Hello everyone i'm new here and was wondering if anyone could tell me if they experience any agressiveness from the Zebra Danios...I have a 25 gallon with 5 dania's 2 whiteclouds and 1 neon and 3 glowlights...all the danios and whiteclouds hang on the left side of the tank and one lone zebra swims around on the right side of the tank and will chase the whiteclouds and tetra's...this has to be stressing for the little guys considering the tetra's are new to the tank...are dania's territorial?...if he goes near the others they will chase him away so he picks on the little guys...Any help would be great the other 4 danio's are quite peaceful and hang with the whiteclouds except the one...What to do?
Zebra Danio Agressiveness!!!
- Thread starter bearyconfused
- Start date
Welcome!
I know I am probably going a little off topic, but maybe you should expand the schools of every other fish.
What you could do, is go back to where you got the zebras and maybe get at least 2 more zebras, see if that helps.
Usually when you have schooling fish such as White Clouds, Danios, Tetras, Rasboras, Cories, Barbs, etc ,etc, the more the merrier, because it makes the fish more secure, and it sometimes lessens aggression towards other fish, because there are more of thier own kind, so they end up picking on eachother, but since you have a school (ideally 5 or more), it kind of disperses the agression
If after this, your Zebra Danio is still aggressive, then.... well, I don't want to sound insensitive or cruel, but you may have to give him a ride on the porcelain slide if you know what I mean, because sometimes the needs of the many may outweigh the needs of the few, because it may be a little dumb to take one cheap fish back to the store.
I know I am probably going a little off topic, but maybe you should expand the schools of every other fish.
What you could do, is go back to where you got the zebras and maybe get at least 2 more zebras, see if that helps.
Usually when you have schooling fish such as White Clouds, Danios, Tetras, Rasboras, Cories, Barbs, etc ,etc, the more the merrier, because it makes the fish more secure, and it sometimes lessens aggression towards other fish, because there are more of thier own kind, so they end up picking on eachother, but since you have a school (ideally 5 or more), it kind of disperses the agression
If after this, your Zebra Danio is still aggressive, then.... well, I don't want to sound insensitive or cruel, but you may have to give him a ride on the porcelain slide if you know what I mean, because sometimes the needs of the many may outweigh the needs of the few, because it may be a little dumb to take one cheap fish back to the store.
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Hi, Beary: I have the EXACT same problem! I have two placid platies and a mini-school (4) of peaceful cardinal tetras. Added a zebra danio and a silver danio. The silver one is fine, a little hyper, but the zebra terrorizes all my fish! He chased one specific tetra, and the tetra died. I'm not sure if it's because of the stress, or if he was already a weakened tetra, since he had a curved spine and didn't school with his buddies. I notice especially when I turn on the light to feed them, he spends more time chasing the other fish than eating. I don't know how he stays in such great shape! He doesn't nip or harm them, just chases them around. I am tring to find a home for the two danios, because I think I need to either up the danio school or up the tetra school, and I want more tetras. Let me know what you decide!
Thanks for the input guys...i came home today to find one of my whiteclouds that i've had for the past 4 weeks in fishy heaven...i think he was always a little sick as alot of the time he spent near the top by himself and of course the zebra was constantly chasing him around so i'm sure he had a part in his death...which frustrates me because i'm new at this and i've lost 5 fish in the last 5 days...kinda takes the thrill out of it...didn't know that neon tetras were kinda finicky for new tanks bought 3 neons and 3 glowlights on saturday and lost two neons overnight...the glowlights are doing fine...will keep you posted on my Zebra nightmare...who is now after my other whitecloud!!!
Danios....
I had about four zebra danios in my tank and they ranged in size from a larger size to one that was quite small. At first I thought that the bigger ones were picking on the smaller one, but they would never actually nip him. Then I continued to watch and realized that the little one would hide behind my filter intake pipe and wait til the others came by, then he'd "sneak attack" chase them around too. The more I watched, the more I realized that it was more like playing because they would all chase eachother, they're just plain HYPER!! So I increased their group to a full school of 16 in all, and most all of the other danios do the same thing. So, I may be a relative newbie, but I think it's rather natural for them to be so hyper. Now, I can say that the chasing is much less in the group as opposed to the four, but it still happens and it doesn't appear to be over any particular part of the tank or even over food. None of the "new" danios actually nip either. However, I do love how active they are and how curious the are. They may be junk fish in the trade, but they've provided me with much entertainment, lol. Good luck......
JOSH
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I had about four zebra danios in my tank and they ranged in size from a larger size to one that was quite small. At first I thought that the bigger ones were picking on the smaller one, but they would never actually nip him. Then I continued to watch and realized that the little one would hide behind my filter intake pipe and wait til the others came by, then he'd "sneak attack" chase them around too. The more I watched, the more I realized that it was more like playing because they would all chase eachother, they're just plain HYPER!! So I increased their group to a full school of 16 in all, and most all of the other danios do the same thing. So, I may be a relative newbie, but I think it's rather natural for them to be so hyper. Now, I can say that the chasing is much less in the group as opposed to the four, but it still happens and it doesn't appear to be over any particular part of the tank or even over food. None of the "new" danios actually nip either. However, I do love how active they are and how curious the are. They may be junk fish in the trade, but they've provided me with much entertainment, lol. Good luck......
JOSH
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Thanks for the input...i tend to agree...i do love to watch them as they are constantly on the move...and i really like the Longfin Zebra's i have 2 of them and 3 regular ones...it was only the one tormenting but i think your mostly right he just wanted to play as he never really bit any of their fins he would just chase them around...i like the fact that they are always moving around so the tank never looks boring...i agree they are a nice fish to watch...enjoy...