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zebra danio

Zebra danio fish is one of the popular tropical fish because of their fast movement and they does not demands much care. Which make them popular for beginners. Also they are beautiful, hardy, cheap, easily availability and their compatibility with their fishes make them all in one package. Zebra danio is tapering in the end, laterally compressed and having five horizontal stripes on their body.

Zebra danio can grow up to 2 inches in aquarium. They live up to age of 3-4 years depending on the condition provided. They are omnivorous and can feed on almost any food you provide however try to feed them live food rich in protein. They live happily in group of 5 or more. If they are not in group they may get nervous and be easily caught by diseases. The male zebra danio competes for females in group by developing their colors.

The require aquarium of at least 10 gallons that is approx 40 litres. They are peaceful in nature and does not damages the plants. They live well with tetras, live bearers, cat fish, some barbs, angel fish,gouramis and loaches. Avoid putting them with aggressive fishes. Their breeding is easy and they are egg layers. However they eat their eggs so you can use breeding net or breeding box to separate parents. They are available in even many variety such as leopard and giant danio.

Size : 2 inches

Temperature : 18-24 Celsius (62 - 75 Fahrenheit)

Aquarium size : 10 gallons or 40 liters

Breeding : Easy( egg layers)

Lifespan : 3-4 yrs

Nature : Peaceful

Food : Omnivorous

Care : Easy

Difference
To find difference between male and female zebra danio is a feasible task. Males shape is like a torpedo. They have gold stripe between the blue stripe on their body. Females are larger then males and have whitish belly. Female zebra danio have fuller body and subdued coloration. The important difference is that females have small genital papilla in front of anal fin. Also have silver stripes instead of gold stripes between the blue stripe.

Breeding
Zebra danio fish is one of the easiest egg giving fish which you can use for breeding. You can easily distinguish between males and females by looking at their colors and and shape. You will need a adult male and adult female to carry out breeding. Zebra danio gets ready for breeding at size of 1.5 inches. You can put a group of zebra danio and made them breed or you can either put a male and female in separate breeding tank. They gives hundreds of eggs at once and males fertilize them in aquarium water.

The most common problem which arise during the breeding is that zebra danio tends to eat eggs however you can protect them by adding marbles to bottom of tanks so that parents can not reach to the eggs. Mostly one males fertilizes with only one female. However you should put 2 males per female.

Induce the spawning and tank setup
The minimum aquarium size required is more then 5 gallon. However the larger is the tank the more it is better. Now feed the fishes, food rich in protein that is mostly live food such as mosquito larvae, daphnia and blood worms. Change 10% of water in about two days. Also add a marble layer of about 2 inches or substrate to the bottom of the tank. The water level to be about 2-3 inches above the substrate. Set the temperature of about 77 degrees Fahrenheit and the pH level should be around 7 that is neutral. Add sponge aquarium filter to tank. Their should be water current in tank. Add artificial or live plants in the aquarium.

Spawning
To produce the eggs female may take up to 1 week. When females are full of eggs their belly size will increase and you can notice them. Increase the temperature to 80 Fahrenheit in evening.T heir may be chance that whole of school spawns at same time. After courtship the fishes may spawn in early morning. Now the females will drop eggs into the marble chips and male will fertilize them. After few hours the belly size of female zebra danio will decrease which means that females had layed all the eggs. Turn off the filter now add only air stone. Now remove the adult fishes to another tank. You can add few drops of malachite green to protect eggs from fungus. The eggs may hatch in about 3 days. Soon they will come out from marbles and become free swimmers.


Fry care
In starting few days the fry will have their natural source of food from their egg sack attached to their body. When they consume their egg sack you can put infosuria tablets in the tank as they are small to eat any other food or you can ask aquarium dealer for fry food.
Change the 5% of water every day. Remember that the temperature of new water and other conditions should be same as of fry tank. Otherwise fry may get shock and die. Avoid disturbances to fry tank. Don't overfeed the fry. Otherwise remaining food will spoil and pollute the tank. If possible siphon the remaining food from tank but not the fry. After 2 week you can feed them crushed flake food or any other crushed food.