# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  DrakeHo's Hypancistrus zebra L046 tank showcase

## drakeho

Hi all .

Have been a while since my last update on my L46 . Alots of changes have been make to the tank since the last round of update . Maybe can share some pointers . Thanks .

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## khtee

> Hi all .


is this pregnant? pardon me for I have not see pregnant pleco before  :Razz: 
hopefully soon

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## drakeho

That is one of the bigger size male I have .  :Grin:  This guy has been trying to be the big boss in the tank but losing out to some of the bigger males around . Anyway he is the pick of the crop at this point of time  :Wink:  .

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## shrimp999

Nice! How many L046 in this tank? Is this tank big?
Probably can post the whole tank setup? :Smile:

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## Jervis

They are speechlessly beautiful  :Smile:

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## drakeho

I have yet to take any shots of the whole tank yet ....
But this new year has been great for my zebra  :Grin:

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## drakeho

End result till date

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## drakeho

Some of the other team mates

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## weiquan

Congras dude! your zebras got jiggy with it !! a great start to your new year!

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## drakeho

Thanks buddy !  :Grin:  Was kind of lucky for me . Maybe its my good year !!


Anyway more pictures for all your viewing enjoyment

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## illumnae

Congrats drake  :Wink:

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## Titus

Congrates Bro!!! 2009 a year of LOVE!!

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## StanChung

You guys make it look easy...jealous liao.  :Grin:  [Irwin & Gecko included]

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## drakeho

Thanks everyone for the kind words ! 

Spent the whole of last year doing research and buying them ... Have a fair bit of ups and down man ... Took me so long before I managed to secured this group of lovely zebras . 
Anyway an update of the batch of eggs . 4 turn up bad .... 3 are now wrigglers now !!  :Jump for joy:  Now waiting for the rest to hatch . Fingers cross man !

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## johannes

congrats again!!! :Smile:

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## Savant

hahaha finally you let the cat out of the bag  :Smile:

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## celticfish

So you finally left them alone long enough for something to happen, huh?  :Laughing: 
Congratulations!!

Now for the real work...  :Grin:

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## drakeho

Hands have been itchy man .... Lucky they manage to 'do it'  :Grin:  Up hill task now to rise the fry !

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## eeeeemo

congrats mans! its been a long time since i saw you guys at c328, and i haven't been able to surf around AQ for awhile. came back just to see your zebra pics since wq informed about your new year spawn.

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## drakeho

Thanks man !  :Grin:  Do drop by buddy !! We can talk pleco again !!!!

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## Gecko

Congrats Drake! Once they start, it will be like clockwork....

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## drakeho

Thanks Lawrence !  :Grin:  Without you kick starting this hobby for me , I would not have come this far !! Thanks for all the advises given ! Cheers !!

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## drakeho

:Grin:  Another traping in progress !!! Guess its another female this time round !! Fingers crossed !!!

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## khtee

wow.... that's really a good start year for you. Time to upgrade to 6 ft tank to accommodate new family members  :Razz:

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## Savant

Wow! It seems that once one of them starts, the rest will follow suit...

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## drakeho

EGGS !!!!!!  :Shocked:  Looks like I got a few females in the tank . Same male , different female this round . Hahaha guess the male knows what I want from him  :Roll Eyes:

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## shrimp999

Congrate!! Looking forward more update from you soon!! :Smile:

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## Loopy

Probably the real New Year babies! Hmmm this really is pushing me over the edge to get back into Pleco's. I had a very bad accident in the tank and lost a nice L24 that was a 7 pointer and just about every other "L" in there; extremely costly loss. I nearly quit the hobby.

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## drakeho

Hi Loopy . Hope to see you back into the pleco side man !!! I also have a major set-back in the course of my pleco hobby but I tell myself ... NEVER SAY DIE !!!  :Wink:

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## superlamon

congrats again Drake!!!

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## Loopy

Yeah that is why I went to planted tanks after that. After a long time I bought myself a Pleco again a few days ago it was a good feeling. Man looking at your pictures again!  :Flame: . 




> Hi Loopy . Hope to see you back into the pleco side man !!! I also have a major set-back in the course of my pleco hobby but I tell myself ... NEVER SAY DIE !!!

