<h2 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > overview of zebra shells</h2>
Zebra shell Neolamprologus similis is the smallest of the Lake Tanganyk cichlids.
They are cute-looking, have interesting habits, like to carry shells and gravel; have a milder personality, live together in groups, choose shells as their resting places, hiding places and breeding places; they will drag and push shells together, place them in suitable places, and dig sand and gravel together to arrange their homes. Swallow the sand grains with your mouth, fan the fins to blow the sand grains, and then push, top, and pull hard to settle the shells. Until several shells around them are buried in the sand, leaving a delicate round entrance to live together, the strong male fish will guard the shell and breed with their favorite female fish, and then take care of the juvenile fish together.
Zebra shellfish, like other curly shellfish, have a very personal characteristic, occupying the snail shell as their own shelter, where zebra shellfish survive and breed. Although the zebra shell is small in the curl, it is a particularly popular breed. So how to raise zebra shellfish? How do zebra shells divide male and female? What kind of fish tanks are needed to raise zebra shellfish? What are some of the most interesting behaviors about them?
This article will take you to a comprehensive understanding of zebra oysters, including zebra oyster feeding points, environmental layout, zebra oyster breeding, polyculture, differentiation, etc., this article summarizes the experience and experience of many aquats in the process of raising and breeding curl shellfish, do not miss Oh!
<h2 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, zebra shell origin introduction</h2>
Zebra shells are native to Lake Tanganyik and are the largest of the three lakes.
It is the second largest lake in the world (after Lake Baikal), the deepest lake in Africa, with a maximum depth of 1.5 km and a shoreline of about 2,000 km. Lake Tanganyika is shared by four countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.Congo), Tanzania and Zambia. It is not on tourist routes and is not as popular as Lake Malawi or Lake Victoria. Its tropical fish aren't as charming and colorful as Lake Malawi, but are more distinctive, more desirable, and harder to preserve – and expensive.
Most of the fish in Lake Tanganyik are cichlids, a family that originally evolved in ancient Gondwana and still exists mainly in the southern hemisphere (geological memory is long!). ）。 There are more than 3,000 species of cichlids in the world, more than 1,500 of which are present in Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika on Lake Victoria. There are fewer cichlid species in Tanganyika (250) than in the other two lakes (around 700 each), but they come from more diverse groups. As a result, it is older and more closely linked to the evolution of species. Lake Tanganyek also has modern (living) stromatolites, plenty of endemic crabs, and even a miniature freshwater jellyfish, the only one in Africa, all of which are stunning! Lake Tanganyik is perhaps the oldest lake in the world, and she has a long history, and her water is not always as extreme as it is now in the vicissitudes of change:
Lake Tanganyik has the second largest volume of hypoxic water in the world
The water flow of Lake Tanganyik is one of the worst water bodies
For more on Lake Tanganyik here, see
"The Past and Present Life of Lake Tanganyk"
<h2 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, zebra shellfish feeding points</h2>
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1. </h3>
Novices need to pay attention to the establishment of a nitrifying bacteria system for fish tanks, which can refer to this article:
1. Understanding the Ammonia Nitrogen Cycle | A series of progressive guides for aqua beginners. https://www.aquau.cn/article/1575345950806
Because zebra shells live at the bottom of Tan Lake all year round and are small, the vertical activity range of zebra shells generally does not exceed 15cm, so they do not need a high aquarium, and the width of more than 40cm tanks can be raised. In order to simulate the original environment of zebra shellfish, in the fish tank laying particles below 1mm of fine sand, color is not required, put in the color of slightly darker sand is conducive to the hair color of zebra shell, if you do not know which kind of sand to choose, it is recommended to use the special bottom sand of the scallop, which has been disinfected at high temperature, and can be used directly after getting it. After that, put in different sizes of snail shells for zebra shells to choose, for hiding and breeding, the number of fish 3 to 4 times, generally 3, 4 snail shells are placed in a pile, between each pile of vacated areas, so that the fish can choose a snail shell suitable for their own size to live, adults can also freely form their own small group. Each pile of shells can be separated by larger stones, giving them a more private environment and reducing the possibility of fighting each other. The snail shell can make a hole in the tail or grind off some, so the advantage is that if you want to catch the fish later, you can easily drive the fish out, the way is to blow air at the hole in the tail of the snail shell. In addition, just as many breeding tanks have openings, if there is a hole in the tail of the snail shell, there will be a small amount of water flow, which can increase the survival rate of juvenile fish during breeding.
