood, there are virtually no plants and the water belts through the area at a rate of knots. This is dark brown to black hard igneous rock that, in shallower water, is set in tan-coloured sand.
It lives in the cracks, gaps and natural caves found in the very specific type of rock found in the river. It lives at a depth where the surroundings are, at best, pretty gloomy, if not completely dark. The Zebra plec is endemic to the middle of Brazil’s Rio Xingu (pronounced sheen goo) and is among the catfish species at risk from the Belo Monte dam. The stripes of the Zebra have come to represent a new wave of catfish keepers, and it’s a flagship species for the now undeniable fishkeeping tribe that are L-number keepers and breeders. This, as well as the beautifully contrasting stripes, do add to the somewhat legendary status the Zebra plec, Hypancistrus zebra,ĭepending on whom you speak to, the Zebra plec was discovered by anglers somewhere between the mid 1970s and 80s. Pretty much everything else is subject to myth, opinion and misinformation. The only thing black and white about the Zebra plec is its beautiful markings. But whatever your goal, you'll need to know to look after them, says Julian Dignall.
Most fishkeepers consider keeping Zebra plecs and many would like to breed them.
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