Zebra Danio

[jo-jo]

hi guys i have a problem, and a few questions for you lol, well her goes
i have just been given a heavily pregnant zebra danio who looks like she is going to explods literally lol, i have put her in a tank of her own with glass pebbles and heavily planted as i have read on the net, i dont know how long she has been pregnant and woundered if you could let me know how long they normally are pregnant for,
also do i need to put the male in with her the whole time to fertilize the eggs while she carries them,
and finally the tank that she came from had mollies, guppies and leopard danios in and woundered if the leopard danio was the one that got her pregnant as the lady i got them from didnt own a male zebra danio, well ty 4 reading my essay lol and i hope to hear from you soon as i have never had a zebra danio b4 and want to do things right

 

[The-Wolf]

Hi josy to the forums

she can carry the eggs for weeks awaiting a suitable male to appear.
yes you will need a male to trigger spawning, which is normerly at dawn, but can be at dusk.
checkout my danio website (see sig) and go to the sexing breeding page for tips.

as the Leopard danio is a colour morph of the Zebra yes a male Leopard can and will fertalise female Zebras eggs.

 

[jo-jo]

ty 4 ya help guys i will let you know how i get on as this is the first time i have done breeding with egg layers,

also does it matter which leopard danio i get from the lady as she has 2 in her tank and we dont know which one got the zebra pregnant, will he do the job i need the male to do
thank you

 

[The-Wolf]

you seem to be a bit confused as to the process.
female egg layers become full of eggs (bit like a womans monthly cycle)
so this happens without any help from a male.

when she spawns (thats is drop/lay the eggs) the male will be needed
at that point to fertalise the eggs. This is done externally, you will see a white cloud
comming from his rear.

It would be best for her to choose wich male is worthy of spawning,
observe her chasing him and ignoring the other one.

 

[jo-jo]

ok i got it about the males so how will i know when the eggs are fertilised and when to take out the parents

 

[The-Wolf]

the female releases the eggs, the male sprays them with his spermatzoa as she is releasing them.
if you are watching the event it will look like a milky substance comming from his rear.

 

[Genesis]

Usually though, the parents will eat the eggs as they begin sink to the bottom of the tank, for best results a seperate spawning aquarium is needed, you should use marbles as the substrate in this spawning aquarium as it makes sure the eggs get deep between the cracks in the marbles, and the parents cant eat them. When you see a female full of eggs, lower the the water level to about 5 or 6 inches. After the female looks noticably thinner, you may remove the parents from the tank and return back to the main tank. If you look closely, you may be able to see eggs all over the tank. At this time darken the tank, the darker the better. The babies should start hatching in 36 to 48 hours. You will see them clinging on the side of the glass, they are very very small, DO NOT FEED until the fry are swimming. At this time you can start feeding liquid fry for egg layers (available from most LFS). Within a week you can start feeding dry food made for fry, or crushed fish flakes.

good luck