ive got zebra pleco's

[alan j t]

sweeeeet

[jellygirl]

Hi Crey,

They are beautiful fish - I can see the attraction. Gosh they are so expensive. I note you appear to have paid in pounds sterling. Do you live in england I wonder?

alan t j I found this I wonder if it helps - good luck with your fish. I hope they settle in quickly.

http://www.zebrapleco.com

Jellygirl

[crey2907]

yes jelly im from england and also thanks to allan tj for the link to that web site but not sure if you was trying to help me with breading them or it was to show me a point.
i no quite a bit about plec's and when i saw them i fell in love and got 4 of them put them in my tank and started to do some reserch and this is what i found out
...they originate from brazil
...8 people will drown a week to catch them
...the average wage in brazil is $75 a month so most men go fishing after work and can get $5 per zebra plec and can catch 50 a day
...they are worth there weight in gold (shopkeepers accept them for groceries and will take twenty plec's for a weeks worth of shopping)
...they are not just rare fish for fishkeepers they are fast becoming extinct all together
i also did much more reserch but was really shocked about these few and now feel a little guilty (but happy noing these have got a nice loving home)

[StormySkiez]

Originally Posted by crey2907

......
...8 people will drown a week to catch them
...the average wage in brazil is $75 a month so most men go fishing after work and can get $5 per zebra plec and can catch 50 a day
...they are worth there weight in gold (shopkeepers accept them for groceries and will take twenty plec's for a weeks worth of shopping)
...they are not just rare fish for fishkeepers they are fast becoming extinct all together......

That is crazy!


I did a search on the zebra pleco after I saw them here. LiveAquaria sells them for $299.00!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...catid=1136&N=0


I also looked up breeding. It seems many do not have success . Let us know how it goes for you crey2907. It would be good if you have success! Does England have protection for animals that are close to extinction?

Nice site jellygirl. The Zebra Pleco site ought to help you a bunch crey. I saw more success there then I found in my search earlier.

[jellygirl]

Hi Crey,

Just flabbergasted about the price - well I suppose that might have something to do with the fact that I appear to be better at algae and snails than fishkeeping, so I wouldn't dream of paying that amount of money lol.

Sorry Crey I did not read the entire thread and I was trying to help with the breeding programme.

Hopefully, once a captive breeding programme can become established, the price of these beautiful fish will fall ensuring their existence continues in the wild.

Since reading about fish since it became the 'fashion' in england to keep them (Victorian times), i have discovered that price fluctuations happens quite often until they become easily available or the demand drops. Hopefully you and many like you will be successful and the wild ones will be left alone, but in the meantime who can blame the locals for trying to earn a buck.

Jellygirl