As for the water temperature of zebra oyster feeding, it is generally 24-26 degrees Celsius, and the water temperature of the zebra oyster can be maintained at about 28 degrees Celsius after birth.
Both seabream prefer water with high hardness and high pH values, so if you live in the south, you can add coral bones to the filter to add both properties. There is also no need to deliberately maintain an environment that is very different from the local water source. Zebra oysters are not badly adaptable, and environmental stability is more important than suitability (a stable environment with a medium pH of general hardness is certainly much better than a frequently oscillating water quality environment).
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2. What is the best feed to feed? </h3>
Zebra shells are almost not picky eaters, and the feed of the cichlid family can be fed, but in order to ensure the health of zebra shellfish, it is necessary to ensure that the feed is nutritionally balanced, rich in protein and crude fiber. Pellet feed, patch feed they will eat, if possible can also feed some harvest shrimp or white nematodes. It should be noted that zebra shells are small, and zebra meals require a certain percentage of vegetarian ingredients. The mouth is also so big, so the particles fed to the pellets cannot be too large, otherwise they will not be able to eat it.
When feeding live fish, remember to ensure that the feed source is clean and there are no parasites, such as water fleas, which are bought and fished back to be raised in a clean water tank for a few days, and then fed after changing the water, otherwise it is easy to introduce parasites.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >3. What fish can be polycultured with zebra shellfish? </h3>
This should be determined according to the size of the fish tank, generally below 60 tanks are not recommended to polyculture other scallop fish, it is best to raise only zebras a fish, so that you have the opportunity to see their behavior of raising small fish, but it should be noted that in general, the broodstock do not eat small fish, but do not want to lose small fish, it is best to put small fish in the isolation box for single culture; if the tank is more than 60cm, you can polyculture some other species of catfish, such as yellow sail bird of paradise, golden dinger, etc. However, at this time, the broodstock may not be able to raise their own small fish. Note that since the Tan Lake fish is arguably the most temperate of the Three Lakes Cichlid, it is highly recommended to keep zebras (or any other Tannawar) with fish from Lake Malawi or Lake Victoria.
It should be emphasized that no matter what kind of fish you raise, if you want to raise it well, the best situation is that the whole tank will only raise this kind of fish. But many times friends who have just raised fish will want to polyculture some fish to make the fish tank look a little lively, so the premise of the following text is that you are sure to polyhabit other fish. Since Tan Lake fish prefer alkaline water quality, they are not suitable for polyculture of fragile South American fish species, and although the upper layer of the tank looks very empty, it is not recommended that you put angelfish in it. Angelfish originate in South America, all South American fish prefer weakly acidic water, and curl shellfish require alkaline high hardness water, so the state of polyculture immortals is certainly not too good, and there may be fights between the other two fish. The middle layer of the curling shell tank can be polycultured with some fish such as the flag-pulling blackskirt fish, which are not aggressive in themselves, but swim fast, so that they will neither pose a threat to the zebra shells nor be easily killed by the zebra shells; but these fish often rob the zebras of food, so this needs to be measured by themselves. In addition, polyculture ratfish, which are not harmful to other fish, are also no problem, but the ratfish in the small tank will be attacked (may be fatal), and the ratfish may also destroy the "sand castle" built by zebra shells. There is no problem with the upper polyculture peacock fish, but the small fish born by the peacock may be eaten by the zebra shellfish, of course, some people specially use peacock fry to feed the zebra, which needs to be measured by themselves.
