Long finned zebra danios

[FanOFish]

Lateral, I never questioned you right to state your opinion. It is absolutely your right and I for one encourage you and others to continue. You know what, I may even agree with you about the long fins making the fish less fluid, it seems to me that common sense would dictate as much; but perhaps it is so slight that the difference is inperceivable as evidenced by the experience of other fishkeepers that have actually had first hand experience with these fish.

As I gain more experience with my own aquarium and I continue to read more and more on this forum I realize that some opinions are stated as fact when they are not.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

As you can see from my sig, I'm all ears to everyone. I appreciate the help and have decided to try the long-finned variety.

Question: How can I prod the fish to breed? I have read that the female has to be conditioned and that there should be multiple males so that all of the eggs are fertilized. Since they don't lay adhesive eggs and I have gravel at the bottom, how do I remove the eggs and/or ones that have fungal growth?

 

[juliethegr8t]

Tried and true method for me is just plain ol gravel vacuuming with extra attention - I'm in the same boat as you, with a gravel bottomed tank and a random group of fish - who knows how many are male and who are female, they move too fast! Anyways, I take about 2 gallons of water out of my 10 every week with a vacuum, and have learned to let the bucket sit. Let it sit at least overnight, maybe even a day or two (tho keep it warm and aerated if for very long to prevent fungus), and you'll almost for sure have fry. They're tiny little slivers hanging to the side of the bucket - I remove mine and put them in a seperate, warm, and aerated container. Then when they are free swimming you can begin to feed. Anymore questions feel free to ask - I've done this quite a few times now.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Is there a certain time when this happens? Or does it happen all the time? Because they nip at each other when I watch, but it doesn't even remotely resemble mating.

Should I raise temp, frequent water changes, add more frozen food, add live food, etc.?

I've read some books on breeding, but didn't pay too much attention to danios b/c the sections were short and I didn't think I could breed them successfully.

Thanks

 

[juliethegr8t]

Danios usually breed in the early morning, just when it's starting to get light - never when we're up of course. So if you clean the tank as soon as you get up you'll have the best chance of getting eggs and/or fry.

Other ways to get them to spawn sometimes is to do a water change with a bit cooler water (not too much colder!), and adding lots of conditioning foods. So I'd say adding live food would be a smart idea, though frozen may be enough. After feeding mine frozen bloodworms for the first time they spawned for the first time.

Anyways, I promise this will happen for you - you just have to be patient. I was in a huge rush too, but now it's happening for me weekly and now I have no idea what to do with all the fry.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

There was a small part in the book I read yesterday about danios, and you're right about them dropping the eggs in the morning. However, I'm awake an hour or so before the sun rises and am forced to turn on the lights then. Would I then be in for a treat or would turning the lights on suddenly scare them too much. (I don't turn the lights in the tank on until an hour after the lights in the room are turned on, so it's not that much of a shock.)

I have one or two really fat zebras, do you think they're female?

What about courtship? Is there courtship of any kind or does she just start dropping the eggs and the male fertilizes them?

Whew. I've got finals tomorrow, but I'll see if I can do a partial water change (which I'm going to do tomorrow anyways) and leave the bucket with the dirty water in for a day (you said a day before, right?)

Almost forgot. I got way off the topic, but what about the long-fins? If they were to mate with the short-finned fish, what would be the chances of long fins on a punnet square? At least 25%? (need a cute puppy-eyed smily face for pleading...)

 

[juliethegr8t]

Hmm... the light problem is somewhat of a dilemma. I'd say turning tank lights on awhile after room lights is probably a fine way to do things. The only problem I see is - the more light they have, the better than can see the eggs they're dropping. Not very good parents.. these fish!

I'm guessing yes, the fatties are female. A couple of mine got IMMENSE before they first spawned. So actually you may just want to keep an eye out and see when they get skinny again - then you know it's time to look for eggs/fry! However, they may have already spawned several times, so you might as well try it.

Courtship, as far as I can see it, doesn't look a whole lot different from normal Zebra Danio behavior. However, if one fish is following another without fail, and continuing nudging and nipping, that's suspicious. They'll often separate themselves from the school too, as well as hanging closer to the bottom.

I'd leave water at least a day, yes. If you're finding any fry after a day - I'd wait even longer, as eggs may still be hatching. If not, try again later - the more gravel you vaccuum, the better chance of getting stuff you're gonna find. So usually I find the most when I do a weekly, thorough 25%, instead of the mid-week 10%.

