If someone asks the author what fish is good to raise, the author can think of a lot, such as: tooth fish, mudskipper fish, Indonesian tiger, electric eel, electric catfish, pineapple, Bolivian phoenix, Zhao Cai, flying phoenix, loach, etc., after a little understanding of its habits and breeding methods, almost can be easily raised, but if you ask what fish is best to raise, there are only a few that can be thought of.
Zebra head is one of the best tropical fish I can think of.
Zebra dog head (scientific name Arabian pufferfish / tetraodon lineatus), belongs to the rayfin fish order four-toothed pufferfish family, mainly distributed in the African Stupa River, Lake Chad, Niger River, Senegal River and Gambia River Basin, inhabiting the bottom waters of the coastal vegetation growth, its body color is yellow, interspersed with green stripes, no ventral fins, carrying tetrodotoxin, has good interaction, intelligent curiosity, and is completely afraid of people after breeding, After being frightened, it will inflate the sphere to float up to avoid predators (in fact, it rarely happens in the family breeding, the author has only seen it twice, and the fish will not change the ball even if it is deliberately frightened or fished out after growing up, probably because the spirit of the fish that has been raised for a long time is relatively large).
How big is the fish tank for the zebra dog head? How big is the zebra head that is appropriate to buy?
Adult zebra dog head can grow up to 43 cm, in the aquarium is mostly about 30 cm, its growth rate is extremely fast, only 1 year can grow from 1 cm to about 20 cm, but although it loves to swim but not bony fish or high-speed fish, so 60-70 cm long / 38-50 cm wide fish tank is enough to raise.
As for how large the size of the fish to buy, you don't need to mind, just set the size according to the fish tank you can provide. When the author first moved to the seaside from the mainland, because it was a brand new tank and did not know much about the local tap water quality, there were many casualties in the newly purchased fish, so he purchased a 1 cm zebra dog head town tank, and the author's wife asked: Can such a small fish be fed? The author answered: As long as the fish is not sick in the hand, there is no possibility of death.
What kind of water quality and breeding conditions are required for zebra head?
The zebra dog's head is extremely strong and very adaptable to the environment and water quality, so it only needs to do a good job of water crossing and water change, and tap water everywhere can be perfectly adapted. The fish is a pure freshwater pufferfish, unlike submarines, so there is no need to put salt. The temperature can be maintained at 24 degrees or above.
For other breeding conditions are not picky, some aquarists say that laying bottom sand at the bottom of the tank, zebra dog head will drill into the sand, quite interesting; but the author recommends naked tank breeding, do not place decorations, because the zebra dog head will often make a mess when eating, the defecation is thick and numerous, and there are indigestible such as shrimp shells and other large pieces, mixed with the bottom sand will lead to cleaning difficulties and water quality deterioration. Poor water quality, although it will not cause the zebra dog's head to die, will lead to a decrease in appetite, which is not good for growth and condition.
Zebra dog head has a medium demand for oxygen, not as severe as the oxygen demand of hyperemic fish such as Indonesian tigers, and only needs to maintain a general filtration, without deliberate oxygenation. Since this fish can eat and pull, the filtration should be as strong as possible. It should be noted that the zebra dog's head may bite randomly, so the equipment in the tank needs to be protected, and the author's zebra dog head has bad behaviors such as biting the water goblin, biting the filter pipe, and biting the filter bag.
What does a zebra head eat?
Zebra dog head food is pure meat, can accept live fish, live shrimp, frozen fish, frozen shrimp, frozen blood worms, crabs, snails, mussels, bread worms, barley worms, dried shrimp, shrimp skin, etc., and it is pregnant with tetrodotoxin, relatively less susceptible to parasite infection, but to regularly feed some harder food such as snails, crabs, etc. The zebra dog head raised by the author generally opens with blood worms, and then feeds themselves with bread worms, barley worms and other self-sufficient feed as the staple food, and occasionally uses dried shrimp, dried fish, frozen shrimp, etc. for them to grind their teeth, and occasionally feed live sea fish and sea crabs (convenient for living by the sea), but do not need to feed live freshwater organisms.
The opening of the zebra dog's head is very easy, as long as it is a healthy zebra dog's head, it will generally open quickly after entering the tank, and the smaller the fish, the faster the opening. The zebra dog head in the author's current home, when he first arrived home, after 5 minutes of water in the isolation box, he was staring at the fish in the main tank. Although according to common sense, the newly arrived fish should not be fed on the same day, but out of trust in the zebra dog's head, the author still chooses to feed.
What diseases are zebra dogs prone to? How is it treated?
Because the zebra dog's head is unusually strong, so the author has never seen a zebra dog head sick, only need to do water, change water, feed these three items, this fish is almost impossible to get sick. In the early years, the first zebra dog head raised by the author occasionally had a state of loss of appetite, did not do management, only changed the water and starved for a day to recover on its own; another zebra dog head cub, due to the use of pneumatic isolation box of the air sand head fracture resulting in water can not be exchanged, over time refused to eat bread worms, only eat blood worms, and later replaced the new isolation box appetite greatly increased.
Can zebra heads be polycultured?
Zebra heads are extremely aggressive and have extremely sharp teeth, so it's best not to polyculture other fish. Although the same species of similar size can be polycultured, but it is easy to fight, and the attention to the owner is reduced after increasing polyculture fish, it is best to raise it alone. The author has tried the polyculture of zebra dog head and small high-speed fish, in the early stage of zebra dog head is still interested in small high-speed fish prey, but because the author has been feeding dead food, so soon after the zebra dog head lost interest in small fish, successfully polyculture, can help eliminate the zebra dog head to eat the remaining residue to a certain extent. The author has tried to feed only dead food to the zebra dog's head from childhood, but unlike the lungfish, the zebra dog's head will still attack other slow-moving fish in the tank after it grows to a certain size, and even larger fish will be bitten to death.
In addition to attacking other fish, the zebra dog's head will occasionally nibble on grass, so it is best not to place aquatic weeds in the fish tank where the zebra dog's head is raised, even if the strong water banyan can not withstand the sharp teeth of the zebra dog's head.
What fish is suitable as a cleaner on the head of a zebra dog?
Common tank fish such as scavengers, moss rats, etc. are not allowed to act as cleaners for zebra dogs' heads, and will soon be bitten or eaten. The author tried to feed only dead food to the head of a zebra dog from childhood, but after it grew to 10 centimeters, it soon bit several large scavengers in the tank of 15 centimeters to death.
Here I highly recommend it as a cleaner in the zebra dog's head fish tank - abalone snail
Abalone snails are the most suitable cleaners for zebra heads
Abalone snail belongs to the soda snail, can not reproduce in fresh water, the price is relatively high, the amount of food is huge, do not eat grass, is one of the strongest in the ability to remove algae among various snails. Although the wild zebra dog head mostly feeds on snail mussels, it has no place to put its mouth in the face of the flattened abalone snail, and will only circle around the abalone snail when it first enters the tank, but suffering from nowhere to put its mouth, it will soon lose interest in treating it as transparent. When the abalone snail into the tank, it is best to choose to turn off the lights at night, when the zebra dog head is sleeping, and be sure to place the screw mouth down, once the snail is adsorbed on the cylinder, it can be safe, but do not forcibly pull, otherwise it is easy to cause muscle tearing and death.