Danios

[Lucky]

My danios suddenly can't seem to get along. 2-3 days ago is when I started noticing they were chasing each other more. I have two males and one female, and the males seem especially intolerant of the female.

They're kinda poor quality, but I have some video from yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lcJhNJICYA
I follow the female most of the time in this one, but zoom in on one of the patrolling males around 46 seconds. He follows the same path almost every time - under and around the wood, around one of the fern stems, and around or over the rock, repeat. The other male does the same on the other side.

This one's darker for some reason - sorry for the quality. The two danios are mostly in the upper right area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoI6llPi3nA
It's kinda hard to tell, but it looked to me like he was ramming her pretty hard, and she definately didn't want to be around.

Today, the males keep crossing boundaries and chasing after each other, in addition to the female. Is this some sort of fishy love triangle, or what..? They're even starting to nip at the neons, occasionally.

Recent changes to the tank: New piece of driftwood, less than half a dose of Tetra Algae Control added (several days ago, just did a 50% w/c to clear some of it, they're still after each other), everything else is about the same. I checked all my params this morning - Nitrate: ~20, Nitrite: 0, Ammonia: 0

No clamped fins, and the danios appear to behave normally when they can't see one another, except the female, who swims around the mid level and often against the glass. I'm worried about her.

 

[The Zigman]

women...
I bet she cheated on one of them with the other, and didn't tell him she had a boyfriend.. now they both hate her...Tramp!!

I always kept them in groups of 6 or more.. maybe get a couple more?

 

[Lucky]

women...
I bet she cheated on one of them with the other, and didn't tell him she had a boyfriend.. now they both hate her...Tramp!!

I always kept them in groups of 6 or more.. maybe get a couple more?

Haha, yeah, I'll bet she did!

I wondered if that might be part of it, and I'd love to, but I have no room for a quarantine tank at the moment, and it's a 10 gal, so I'm not sure that I can put in any more (I have the 3 danios, and 4 neon tetra). I plan to upgrade to 20 gal or so eventually, but I don't know when I'll be able to.
What gets me is that they've been fine up until now.

 

[jberemy]

I have 3 zebras in my 10g, and when I first got them, they did the same thing. One of them constantly would chase after the other two when they tried to swim around the tank. Not sure why, but he gave it up after about two weeks...maybe just give them some time and see if they quit...

 

[TKOS]

I would have said get more, but I agree that a 10 gallon is really too small for that. Ideally you could trade them for a few more neons, but I know that is hard to do. Having many places to hide is probably the only thing to do right now. "Peaceful" fish are rarely peaceful. There is always a dominance show going on and someone has to loose.

 

[jpappy789]

Mine do that occasionally, but I agree, more would probably help spread out the chasing.

 

[Lucky]

I would have said get more, but I agree that a 10 gallon is really too small for that. Ideally you could trade them for a few more neons, but I know that is hard to do.

These fish come from a pre-established aquarium where they weren't being properly cared for. I don't think the store I go to would trade them, and I don't want to have to deal with unquarrantined fish anyhow - I have no quarantine tank, and I don't have room to get one at the moment, unfortunately.

Having many places to hide is probably the only thing to do right now. "Peaceful" fish are rarely peaceful. There is always a dominance show going on and someone has to lose.

There are some decent hiding spots - I have 3 pieces of driftwood with java ferns, and some rocks. I never really expected the danios to be terribly peaceful - they were known fin-nippers in the tank I got them from, but they have improved considerably since I got ahold of them. The past couple days has been unusual behavior for them, which is what got me worried.

Mine do that occasionally, but I agree, more would probably help spread out the chasing.

If only I had room! It will be 3 months at least before I can get a larger tank. At the moment, I'm living on the 3rd floor of a dorm, and that means moving out every semester in addition to a 20g limit (wouldn't want to move more than 10~15g anyway!). I'm heavily considering moving off campus to a more permanent setting for next fall, getting a larger tank, and setting up my 10g as a QT tank.

They seem to have worked things out for the moment, but they still chase if someone gets into someone else's space.

 

[persephony]

Danios are boysterous, thery're like the naughty kids at the back of class, always chasing eachother and messing about.

Watched your video, seems normal. Mine picked on the smallest one when i first got them. I call her meany coz she soon showed them who was boss! She used to bite, and they would all gang up on eachother, i think it's a terratorial thing. They will settle down after a while. (Watch them for jumping out during water changes, I lost a few that way!)

Last week mine were acting odd aswell. I have 5 females and 1 male, the females bellies were bloated, and for about 5 mornings as i turned the lights on they were chasing eachother at the bottom of the tank around the hornwort. They were taking it in turns to swim close behind one of the females until she would turn on them and chase them away, then she would hide in the bogwood cave and defend it not letting the others enter. One by one the females bellies returned to normal. I did some reading and it appears that they were 'in season'. I think the fish were trying to eat eggs that the females were laying.

Now they are all back to normal. I would love to try to breed them but havent got room for a fry tank at the moment. They come in season 3 times per year so i might try at a later date. Did you notice your female's bellies swollen at all?

 

[Lucky]

Danios are boysterous, thery're like the naughty kids at the back of class, always chasing eachother and messing about.

Yeah, they can be a handful, haha. Like I said, they were known fin nippers where I got them from, and it's taken my neons about 3 months to work up the nerve to challenge them at feeding time.

Watched your video, seems normal.

It seemed like they were hitting each other harder than usual, to me - doesn't show up on the video too well.

She used to bite, and they would all gang up on eachother, i think it's a terratorial thing. They will settle down after a while. (Watch them for jumping out during water changes, I lost a few that way!)

Thankfully, they're getting along alright now. They've even started to school again. And I know what you mean about the water changes - One of my males has earned the name "Daredevil" for being the only one brave/dumb enough to swim at the top and risk getting scooped out during a water change. I've never seen these jump before, though. I'll have to watch out for that!

Last week mine were acting odd aswell. I have 5 females and 1 male, the females bellies were bloated, ..... One by one the females bellies returned to normal. I did some reading and it appears that they were 'in season'. I think the fish were trying to eat eggs that the females were laying.

Now they are all back to normal. I would love to try to breed them but havent got room for a fry tank at the moment. They come in season 3 times per year so i might try at a later date. Did you notice your female's bellies swollen at all?

I thought she looked a little puffier than usual when I glanced at the tank the other day, but I think it was just a trick of the light and they were more peaceful by then. I could very well be wrong, though! It would certainly explain the odd behavior. Breeding habits crossed my mind when it started up (hence the 'fishy love triangle' comment), but the males were chasing off the female, so...

I would think that coming into season would be affected by light patterns and temperature and whatnot, or something like that, but that may well have been it if mine weren't the only ones acting up last week. Huh! I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the insight!