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## drakeho

Hi Loopy . Can i share with you some more pictures please ??  :Grin: 

The choosen male 



Female having cat fight

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## celticfish

The fish on the right of the "catfight" is not a femle!  :Opps: 
Its pectoral odontodes are too lush for it to be female IMHO...
That's why it won the "catfight"!  :Grin:

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## drakeho

Haha you are right !!  :Wink:  Old timers are old timers man !

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## Loopy

Oh my gosh NOOOO!!! I love to see this push and nudging behaviour!! You guys are mean!! That's it! Going to buy *something*

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## exotic_idiot

Congrates on your spawn, drake...
Very nice and huge L46 you have...
Haha too bad my pockets not deep enough if not sure join in the fun.. :Smile:

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## Fingerling

Stunning Zebras and congrats. :Grin:

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## rage

Congrats to you drake,
By the way, is bare tanks better for breeding?  :Confused:

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## drakeho

Thanks for all the kind replies !!!  :Grin:  I cant tell if bare tank is better or not as I started with bare as I am too lazy for extra maintance ....  :Wink:

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## akoh

River Xingu is not bare leh !  :Grin:  must create a home closer to home mah !  :Grin:

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## celticfish

After your "lecture" on the finer points of pleco keeping... he "churi ayam" (stole time) from today's family day to go get the fish food!  :Grin: 
Probably going to see a WTB thread for the filters soon too!  :Laughing:

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## akoh

More like kopitiam talk lah !  :Grin:  Sometime I get too carried away ! cause forgotten about the time !  :Grin:

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## drakeho

Thanks Akoh for all the fine pointers last weekend !!!  :Grin:  Was out on the sunday morning to find fish food for my plecos liao !!! Haha By the way , anyone got big filters to spare ???  :Grin:  Oh my gosh ... Xingu = Tank ... I am in trouble again ....

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## akoh

With good water, good food ! good environment will set the mood for love ! :Roll Eyes:   :Grin:

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## illumnae

wow drake, i go honeymoon and come back and you've made so many babies!  :Wink:  congrats on your spawns. coffee at C328 soon!

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## Savant

Auntie should just buy over the next shop and convert into a cafe  :Smile: 

BTW, after our discussion last night, I am seriously rethinking about setting a "viewing gallery" for the fishes to better interact with each other... Can show a complete profile of your tank for reference?

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## drakeho

Hi Calvin . Will try to take some photos after the new year for you ! Haha kind of hard for me to take photos now as the male is holding another set of eggs this morning !!  :Grin:

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## Savant

Yes, do not disturb...

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## fireblade

wah good luck for you !!
hope to see some babies picture soon!!

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## drakeho

Will up load some pictures soon !!  :Grin:  finally the wait is over man !

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## fireblade

my wait is also over  :Smile: 

but mine is bristle nose... saw 1 baby in my goldfish tank this morning!! yipee!!

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## drakeho

Congrates Fireblade !!!! Have been following your BN thread very closely last year !! Do upload pictures soon  :Wink: 

My group is on the fourth time trap last night !!! Looks like onces they start they never stop !!! .... They better dont stop  :Grin:

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## fireblade

Thanks bro,
will try to upload pictures soon if I can find more babies..  :Smile: 
wah ! thats great!! the more the merrier!!  :Smile:

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## drakeho

Some updates of pictures . Its real tough to take decent pictures of fry man !!  :Crying:  After so many shots , only one shot I feel can show face abit  :Laughing:  Here we go ! 



This picture was taken 3 days after they hatch . Can alreadly see some markings on the body .

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## Edmundo

> Some updates of pictures . Its real tough to take decent pictures of fry man !!  After so many shots , only one shot I feel can show face abit  Here we go ! 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture was taken 3 days after they hatch . Can alreadly see some markings on the body .


OMG! Well Done!  :Smile:

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## johannes

congrats bro...
 :Grin: 

now got the feel of taking care of fries liao.. :Laughing:

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## drakeho

Eggs again !  :Grin: 

The group is really in the mood ! Lots of actions for the past one plus month ! Total of 5 batchs of eggs within such a short time !  :Jump for joy:  
Looks like there is another female waiting for her turn at the male's door now . 
Guess the group has been 'trained' by me to not bother about my itchy hands and do what they should be doing . A few times the female ran out of the male cave as I am doing my 'thing' in the tank but the next morning she will be back into the cave awaiting her punishment !

