Adding danios to a 10-gal??

[WolfPup522]

I currently have a 10 gal with 5 cories (peppered & spotted) in it. I want to add some fish for a little more activity toward the middle/top of the tank. My daughter really wants long fin zebra danios. Should I be ok in adding 3-4 of those? I thought I had read that danios need more swimming space, but I could be wrong.

If danios are not the answer, does anyone have suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[stoopid]

a 10g should provide plenty of room for 3-4 danios, mine usually stay in a tight group in the middle, which would be roughly the space of a 10g...

[ChilDawg]

I'd watch for fin-nipping, though, as Zebras are notorious for that...make sure the cories aren't getting the business end of the additions...

[WolfPup522]

Thanks for the quick replys. My daughter will be thrilled! As for the fin-nipping, if that happens I can move them to my bigger tank and put our 3 rasboras in their place in the 10 gal. I just wanted something a little more colorful than the rasboras, so hopefully the danios will behave.

Thanks again!

[TKOS]

Might I suggest my favorite fish the White Cloud Mountain Minnow. You would be able to keep 5-6 in the 10 gallon tank. They work well with Cories (as they do in my tank), are super hardy and are really colourful with bronze bodies and bright red fins with white tips. Loads of fun to watch at feeding time and are still close to 2 inches in size so only slightly smaller than a danio. As a baby (which is how you generally buy them) they don't look like much but grow up quite fast. And they are cheap!!!

[demon_surfer]

if you are looking for something pretty and active for the 10gallon then take a look at some of the smaller tetras...serpae tetras are very pretty..as are the humble neons. lots and lots of fish to choose from! :)

[WolfPup522]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll see if my daughter likes the ones you mentioned. She's a little biased toward the danios because her name is Danni and she thinks having danios would be funny (hey, what can I say, she's 9:D ). I'll see how it goes this weekend at the LFS.

[yashinfan]

Well, I'm a zebra danio fan myself if you'll notice my tag at the bottom. But just to tell you, danios in small tanks like some plants, fake or real, just for some safety. Especially with only 3-4 of them, they might be a little more nervous. Long fin danios are not as bad for fin nipping as other types, considering their tails are much longer and better for fin nipping than a corie! So everything should be fine, cories and danios get along nicely together.

[Slappy*McFish]

I prefer Leopard danios over Zebras..just a personal preference. Though, I keep Glowlight tetras in my 10g.

[blitzen25bm]

i think the pearl danios are the best looking danios they have a real nice color

[Tetratastic]

I agree, pearl danios are the best. I have 3 pearls (used to be 4 until a loss in the family occcured) in a 10gal with 4 cories. I have never had a problem with fin nipping (IME danios are less agressive than zebras or leopards). My pearls also spend as much time in the middle of the water column as they do the very top. Any zebras I've ever had just stayed at the top.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[WolfPup522]

Thanks again for the suggestions.


But just to tell you, danios in small tanks like some plants, fake or real, just for some safety.
I have a castle and fake plants in there now for the cories to hide in, but I'll get some more (taller) plants for the danios.

I like the other types of danios as well. My problem is that I've found 3 places to get fish close to where I live and so far PetSmart (yes, PetSmart - mine has a great fish section) has given me the best survivial rate. Now because I told my daughter these would be "her" fish, I don't want to take any more chances than necessary in the survival of these fish and my PetSmart usually only has the zebras (short & long finned), and sometimes the occasional giant danios, but uh, no - not getting that one just yet! :D

If anyone has more advice or suggestions, please keep them coming. And thanks again!

[TKOS]

This is just a little extra advice concerning the cories. Make sure to get them some sinking bottom feeder tablets. Drop 2 in a day at feeding time. They are great fish for sharing so no worries about fights. I notice a lot of people end up just feeding them flakes that eventually sink to the bottom, but they will do much better with a couple tablets a day, plus the danios will end up eating all of the flake food pretty fast and you don't want to end up having to drop in excessive amounts of flake food as that will end up leading to ammonia spikes.

[WolfPup522]

TKOS - Thanks for the advice. Luckily, I did alot of research before I got the cories and found out they needed the sinking bottom feeder tablets. I tried the flakes, too, since some websites said they'd eat that in addition to the tablets, but mine won't touch them and stick to the tablets.

[Tetratastic]

I got my pearl danios at my local petsmart - yes, petsmart ;)

They were the only place I could find them, though I'm sure inventory store to store varies.

[yashinfan]

I bought my zebra danios at PetSmart as well because they were by far the cheapest at 50 cents Canadian.. well 49 to be exact. And they were all great looking fish. I know have.. let's approximate 200 zebra danios. ~5mm to 2 inches. lol. Anyway, something really cool is that I got TWO ALBINOS!!! How weird is that? Well, I one of them is not "pure" because it has blue eyes but a white body, and the other is all white with no colour in its eyes. It's kinda ugly but really different looking.. I was thinking before about making an all danio species tank and getting the different types (ie- leopard, pearl, long fin, and giant) but it's not that much variety.. Ah well, I have to sell my babies to Big Al's Aquarium Services before I can buy more fish :o

[WolfPup522]

Well, we now have 4 new inhabitants - all long-finned danios, 2 zebra, 2 leopard. They all seem to be doing well, except the smallest one (a leopard) looks quite a bit more stressed out than the others, so we're keeping a close eye on him (her?). The cories didn't seem to mind the company and everyone is eating well.

Oh yeah, and I love the way the danios match my castle turrets in the tank!:D

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!

[yashinfan]

If the danio doesn't settle down in about 3 days, than something might be wrong with your water parameters, or there is just not enough hiding spots. Nothing too serious should come of this.