Can someone help me about zebra danios?

[Trinionwheel]

Hello all,

I got several questions id like to ask:-

My community tank is 5 gallon. I got artificial plants & colored gravels with a divider but i removed it for more room for the fishes to live in. I DIY an container to act as a sponge filter, and using a penn plax internal filter 170 that came with the tank. Does anyone knows what the extra top for? It came with a small air tubing and a airstone but if u twist it, it can make bubbles.

Is that where i place an air line tubing from my air pump?
Below is picture of what im talking about.
Penn Plax Cascade 170 Internal Filter

Saturday 29th January 2011, bought 6 zebra danios, two sets of trios.
Saturday 5th Febuary 2011, I was doing some water change when i taken out about 11 fry.

1) How can i tell if the fry yolk sacks has been gone, as they are so tiny. black head with small tails. They only move when i move the container or when i wiggle my finger on the water close to them. Is that normal?

Im culturing some infusorias for them in a small sealed container atm.
I will check in next two days to cultivate them and add for the fry.

Currently, I have the fry in a ice-cream container with no sponge filter. Shallow water with no cover.

2) When is a good time to place a sponge filter for the fry? As i got only one air pump with one hole, and i don't have those divider to separate the air tubing for my community tank

3) What is the best solution on saving future fry from the adults (replace all the colored gravel with marbles or just add marbles on top of the gravel).
I only have one tank. My danios seem to love breeding each day, as i see them chasing after the females or digging on the gravel for ' snacks ' fry to eat.

I will try and get some pictures of my tank.

Thank you for your patience and answering my question
Have a nice day!

[Ursus sapien]

wow, that's a lot of questions!
I've never used the 2 part type of pump you mentioned, but it seems likely that the airline will hook up to the air stone. Friends who have the combo pump have given up on the unit soon after buying it.

About the danios: the fry won't be very active at first, after hatching, so for them to just be lazing around is normal. The yolk sack is mostly gone within a few days.

A five gallon is very small for such active fish. It's also so small that the adults will be bumping into egg and fry every time they turn around, and eating them every time they do.

You need to do 1 of 2 things:
1) give the adults a spawning mop or a ball of moss to spawn in. When the fish spawn, remove the mop/moss to a cycled hatch tank (5 gallon will do) set up with a sponge filter. Air flow should be good but not so strong as to create turbulence. Bare bottom is fine, but add some small stones and a piece of driftwood. infusoria grows on the wood and moss, and the stones will create extra surface area for aufwuchs (biofilm) to grow. Remove any eggs that develop fungus.

or, 2) leave the spawning material in the parent's tank, but add a divider after spawning to keep the adults away from the eggs and fry. There should be a sponge filter (they grow rotifers and other micro organisms for the fry to eat) on the 'egg side of the divider. The divider needs to be fine enough to prevent the young from wandering over to the parent's side.

Option 2 will give you more fry than option 1. If possible, turn your 5 gallon into a egg/fry tank and get at least a 10 gallon for the adults.

cheers, Storm

[Trinionwheel]

My zebra danio tank looks like this.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The other smaller tank in the background I don't use atm. Id say thats about a 2 gallon.

[Ursus sapien]

You could use the smaller tank to hatch out the eggs. But, realistically, a five gallon is too small for zebra danios. They're a river fish and like some current and room to zoom.

[Trinionwheel]

Thankx for the help. Earlier, when i was changing the subtrates from gravel to marbles found more fry, i put em back into the same tank covered with marbles. As it seems they survive longer than me raising them separately
Im guessing my chances are low for surviving fry to become large enough not to be eaten?

I've also noticed also, after each feeding the males constantly chase that ' one ' female around the tank and the next day they are back digging the subtrates for fry snacks. The female isn't even stressed out.

Can i add fancy guppies or live bearers into the same tank? As those fry are noticeable than the danios, i can raise those separatedly.

[Ursus sapien]

you're welcome:-) It's cool that you keep finding fry.
Set up that little tank the way I described, using water from the 5g. Match the temperature between the two tanks, then use a turkey baster or large pipette to catch and transfer the fry. This should give you a decent survival rate.

Danios and fancy guppies aren't a good mix in a small tank. The danios will nip at the guppies fins. You're pretty much maxed out for fish, any way, in terms of both room and filtration.
If you can manage it, add a sponge filter for added bacterial filtration.
Sponge filters also grow rotifers and other microorganisms, good fry food. Also, try to get some undemanding but fast growing plants (like naja grass, for example, or elodea) to help with filtration and increasing the odds of any fry surviving.

[neven]

i found my danios to be very violent in a 5 gallon tank when i moved them. I eventually had to move them back to a larger tank because all the other fish were hiding and would only sometimes risk coming out for food.

[iluvfsh]

Wow.....I've had 6 danios in a 30 gallon tank ( unplanted) for 4 months, and have not seen any fry? I'd love to....any ideas? should it be planted, or just a moss ball? I did have it planted, but I am overrun with snails now.

[Trinionwheel]

If you didn't had plants what subtrates you had in those four months may i ask?
- Before the marbles, i had artificial plants that came with the tank, and gravel, and i got about 11 fry. That didn't went too well.
- Now that i removed the gravel, replaced with marbles to hide the fry last i recall i must have found about 20+ ( with egg yolk sacks attached and free swimming) .. sadly they are either eaten for snacks or living ' well ' under it.

I will choose corydora catfish or pleco over snails anytime.

[iluvfsh]

I used to have plants, but they died off. Then I purchased 3 zebra loaches which where supposed to take care of the snails, but unfortunatley they brought in ich and wiped out my whole tank. So I started again, but the snails stayed. For substrate, I have gravel. If I were you, I would purchase a bigger tank....there are always cheap ones on the classifieds here, and keep the 5 gallon as a quarantine tank.