This Will Sound A Stupid Question..........

[gixer1000]

But all will become clear after i have a few answers to this question,which is.........are Zebra Danio's tropical,or cold water fish?

 

[ZoddyZod]

But all will become clear after i have a few answers to this question,which is.........are Zebra Danio's tropical,or cold water fish?

they are somewhere in-between really......sub-tropical would be a better definition.

 

[Ashley1991]

they can survive in quite a big range of temps think its 18-24 c ish so yeah sub tropical more than tropical

ash

 

[nigsy]

They are quite happy at room temperature.

 

[gixer1000]

Funny that,to cut a long story short,other half went to buy a goldfish for her sons new 20 litre tank,which i have cycled for him,internal filter,little air pump and stone,the staff in store advised her against a goldfish due to the amount of waste they produce,i knew this,hence a bit of over kill with the filter i installed in the tank,she doesn't know nowt about fish,so they showed her the Zebra Danios,she explained again that it was a cold water tank,and as the room it's in is a cold room with no heating on in the room,the water temperature is very low,they said they would be fine,not a problem at all,so she's bought 'em this morning,taken 'em home,floated 'em in bag in tank for 20 mins,then released 'em into tank,i've just got home and am looking at 4 dying fish #63###!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SlyPolak]

Funny that,to cut a long story short,other half went to buy a goldfish for her sons new 20 litre tank,which i have cycled for him,internal filter,little air pump and stone,the staff in store advised her against a goldfish due to the amount of waste they produce,i knew this,hence a bit of over kill with the filter i installed in the tank,she doesn't know nowt about fish,so they showed her the Zebra Danios,she explained again that it was a cold water tank,and as the room it's in is a cold room with no heating on in the room,the water temperature is very low,they said they would be fine,not a problem at all,so she's bought 'em this morning,taken 'em home,floated 'em in bag in tank for 20 mins,then released 'em into tank,i've just got home and am looking at 4 dying fish #63###!!!!!!!!!!!!

a goldfish in such a tiny tank is a horrible idea

 

[Athena]

Well at least they got one thing right - not to keep a goldfish in a 20 litre tank. Way too small for goldfish. Aww, but they got it wrong with the danios. Such a shame! The water was obviously too cold for them eh?

Is it too late to go buy a little heater thermostat for the tank? Or return the danios asap.

If they die I think the LFS should refund the money or give a store credit since they were sold on their recommendation, having already been told the tank temp would be very cold. So they are at fault really.

Athena

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

All floating the bag for 20 minutes will do is begin to equalise the temperature of the bag water with that of the tank. If the store had the danios at say 25C and your unheated tank was say 17C (quite possible here in Southampton, given the recent nippy spell we have had), 20 minutes would not be enough time to equalise temps.

I have not always followed the same routine for acclimitising fish since I started the hobby, but I usualy follow one of the following methods...

• Float bag for 20 minutes; add ~20ml of tank water with a test pipette every 20 minutes; release fish into tank (sometimes netted, sometimes water poured in to, latter not ideal) after at least 90 minutes since process started.
• Empty bag contents carefully into a tilted (~30+ degrees) "fish only" 3 gallon bucket; place 6mm line into tank and secure it to a pipe-holding cucker cup; create siphon at other end of pipe; adjust rate of flow with screw-on tap so drip rate is ~4 drops per second; cover bucket with dark blanket; when bucket is full (~90 minutes or so later) carefully net fish and place in tank.

Adding tank water slowly to the new fish will allow them to adjust to differences in water hardness; consequent pH; temp etc.

As for danios, I'd say most are "temperate," as in quite happy in water around 20C.

How did you cycle the tank for your son?
If adding ammonia solution to feed the bacteria and create a working colony, did you remember to do a ~75% water change before adding the fish?
What type of test kit were you using to know the tank was cycled? Test strips are notoriously inaccurate,compared to liquid kits.
Were you using a dechlorinator when adding new water to the tank? Chlorine kills both bacteria colonies and fish.

Just re-read and seen fish are dying, but not dead... What are the fish doing? Water temp? I'd say do a roughly temp matched, dechlorinated water change pronto and see where things stand after that!

Edit: If the water temp is less than 18C, I'd say add some slightly warmer water, but do this very gradually over the space of 20-30 minutes, something in the region of ~20% hot to 80% cold gives me water that is ~22C.

 

[bassbonediva]

I have my leopard danios (pattern variation of zebra danios, same species though) at between 65-70F with a goldfish, white cloud mountain minnows and gold barbs (this is in a 46gal tank that is overfiltered). There is no heater in the tank and I've seen the temp drop down to 62F when my cooler has been on.

However, to save the fish, I would follow N0body Of The Goat's suggestion.

 

[drobbyb]

Adding tank water slowly to the new fish will allow them to adjust to differences in water hardness...

Actually, it takes MUCH longer for fish to adjust to hardness than that. Otherwise sound advice though.

 

[chilli-spice]

how are the fish today? did tehy make it?

 

[the biffster]

danios are subtropical not cold water
i the the people the the shop are getting
sub tropical with cold water they might
of been right with not putting a gold fish
in a 20 ltr tank far far to small i hope the fish
survived the night