WTB L46 zebra pleco's. (lets keep this species alive in aus!)

After banning the import of the zebra pleco's to australia, this gorgeous species is most likely going to become extinct down under. I know a pair of these is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to come by, but i really want to keep this fish alive on our shores. if anybody knows anyone with either males, females, or both, please get in contact with me as id love to start a breeding project of these regardless of the cost.

Curiosity why would they banned them from entering our shores?? Are they a pest ?

in the wild zebz are becoming rare and less and less...
so they cannot be imported because the fish gov wouldnt no if they was wild caught or tank breed...if that makes sense

IMO more research should be done to learn to breed these magnificent creatures then wouldnt it be possible to release them back into the wild. sort of like a zebra pleco farm. then with a breeding program and farm established they could also start exporting farm bred zebs too. make a healthy profit to fund the farm
oh and btw MikeW has/will have some zebs for sale. so give him a PM care of plecofanatics (sorry mods for redirecting to another site but i dont think mikes here ) he said he should be getting more for xmas. heres a link to his last thread with zebs 4 sale http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83587

i dont mind links for fish for sale as long as nobody posts any other links advertising other site's...were pretty relaxed here so fish for sale links are fine..

They're banned for import in NZ also. The saddest part of it is I know a guy with 2 males and I know a guy who had one spawn but then his female died. I don't know if he will be able to breed them again from the fry but the guy with 2 males should be able to. So far her has bred L066, L270, L260 (all hypans) plus a plethora of panaques and other plecos. Unfortunately the guy with the young fry won't part with a female for love of money because he wants to be the only one in the country with them. Politics could very well see them die out here. If the other guy can get one... be sure I'll be at the top of his list for getting fry.

Plus he seems quite impressed with my efforst to get some fish breeding so far!

i asked my local pet store about them a week or so ago and was told he can get them for about $1500 a pair.
they are still avalible in Australia

d_flitton wrote:

i asked my local pet store about them a week or so ago and was told he can get them for about $1500 a pair.
they are still avalible in Australia

$1500 for a pair is pretty cheap. The going rate at the moment is around $1000ea for 3-4cm fish - and that is without the stores mark up

WoW!! I can get them for $150 to $200 a piece here in the states. That might actually be a good investment to look into.

Bwompus"]WoW!! I can get them for $150 to $200 a piece here in the states. That might actually be a good investment to look into.[/quote] :twisted

They seem like a no frills type of pleco to care for. Talking to a friend now about setting up a breeding and a storing tanks for the fry. We're just talking about it, but hes been into fish for over 25 years and can make things happen. The monetary gains seem nice also. I've got a lot of reading to do for this along with house crap...yard crap...garden crap...car crap..fish crap.......just a bunch of crap to do.

Go for it mate i would also welcome pics of Zebz any day.........

they generate great interest....

Bwompus wrote:

WoW!! I can get them for $150 to $200 a piece here in the states. That might actually be a good investment to look into.

Very jealous Bwompus. $200 here gets a 5-6cm L134 :roll:

Money aside, anyone breeding zebs is doing the species a great service - Good luck

if you can get them for 150 to $200 then import them into aus and make a killing.
problem would be can you still import them into aus? if so i would put my hand up for some.

d_flitton wrote:

problem would be can you still import them into aus?

refer to first post. No longer able to import, hence the high prices

If I had my breeding tank up and running, and actually had the fish I'd make a nice chunk of change here.

that would explain it then, the govenment can be so cruel.

Why did they put them on the ban list in the first place?

Curby wrote:

in the wild zebz are becoming rare and less and less...
so they cannot be imported because the fish gov wouldnt no if they was wild caught or tank breed...if that makes sense

Curby got it in one. Basically the ban was put in place to try and protect the remaining wild population.
Less demand for wild caught imports via bans = less fish being removed from their natural environment (or so the theory goes)

i dont no why they have banned the imports of these fish for because when the bazil goverment build these dames there on about building they are gone to be the ones makeing the fish instinct because they need fast flowing water and the dames will prevent this

The zebra pleco is not included in the Australian import list however it is also not on the noxious species list, nor is it on the 'grey' list.
Whatever zebra plecos are already in Australia before they brought in the import list are fine to stay and be bred from in captivity.

The high price of purchase together with the fact that they take so many years to mature and are tricky to trigger into breeding their tiny spawns of 8 to 15 fry makes them rare here as well.
Many Australian keepers of zebras won't even admit they have them for fear that some lowlives will steal them so that makes it extra difficult to find any for sale.

I hate that. the fact that people have to hide and lock up their fish!

I know 99.99% of people wouldnt but that0.001% of people stresses me out showing people my fish room.