First fish in hiding

[CB008]

I post this as a potential help to other new aquarium owners. Having cycled my tank by the book I introduced 6 Zebra Danios to advance the cycling as per accepted practise. Within 24 hours one had died after which the others went into permanent hiding, only venturing out at night, in my heavily planted set up. I searched the web and could find no answers. A few weeks later I bought another 3 and hey presto - they are all out and hyper active. So, my experience is that you need at least 6 of these fish, preferably more, or they will become so stressed that they hide.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Yes these are a shoaling fish and while if you dont have acceptable numbers they may be active and seem healthy for awhile they do need at least 6, but preferably 8-10

 

[Byron]

Agree completely. Numbers matter very much with a shoaling species.

 

[Retired Viking]

I try and have at least 10 of each which is easy when they are small like ember or neon tetras. I was going to buy some more at Petco today when I noticed that a neon tetra had a white dot on his mouth, I told the staff and bought fish food instead.