Zebra Danios

[Erynn]

Hi,
How easily do zebra danios breed? I have 4 of them right now by themselves in one of my 10 gallons. The temperature of that tank is about 77 which is warm for them. It only has two plants in it right now...and some dark gravel on the bottom. It's filtered by an aquaclear mini and there is an air stone as well.

Everytime I wake up in the morning, two of them are pretty much wrapping themselves around eachother......this goes on until I feed them and then it sorta stops but continues off and on throughout the day.

When I turn the lights on in the morning they are always picking at the gravel.......

is it possible that they spawn overnight and then eat the eggs? I know that with danios you have to get them out of the tank asap after spawning or else they will eat the eggs but the female does NOT look full of eggs at all. I am not trying to breed them, but I'm just wondering if they are spawning or maybe about to????

 

[OrionGirl]

Yep, they are spawning. The females scatter the eggs, the males trail behind and fertilize. If the substrate doesn't allow the eggs to fall down into protected areas, the fish will eat them. Best bet is to use marbles as a substrate so the eggs will fall down below. I was told to remove the parents after 5 days, so they don't eat the fry as they hatch and swim up from the substrate.

 

[wetmanNY]

...I agree! plus, if they're spawning in an aquarium that's already set up, as yours is, can you add a loose tangle of Java Moss spread all over the gravel?

 

[Erynn]

Wow, that was quick! I only bought these four guys on Sunday!I know my water quality is very very good right now......nitrites and ammonia both at zero. I was reading a bit about zebras just now and found out that they like water to be about 77 to spawn...which is exactly what mine is. I guess it's perfect conditions for them!

I could put some java moss along the bottom...but I have incandescent lighting on this tank and so the plants won't live! Also, I'm not really trying to breed them.....soon I will add a few other fish...maybe 2 or 3 cories.

 

[djlen]

I may have missed it above, but you'll have much bigger and successful spawings if you put them in a tank with the marbles or moss, and lower the depth of the water to only 2 - 3 inches. If won't bother the danios. They'll breed like crazy and the lower depth gives the eggs a chance to fall into the moss or marbles before the parents can turn and eat them. You'll have more danios than you know what to do with. Remove the parent fish or once the eggs hatch they will eat the free swimming young.
Len

 

[kveeti]

My Unintentional Zebra Danio breeding:

One winter I wanted to overwinter water hyacinths from my half-barrel pond. I put them in an unused 15 gallon and used my dirty gravel-syphoned water in that tank, thinking this would be good nutrients for the plants.

Well, water hyacinths are just a mess of roots, I never really looked too closely at the cruddy water but one day I noticed some flashes. There were baby zebra danios. Now these were in an unheated, unfiltered, uncycled, tank with filthy water that had not been changed - nor had the fry (to that point) been fed actual fish food.

 

[brackishwannbe]

Originally posted by kveeti
My Unintentional Zebra Danio breeding:

Same here, one week after buying zebras I did a water change and turn up the temp to 82. I really didn't know what I was doing at that time. Two days latter my female danio was as big as a golf ball. I didn't have a breeder tank so she spawned overnight and they eat the eggs. Then two days after getting my sorwdtails one of them had 4 dozen fry!! I'm down to a 12+ of the swordtails, but the mollie and danio are ready to breed, along with the swordtail again.

 

[mollie]

I threw some leopard and zebra danios into my livebearer tank about 8 weeks ago (was given them and they wouldn't go into any of my other tanks). About 2 weeks later during the regular WC and plant cleanup, I was watching some of the debris settle after removing a plant and noticed it was moving sideways instead of straight down. I got out the jug I use on the tank and scooped it out and gently poured it into an old floating breeder, and it turned out to be a danio fry. I never realised how tiny these things were. Even now it is not even the size of guppy fry.

Just a word of warning, if anyone finds danio fry in their regular tank and decides to put it into a breeder, be careful, the fry are small enough to go straight through the slits in the bottom.