Are my fish fighting or breading

[paulioo]

I just noticed two of my zebra danios doing something that looked really wierd.

They were swimming around each other in circles, flaring all their fins with their mouths wide open.

I wasnt sure if they loved each other

Or hated each other

Anyone have any ideas?

Paul.

 

[sylvia]

Hated each other

Out of curiosity, are they alone in the tank? I mean no other fish or maybe just some small fish?

What you are seeing is displays of aggression and hierarchial position - they 'flare' and show off to each other and try to look as big and scary as possible. If they are alone in the tank, they will sometimes even act territorial and mark out, guard and defend territories. If this happens and they start displaying, you may even see them get into a fight. They circle each other like you described and then one positions itself facing the other's gills in an L-shape and then they attack each other over and over again until they settle their dispute. I've never had a fish injured from this but its kind of funny to watch - they are supposed to be social shoaling fish

 

[paulioo]

Awwww and i thought they were in love

They're in beside a group of 4 harlequin rasbora's and a 5 neons.

There used to be 4 danios but one couldnt handle life anymore and jumped to his/her death , or perhaps my water level was too high.

So now theres just 3.

Thanks for the info.

Paul.