If the upper fish can raise some sword sand (tan seabream), if the tank is too small, raise some gentle fish on the line, but since it is a shellfish tank, the raised fish should not steal the limelight of zebra shellfish, if you like polyculture, you can go to open a South American tank. It should be noted that the upper fish may rob the food of the scallops, so in the polyculture, it is necessary to feed more food, or find some fish that are not fierce.
<h2 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > iv, zebra shell propagation</h2>
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1. </h3>
Zebra shells can not distinguish between male and female by body surface characteristics, the main way to distinguish between male and female zebra shells is to wait until they are adults, the male will be larger than the female, and the adult female will guard a region of the snail shell, while the male will patrol around in their territory. There are also reference standards, such as: male fish fins are slightly longer than females; male fish mouths are more prominent and more upturned; male fish body longer fins are longer. Generally speaking, the recommended number of breeding is 1:2 to 1:3 male and female ratio, zebra shells will be naturally paired after adulthood, and then select suitable snail shells for breeding, it is necessary to ensure that they have enough growth space and snail shells.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2. How do zebra shells reproduce? </h3>
Zebra shells will naturally pair together, and the paired fish will choose a place to start nesting together, and they will jointly dig up the sand around the snail shell and move it to form a sunken nest, and then begin to drive other fish to defend their territory. Zebra shells often dig to the bottom before they are willing to give up, so the sand in the fish tank does not need to be particularly thick, generally more than 2cm is enough.
A strong zebra shellfish may have multiple females in one community, which is more similar to a lion colony. In addition, unlike the nine shellfish , which can be more male and more females to become a population to live together and breed and raise juveniles , zebra shells are basically less likely to coexist with multiple male fish in a community, so when placing the snail shell, it needs to be adjusted according to the proportion of fish in the tank.
When zebra shells are paired, it is easy to see the social behavior between them, and the male and female are also easy to distinguish, the female is significantly smaller than the male, and the other female fish will basically stay near the snail shell in the territory during the breeding period, while the male fish will patrol and swim back and forth in their territory. Only when the foreign fish only invade their own territory, all the fish in the family will unanimously drive the foreign fish out. （PS. Isn't it interesting to have a unique sense of ethnicity? ）
During breeding, the female fish will cover the mouth of part of the shell with sand, and then often stay near the shell. After spawning in the snail shell, the male fish will be inseminated on the snail, and sometimes the insemination is insufficient, and the female fish will return to the shell with the male fish's sperm to inseminate the egg. The female will then often swim into the shell to incite the fins to provide the eggs with dissolved oxygen.
The incubation time varies from 3-5 days depending on the water temperature, and the newly hatched small fish are basically incapable of swimming, a group of small fish will gather together, and the female fish will be responsible for protecting them. At this time, hatched shrimp or crushed feed can be fed near the snail shell, and the small fish will feed.
After the small fish are slightly larger, you can decide whether to let the female fish bring the small fish herself or isolate it to raise it alone, on whether to isolate everyone has different preferences, here for everyone to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods, you can choose according to your situation:
Isolation: After isolating the small fish, the risk of the small fish being eaten by other fish can be avoided, and the isolated small fish can be fed targeted and can be taken care of better. In addition, the mother fish will immediately start the next round of breeding after there are no small fish around the mother fish, so this can speed up the breeding cycle of each nest of the mother fish. However, the isolation of small fish has a certain bad impact on the mother's instinct to raise small fish; in addition, after multiple generations of breeding, small fish with insufficient viability are also artificially enlarged (that is, natural selection fails), which may affect the genes of offspring fish.
Female self-rearing: Small fish raised by the motherfish grow faster in some cases than small fish fed artificially. In addition, the mother fish raising small fish can observe their interesting social behavior, that is, many groups of small fish born at different times live together to form a family, and the older fish will take care of younger siblings who are younger than themselves. In addition, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the female fish raising the small fish by herself can retain the very unique high-IQ social behavior of the scalloped shellfish.
