Zebra Striped Danios (Brachydanio rerio)

Zebra Danios

Zebra Striped Danios (Brachydanio rerio)

 

Type: Community Fish, Freshwater
Latin Name: Brachydanio rerio
Fish Family: Cyprinidae
Native: South East Asia
Diet: Flake, Frozen, Freeze-dried (omnivore)
Maximum size: 3"
Water temperature: 72-82° F
Swimming level: Middle
Experience level: Beginner/Easy 
Tank Setup: 10+ gallons, moderately planted

Piers picked these out right away. I was not originally too keen on them but they have been great fish. They tend to act like school fish, grouping together for the most part in the middle to upper area of the tank. They are great beginner fish and eat anything you feed them. They go crazy for frozen blood worms. They are quite hardy too and don't seem to mind temperature fluctuation too much. 

We originally started with five of these. After a major (10 of 20 gallons) water change, the smallest one died off. And I don't know what happened to another one. It simply vanished....??? I am not sure if it was the water change out or the temperature change(s) caused by that and/or the fall extremes of day to night in the room (58F at night and 85F in the day with the windows open) or some combination. The remaining three seem quite content and active.

Sometimes these fish are called "perpetual motion with fins" because they are an active schooling fish. Which is very true. They are school-ish, but they are constantly moving. The Zebra Danio is silver or goldish in color with blue to purple stripes. Ours are golden in body color and have very light blue almost white stripes. They like the other fish and seem to interact very well with the community. They like plants to hide in and open areas to swim. Commonly used as a "dither fish " which essentially communicates to other fish that the open water activity of the Danio means everything is normal. This allows reclusive and shy fish to be seen more frequently. 

UPDATE 21 September 2010 - DANIO FOUND DEAD - HEAD FLOATING!

I still don't know WHAT happened to the vanishing Danio, but I noticed a frog hanging out in the top floating around on debris. Usually the debris is bits of plants and frogs seem to stick on or two under their arms and float around. This time, it looked like a hunk of flesh. My first thought was the eel was eating the new Mystery Snail and it was a chunk of its foot. On closer inspection, I could see it resembled what would remain of a Danio if it had been nibbled to death and then buried for a week. The Eel? The Lyrtail Mollies? WHO DID THIS? WHAT DID THIS? I don't think it was the frogs. Lyretails did seem interested in this floating head and would occasionally come up and nibble at it. Even the Danios did occasionally. But would these fish track and kill and eat a healthy Danio? Did the Danio get sick and then fall prey? Did the Peacock eel do it? 

I will probably never know. I have noticed in the last 3 or 4 days since adding a few plants and rearranging the tank (it now looks like what I would call an INTERESTING aquarium), a few of the Neon Tetras have gone missing or are very good hiders....

 

 

 




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Search in Zebra Danios
Q: Zebra Striped Danios (Brachydanio rerio)
A:

Zebra Striped Danios (Brachydanio rerio)

 

Type: Community Fish, Freshwater
Latin Name: Brachydanio rerio
Fish Family: Cyprinidae
Native: South East Asia
Diet: Flake, Frozen, Freeze-dried (omnivore)
Maximum size: 3"
Water temperature: 72-82° F
Swimming level: Middle
Experience level: Beginner/Easy 
Tank Setup: 10+ gallons, moderately planted

Piers picked these out right away. I was not originally too keen on them but they have been great fish. They tend to act like school fish, grouping together for the most part in the middle to upper area of the tank. They are great beginner fish and eat anything you feed them. They go crazy for frozen blood worms. They are quite hardy too and don't seem to mind temperature fluctuation too much. 

We originally started with five of these. After a major (10 of 20 gallons) water change, the smallest one died off. And I don't know what happened to another one. It simply vanished....??? I am not sure if it was the water change out or the temperature change(s) caused by that and/or the fall extremes of day to night in the room (58F at night and 85F in the day with the windows open) or some combination. The remaining three seem quite content and active.

Sometimes these fish are called "perpetual motion with fins" because they are an active schooling fish. Which is very true. They are school-ish, but they are constantly moving. The Zebra Danio is silver or goldish in color with blue to purple stripes. Ours are golden in body color and have very light blue almost white stripes. They like the other fish and seem to interact very well with the community. They like plants to hide in and open areas to swim. Commonly used as a "dither fish " which essentially communicates to other fish that the open water activity of the Danio means everything is normal. This allows reclusive and shy fish to be seen more frequently. 

UPDATE 21 September 2010 - DANIO FOUND DEAD - HEAD FLOATING!

I still don't know WHAT happened to the vanishing Danio, but I noticed a frog hanging out in the top floating around on debris. Usually the debris is bits of plants and frogs seem to stick on or two under their arms and float around. This time, it looked like a hunk of flesh. My first thought was the eel was eating the new Mystery Snail and it was a chunk of its foot. On closer inspection, I could see it resembled what would remain of a Danio if it had been nibbled to death and then buried for a week. The Eel? The Lyrtail Mollies? WHO DID THIS? WHAT DID THIS? I don't think it was the frogs. Lyretails did seem interested in this floating head and would occasionally come up and nibble at it. Even the Danios did occasionally. But would these fish track and kill and eat a healthy Danio? Did the Danio get sick and then fall prey? Did the Peacock eel do it? 

I will probably never know. I have noticed in the last 3 or 4 days since adding a few plants and rearranging the tank (it now looks like what I would call an INTERESTING aquarium), a few of the Neon Tetras have gone missing or are very good hiders....