Good news about the fry - if you've got a long-finned parent, you'll have long-finned babies! The long-finned gene is recessive. All 5 of the biggest fry I have in their lil growout tank are long-finned, SO cute.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Cool.

I'll check on the suspected females, but I forgot to mention that she's a leopard danio, not a zebra danio. Is one bigger then the other? Is there still a chance that those fish are females?

For some reason, my fish don't school. Most stay at the bottom while a pair or single fish swim at the top. There used to be lots of fin nipping in the ten gallon, but that was probably because of the small amount of space...

I read about them eating their own eggs. How many eggs do the females drop at a time? Since there are seven and the platy fry are constantly feeding at the bottom, what do you think my chances are for finding fry?

If I sit by the tank when I first turn the lights on, will I be able to see the eggs fall?

Thanks

 

[juliethegr8t]

Leopard danios are about the same size as zebras, so yes, there's still a very good chance they are female. I'm not exactly sure how many the females drop at a time, maybe 10 or so, and in spurts to make several hundred in total, if she's healthy and mature. However, the most I've ever had at one go was 40, so that tells you how many they eat. Chances should be pretty good since you've got 7 fish, and hopefully they'll fall in the gravel deep enough to not get eaten. In fact, today when I was watching my fish, my dwarf gourami was picking around in the bottom and disturbed a fry that was hidden there! He almost ate him, but I caught the lil guy in time. You might be able to see the spawning, though I doubt it. You'd have to pick the perfect day and time. Good luck!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Thanks.

I wasn't able to clean the tank out this morning b/c I would have been too late for finals... I'll do it when I get home.

The leopard is a bit thinner, or I think it s anyways. What exactly does that mean?

 

[juliethegr8t]

If she's considerably thinner, she may have dropped her eggs. Also wanted to let you know, I saw mine spawn today for the first time! My window is shaded and keeps my room very dark, so when I pull it up, it's about the same as you turning on the light. They started almost immediately after the light showed up - so I'm guessing the same thing would happen with yours.

Anyways behavior was craaaazy. It was very obvious something unusual was going on. It was almost like a mass partay! It started with just a pair hanging out doing their thing, and then everyone else showed up. Unlike their usual upper water behavior, every single danio was down at the bottom frantically nipping, circlng, and flaring at each other. The female was being pursued by at least 2 males all the time. Occasionally they'd actually get down to business - with the male pretty much next to the female and they'd turn belly to belly. It was pretty fast though, and hard to see because they're going nuts in general. I never did see eggs fall, but they being bratty swimming between the plants and such.

Good luck, hope you get to see it sometime too!!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Thanks, and I did!

I left the water out for a day, and I got two babies! One died, but the other one's moving!

Description: White w/ a black lateral line and small black dots for eyes. That sound right?

I also got the long-finned zebras. They're so beautiful! They seem to have difficulty swimming because their movements are erratic and they jerk their bodies around to turn. The other zebras aren't bothering them and they stay to themselves. They swim up and down near the glass, chasing their reflections, it's so funny!

 

[juliethegr8t]

Hi, and congrats on your fry!! The more you do this, the more you should find babies. Definitely sounds like a baby - they're almost all eyes when they're born. Glad you got the long-finned too, they're probably just getting used to their new home, and will school with the others in a few days. They're very playful fish, I think you'll enjoy them a lot.

 

[Sinuhe]

I remember reading somewhere that after Danios have formed a breeding couple, they will usually keep breeding with just each other, and nobody else. I'm not sure what would happen if they were separated and put together with new Danios. I bought 2 Danios to cycle my tanks, they happened to be male and female, and ever since I've had an endless supply of fry whichever tank they were in, but never managed to keep them alive for more than a week or so, because the parents ate them, and I don't currently have a good place to keep them separate.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Since I only have one fry, he/she's in a styrofoam cup and I do partial water changes every few days. It has been doing well and it's almost been a week since it hatched. Once it gets big enough, I'll place it into the net breeder I've got set up.

Since I've only got one fry, i don't want to go to the trouble of hatching brine shrimp, and I don't think it's big enough to eat them anyways. Like I've said countless times before in many other threads, I don't have much money, so I can't spend too much on infusoria and al that. I've read about boiling eggs, but I'm not sure if it's old enough to eat the egg yolk, and the water gets really dirty when fish are fed that... Any suggestions? Thanks