During Hurricane Rita we evacuated from the coast ( ordered to ). While we were away a 100' cottonwood tree fell across our electrical service wire and when we returned the power had been off for at least 24 hrs and the temp. inside the house was 96 degrees. Only one tank survived. The rest were a total loss. I was curious why these fish didn't follow the rest to Valhalla so I played the flashlight at the water surface. All twenty zebra danios were on the surface tearing around like " da naganuph was after dem ". This was the only tank with zebras in it. It is also HEAVILY stocked and houses my oldest fish; a chinese algae eater given to me in 1984 named George and two lohachatas I bought in 1989 named Skippy and Mack. The tank temp. was above 93 ( max on thermometer scale ). I didn't feed or otherwise bother them. Three days later power was restored and I brought the tank temp down gradually to 84 degrees. After a 50% water change and filter service I finally fed them. They were ravenous. The increased temp. had their metabolisms in passing gear. This tank is a community play/experiment tank and I mess with it too much to have live plants in it, so I didn't have a forest sucking the oxygen out of a dark tank. I still think it was the danios that saved the tank. Good little zebra danios.