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## SCOPE

congrates.....great to hear another L46 factory in Singapore....

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## Kampfer

> Some updates of pictures . Its real tough to take decent pictures of fry man !!  After so many shots , only one shot I feel can show face abit  Here we go ! 
> 
> 
> 
> This picture was taken 3 days after they hatch . Can alreadly see some markings on the body .


 
Congrats Drake....If Govt also gave baby incentive for zebras , you guys sure make them broke!:P

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## drakeho

Some pictures of fry close to a month old . 







Lone ranger in a trap of his own 



wirgglers hatched 2 days back

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## johannes

:Grin: hey bro cute ah...

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## drakeho

Another trapping in progress !!!  :Jump for joy: 
Hope to see a good number of eggs as the female looks real fat !

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## shrimp999

Congrate!!

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## drakeho

Thanks for all the well wishes !

Anyway the eggs ball looks small ... five days from now will see results liao ! Fingers cross !!

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## drakeho

My latest wirgglers  :Jump for joy:

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## drakeho

The colours are out within the first 3 days !

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## shrimp999

Nice cute little one!!!
How many are there in total?

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## drakeho

I counted 11 eggs in total . Left with 7 till date . Hope the rest grow up well and healthy !  :Grin:  
Should be able to collect more but i guess i was messing up the tank too much last week till the male 'drop' the whole eggs ball out of the cave  :Knockout:  Consider myself lucky to have still 7 wrigglers now . 
Now my next hope is for the fat female start working ! She has been waiting for her turn quietly next to the cave ... hopefully soon

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## superlamon

> I counted 11 eggs in total . Left with 7 till date . Hope the rest grow up well and healthy !  
> Should be able to collect more but i guess i was messing up the tank too much last week till the male 'drop' the whole eggs ball out of the cave  Consider myself lucky to have still 7 wrigglers now . 
> Now my next hope is for the fat female start working ! She has been waiting for her turn quietly next to the cave ... hopefully soon


All the best bro!!

 :Very Happy:  :Very Happy:  :Very Happy:

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## dauntless

had 20 off these babys 15 died :Knockout:  :Knockout:  :Knockout:

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## drakeho

Hi Dauntless .

I am also very much like you when they started it ... Every time I would see motionless fry and wrriglers on my daily rounds to the tanks ..  :Embarassed: 
Am very lucky as I got a nice group that gives me 7 sprawns within this year ! So all after all this trial and errors , I manage to get a better gap on handling the young fry (Hopefully!). Do hope to hear good news from you soon !!! 
Anyway update from the last batch . All 7 fry are still happily moving around the tank ! (Still keeping my fingers crosses !) :Grin:  Will update with pictures soon ! cheers !

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## drakeho

my spotted b.b !  :Jump for joy:

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## drakeho



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## genes

Are they the offsprings from similar parents?

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## Gecko

This is how (suspected) L98 come about....

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## drakeho

Hi Genes

The four are from the same parent . Whole lot of the batch is spotted . That is also the one and only batch which is spotted . The rest of the batch are all the normal striping ones . Still trying to spot the female that reproduce this lot .

Yo Gecko 

Dont make me happy hor !  :Grin:

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## eeeeemo

hmmm i have alot of spotted zebra babies also.
out of around 60 spawns i have so far at least 20 are spotty or have spots on them.
they are common. as they grow the spots may join up or extend themselves into strips.
many plecos have quite different patterns when young..
very cute!

i think the rare ones are those with vertical strips.
so far i have only seen less than 5 in my spawns.
spots eventually become horizontal strips, but vertical strips no matter how they grow, cannot become horizontal ones.... lol

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## Gecko

> Dont make me happy hor !


As we have discussed, lets see if they keep the spots at 2". Some of yours are unusual even at this size.... :Cool:

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## riltz

hi got a question, if they are spawing so well why sell them? new project?

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## celticfish

Yes, that's a good question!
I also want to know why?!!  :Grin:

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## drakeho

Been very busy at the office for the past few months and more moving forward ...  :Knockout:  Hardly got time to sit in front of the tank and view them any more and give them full TLC so decided to let it go .. Even the tenth batch was left undetected till the wrigglers left the cave !  :Shocked: 
There again ... What you say may be right !

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