# Pregnant zebra danio chasing males?



## Fishtopia (Dec 15, 2008)

I'm new at this, so I'm not sure if my zebra danio actually has eggs, but it certainly looks like it. I'm also pretty sure it's a female. I'm not sure about the other two though...

Recently, the female looks 'pregnant' and after she eats she looks like she's going to burst. (Before when they ate, they would get fat and then shrink, but I'm not sure if that's normal...they look fine though). I've noticed that she's begun 'flaring' (I'm not sure if that's the right word to describe it) at the other two zebras in the tank and chasing them. I've notice that one of their fins have been shredded too (by the female I think). They hide behind the filter when the lights on, but when it gets dark and there's no light I can see them coming out and swimming a bit.

When it's feeding time, the female dashes to all the food and it doesn't look like the other two are eating (compared to before) 

Help!?? Isn't the male suppose to chase the female??? Not the other way around??


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## Shaggy (Apr 29, 2005)

The best thing to do is take a picture of your fish and post it up here, so we can tell if she is really pregnant or not.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Zebra danios don't get "pregnant" though I suppose they might get egg bound. The chasing you describe is a good sign. You can tell that they are spawning if they chase each other around the tank and get close to each other side by side and basically shimmy, sometimes turning upside down in the process before breaking off to start again. If you watch this closely you can actually see them release their eggs and sperm. It is pretty cool. They do this mostly at night but I have seen it in the day as well. When I first saw this I thought they were ganging up and beating up one of the danios. My experience of danios otherwise is that they get along with each other pretty well. There is minor chasing and usually at feeding time. I suppose it is possible that they can get aggressive with each other, I just have not seen that myself.


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## Fishtopia (Dec 15, 2008)

But I always thought that the males chased the females?


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