Recommendation: If it is to be able to observe the interesting social behavior of zebra shellfish, and if you want the mother fish to retain the nature of raising small fish, it is recommended to let the mother fish bring her own small fish; if it is to maximize the number of small fish to reproduce, you can choose to raise small fish in artificial isolation.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >3. How to raise zebra shellfish and what to feed? </h3>
Zebra shellfish are very small, if you plan to isolate the small fish, try to choose a 1mm hole when preparing the isolation box, but the bottom 3-5cm height of the circle do not punch the hole, so that the small fish can swim high and can not swim out of the 1mm hole.
Small fish are very small, at the beginning they will first absorb the yolk, and after the yolk is absorbed, they can feed the hatched shrimp, do not be nervous without the shrimp, feed the crushed three lakes cichlid feed powder is also OK, but feeding the shrimp is ideal.
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >4. How can a small fish grow fast? </h3>
There are several elements for the growth of small fish: according to the size of the fish, get suitable food and feed less many times, have enough swimming space to promote growth, regular quantitative water changes to promote metabolism (usually 20%-30% once a week), and less fish density, when the fish in the tank is too much to saturate, the growth and reproduction of the fish will be affected.
<h2 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > five, zebra shell identification</h2>
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1. How to distinguish between zebra shells and nine shells? </h3>
There is also a similar type of zebra shell called the Nine Houses Shell, which looks very similar and is also a Tanhu cichlid. Nine shells also have vertical stripes on the side of the body like zebra shells, but the number of stripes is much higher than that of nine shells. How to tell? As long as you pay attention to the head of the fish, if there are still vertical stripes distributed across the gills of the fish, then this must be a zebra shell. In terms of adults, zebra shells are slightly larger than nine shellfish. In addition, in China, it is generally rare to buy nine shells, and the basic zebra shells that have a relatively large circulation in China are basically zebra shells.
For the distinction between zebra shells and nine bays, see: Zebra shells and nine bay shells
http://www.aquau.cn/article/1565257165115
As a curl shell raised in an aquarium, zebra shells are actually later than nine shells. It can be seen from their naming: the English name of the nine shells is Neolamprologus Multifasciatus, while the zebra shells are Neolamprologus Similis, and the "Similis" here means a similar species of (nine shells).
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2. How to distinguish between wild zebra shells, Ashkenazi zebra shells, and artificial zebra shells? </h3>
Now we can see the so-called "Ashkenazi zebra shell" and "wild zebra shell F1" and other merchants who flaunt their zebra shells of excellent quality, and we cannot judge the authenticity of the publicity of these merchants. However, zebra shellfish is not originally a fish that appreciates its body color, so whether it is wild zebra shell, Ashkenazi zebra shell or artificially bred zebra shellfish, its habits have not changed much, and we raise curl shellfish mainly to observe their interesting social behavior.
Common characteristics that distinguish high-quality zebra shells from inbreeding multi-generation zebra shells are: wild zebra shells can produce more juvenile fish per litter, while a litter after multiple generations of inbreedings generally does not exceed 15; wild zebra shells (including Ashkenazi zebra shells) have a stronger body color and yellow in the fins, while after many generations of inbreeding, the zebra shell stripes become lighter and the fins are lighter (using dark bottom sand can help zebra shell hair color); wild zebra shells and Ashkenazi zebra shells can be sold for a higher price.
<h2 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >6, where can I buy zebra shells? </h2>
Zebra shells are now in short supply, and relatively niche, so it is more difficult to find in the flower and bird market or fish market, you can search for sellers or aquapostasy on a treasure or idle fish, it is recommended that you buy zebra oysters from aquaphiles, because the fish of aquaptas are generally taken care of better, and the health status is certainly not to worry.
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