# Zebra Danio Questions!



## Feathers (Dec 2, 2007)

Whereas I'm not new to freshwater, I'm definitely new to Zebra Danios. I usually search the web to see what I can find to answer my questions, but decided finally to join a forum because I was struggling to find answers to some questions I had.

I feed my Mollies lightly twice a day, in the morning and evening, and wondered if it was okay to do the same for Danios? I'm wary of overfeeding, and since they're such small fish, I wondered if just once a day was all they needed? I don't want to feed them too little, but I definitely don't want to overfeed either.

I recently had two of my five die (stress from the store, I believe, since I'd only had them home a couple of days) and have only recently noticed a little bit of possible aggression from two of the remaining three. The third kind of swims off by itself when the other two get nippy. I'm not familiar enough with Danios to know if they're just being playful or if it's actually aggression, so I wondered if someone could give some insight?

The best way I can describe it is that they'll face each other and slowly inch in (it kind of made me think of knights jousting?) until they kind of moved side to side and turned to nip at each other. Usually, one or the other swims off after the initial little nip or nudge--I can't actually tell if a nip is happening-- and the second fish gives chase. 

Is that aggression? Or just playing? 

If it's aggression, is there anything I can do about it? I know ideal Danio numbers are 5 or 6, but the Danio tank at the LPS had some dead Danios in it, so I wanted to wait a couple weeks before I looked again...


----------



## mgamer20o0 (Aug 27, 2007)

one a day is fine for all fish. i feed mine 5-6 times a week. sounds like they are just playing. also think they do better in 20 gal tanks. they are real active and need the swimming space.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Twice is fine, too, and they'll appreciate it.


----------



## Feathers (Dec 2, 2007)

My ex-girlfriend (the one who got me into fish and got me started with Mollies) would say "Well _you_ could survive off one meal a day. Doesn't mean you'd like it." But I was just a little unsure about the Danios because they're so small! Thanks for the insight, you two.

I'm watching their fins to make sure nipping doesn't seem to be happening. So far, they all look okay. So I think you're right about it just being playing. Thanks! =)


----------



## p8ball4life (Nov 7, 2007)

I had 5 danios to cycle my 20 gallon. The largest one had its jaw broken, and thus eventually died. The smallest of the 4 that are left now is slightly injured in that it no longer swims around faster than the others, and they pick on it from time to time. My 3 medium sized fish do the nipping you are talking about, but they nip back unlike the largest (slowest) and the smallest who just get nipped.

In my tank, yes there has definitely been aggression. If all of yours seem to be the same size, and if they face off evenly most of the time, it might not be something worth worrying about.

If you want, you could add more places for the ones being picked on to hide. That could help curb aggression.


----------



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I starte dout feeding my fish twice, but after all the advice I got, I now feed them once and a small amount at that.

They must have been super hungry today because they went nuts as soon as I put the food in and the black skirt Tetras really nipped at each other harshly!

But they survived.

I also mentioned about one of my zebra danios mouths. I think he/she got into a fight, and it's mouth got bitten/nipped off?

It's recovering slowly I think, we will see how it looks after another week.
Hope this helps.


----------



## Feathers (Dec 2, 2007)

Oh wow, I didn't realize their mouths were so susceptible to injury! Thanks for the head's up, I'll definitely keep an eye out for that. Yikes! 

Two of my Danios are just about the same size. I've been calling the more aggressive one Dart, and the other large one Zip (because it's usually swimming away). The smallest of the three, I've taken to calling "Tiny" because, not only is it smallest, but it also has what I assume is a deformed tail?

Whereas the other fish kind of can fan their tail fin out, Tiny has a much narrower tail fin. At first, I wondered if it was just clamping or something, but I have never seen Tiny's tail opened any wider than the narrow state it usually is in. I've tried to get a picture but Tiny spends most of his/her time hiding from Dart and Zip, and is quite shy when out in the open.

Tiny is doing a good job hiding and keeping away from the other two, and Zip and Dart seem content to chase eachother around, for the most part.

What do you guys think about the tail? I didn't peg it for a sign of stress, but is that something Danios do? *really has no idea*

Dart, also, seems to have a larger belly than the other two. When I noticed this, I watched them eating and noticed Dart ate no more food than the other two. Whereas I'm doubtful it's actually eggs, what are the possible things that could explain the larger belly?


----------

