Celestial Pearl Danio behaviour questions

[Harry Muscle]

I'm thinking of adding some Celestial Pearl Danios to my 20G that currently houses 4 dario dario, who happen to be very hard to feed

... so I'm looking for a fish that won't pick food off the floor and leave it for the dario dario to find. Would Celestial Pearl Danio's fit that bill? Do they only eat what happens to be floating in front of them in the water, or do they actively look for food on the floor and other places?

Couple more questions ... what area of the water do they mainly inhabit (surface, middle, bottom)? Or do they go all over the place?

Also, are they a schooling fish? Or more shoaling? If they school, how tight do they usually school?

Thanks,
Harry

 

[patrick.paul]

I've found that my danios wait for food to be about 5 inches from the surface. They won't go to the surface and they won't pick food off the ground.

They primarily stay in the middle of the tank but it could be because I have larger fish inhabiting the top portion.

I've found my group to stay in the same half of the tank but I don't see much school or shoaling per se.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[ponderingky]

Hey Harry,

I am not an expert on CPD's but I have started raising them and can give you some of my observations. I have several dozen in a 30 gallon H and most of them are at the top - they are very skittish and like to hide. If the tank is heavily planted they will stay hidden - where ever the cover is but seem to prefer the top area. There is another group that stays near the bottom (younger ones) - none are in the middle of the tank - kind of funny to see. Large group up top, and the younger at the bottom flitting back and forth. They do seem to like a school to be in and follow the leader. I am feeding mine live baby brine shrimp and micro worms only right now. I have put a bit of crushed flake in there but can't really tell if they are eating it or spitting it out - they are FAST! I feel pretty sure they will adapt to the foods you have over time. What do you feed the dario's? These guys a pretty small and need really small foods. They also seem to dart back and forth for food - not really hogging it all at once like angels.

Hope that helps,

 

[Pearl]

I keep Celestial Pearl Danios as a dither fish in a 40 long. I tried them in a 20 long before moving them to the 40. The 20 seem to be too short in my opinion. They could never really build up any speed. And danios do like to zip from end to end.

Just my two cents.

 

[rufioman]

20g is too short for most danios I find...unless maybe a 20g long. I had danios in a 20g tall and they just pissed off everyone else in the tank lol.

 

[bluebomber]

I have CDP's in a tank with Platy's and their fry.
The CDP's don't stuff themselves with all the food they can find like my Platy's.
They will eat what they want, and let the rest float around.
My CDP's are active, not shy, and don't hide.
They make great tank mates, and should do well in your tank without bothering your other fishes needs.

 

[nonamesleft47]

CPD's don't act like danios, they are not the open water zip hear, zip there schooling fish. They enjoy heavy plants and will weave in and out of cover chasing each other and picking little things off the plants to eat. They will mostly stay mid to lower level or where ever you have the most cover. They should be good dithers for dario. Mine always liked baby brine, microworms, gold pearls, ect for food but would also eat fine crushed flake. They will eat food as it slowly sinks/swims but generally ignore it if it falls to the bottom.

I raised a number of generations starting with 6 wild caught. When I broke my 55 down there were over 150 in the tank. If anyone walked up to it they would want to know why there were no fish in the tank. You really had to sit and observe to see the fish in the java moss. They are not a schooling fish per say although at times I would see groups out playing follow the leader or fighting over a ripe female. As for other fish, any of the micro rasboras should work as dithers or endlers.