Breeding Zebra Danios

[Neo8223]

Hi all. I have just set up a new aquarium with the sole intention of breeding zebra danios. I have a 2.2 us gallon tank and also a 70 US Gallon tank at my disposal. I can do what i want with the small tank, but the big tank has to be kept at 27 celcius and no changes to any water or conditions (as its my dads and it is a community tank)

Both tanks are in my profile, and i am aiming to make the small tank very densely planted.

The breeding tank has the following specs.
12" x 8" x 8"
Heater set to 27 celcius,
tiny filter,
CO2 on tap,
Loads of plants,
12 Watt sun glo flouresent tube on from 8:00 - 23:00
aim is for the oxygen to come from the plants.

I dont mind seperating the sexes into either tank but i want to end up breeding them in the small tank. Heres a few specific questions, but a general guide would also be excellent and what to expect...
1) How many should i have in my tank
2) how long should i condition them for. I intend to use live brine shrimp which i make myself.
3) Should i seperate them and for how long
4) How will i know they are ready to breed
5) once they are ready, do i put all of them in the breeding tank or only one or two.
6) If they dont spawn, should i leave them in the breeding trap

Thanx y'all in advance and i'll post my sucess or failures at a later date.

 

[ajbettle]

well i had 2 in my tank cycling and they bred during the cycle!!!!!! lol there not really fussed!
just that in my tank there was a male and female in a tank alone.

 

[The-Wolf]

1) How many should i have in my tank

none
danios are far to active for such a small tank they need at least
10 gallons.
checkout my website (see sig) and go to the breeding/sexing page for
one way of breeding danios.
it is not the only way but the way I have had most success with.

 

[Neo8223]

1) How many should i have in my tank

none
danios are far to active for such a small tank they need at least
10 gallons.
checkout my website (see sig) and go to the breeding/sexing page for
one way of breeding danios.
it is not the only way but the way I have had most success with.

owch. Guess i gotta get out my 20 gallon tank! Once thats done, how many would i need to have?

 

[4ftguppy]

This is just my technique - I have not read the techniques of the previous posts - but i'm sure they are just as good.

Danios are very easy to breed- and unless pretty much starving will breed pretty much continually.

Your 2 gallon is ok (5 better) - and this is why - you only need put the pair in overnight - no more - remove them the next day. No feeding is necessary. Make sure you put in a nice pair - a nice fat female will lay more eggs than you can probably raise easily

This is how you do it - put a layer of marbles at the bottom. The fish lay, but the eggs fall between the gaps and the adults can't eat them. The fish lay a lot at sunrise so set them up in the evening and remove them sometime the next day

theres a description of the breeding egg scattering fish with marbles technique here.

The eggs hatch after a few days - easy as that

You can put a very (1 bubble every couple seconds?) slowly running sponge filter in with the fry - though they will need a bigger tank after a while - size will obviously depend on the number you intend to actually raise. If you get 100s, DONT try and raise them all. Better to have 30 quality fish than 300 half starved. A mature filter is advisable as the young fry may well need infusoria if they are too small to take the smallest artemia

I think getting the fry fed and raised healthily will be the more challenging part, than actually getting the fry. Newly hatched artemia are excellent food once the fry are a few days old

 

[The-Wolf]

owch. Guess i gotta get out my 20 gallon tank! Once thats done, how many would i need to have?

one male to 2 females is a good ratio, although 1 of each works too