Zebra Danio Advice Pls

[Loobie]

Could someone please answer this, probably easy question.

Would zebra danios mate with my other fish or just with each other?? Are they ok to keep as an all male/female group??

 

[CruX]

Could someone please answer this, probably easy question.

Would zebra danios mate with my other fish or just with each other?? Are they ok to keep as an all male/female group??

I believe that Danios will only mate with Danios and it is best to keep them in a large shoal. My LFS has 10 for a fiver which seems a good deal and there is no mention of picking males and females. I think I read somewhere that to breed them you need to seperate them as a pair. I may be wrong though.

 

[eschaton]

Zebras *might* crossbreed with other Danio species, like Leopard Danios, but the chances of them doing so with anyone else is slim.

Apparently they breed all the time and with ease in a tank. However, they'll also eat all the eggs unless they're in a crack so small they can't get to them.

For that reason, seperating the sexes isn't really needed as with livebearers sometimes. You'll probably have a hard time telling, but the females are fatter with a silver tinge, and the males smaller and goldish tinged.

 

[sharkbaitwoohaha]

leopards are a strain of zebra, or so ive heard/read. like green tiger barbs are just normal ones but selectively bred

 

[iSnail]

Zebra danios definitely interbreed with Leopard danios. I have a long fin zebra (offspring) out of a normal zebra male and a long fin leopard female. They do breed all the time. Usually all the eggs get eaten either by themselves or other fish but occasionally you see babies clinging on the glass. I see babies from time to time when doing W/C & gravel vac.

 

[The-Wolf]

ok allow me to try and answer this question.
First we need to clarify the term Danio;
Danio (with capitol letter) is a generic name, much the same as Tetra is.
danio (without capitol) is a genus.

Zebra Danios (ZD) will interbreed with any fish from the danio genus but
they will not breed with just any Danio.
it is very possible to cross a ZD with a pearl danio/glowlight danio etc (as they are danios) but not with a malabar danio/queen danio (as they are devarios)

Whilst the scientific community is still devided on the subject of the Leopard Danio (LD) danio 'frankei' rerio/ ZD danio rerio being the same or two different fish, it is widely accepted now that the LD is a man made colour morph of the ZD. Note the scientific name. just join the dots and you have a ZD

Danios are members of the danionin family which contains chela, danio, devario, esomus, inlecypris, parachela and probably danionella, microrasbora and sundadanio (again the scientific community is out on this matter).

for more infomation on Danios see my website (link in sig) and the following links
A guide to danionins
Danios and Devarios