My Zebra Danio turned yellowish

[afFISHionado]

About a week ago I noticed that the smallest of my 5 Zebra Danios has turned yellowish. Today I noticed another one turning yellowish. Does anyone know why this is happening?

 

[madasafish]

I have same issue. But they're doing fine, and have looked like that for a few weeks... I have no idea...

 

[Terry]

I think they are males, here is a disciption of a male a see what you think.

In males the background colour is golden, strikenly marked by four deep blue longitudinal streaks, which extend the whole lenght of the body from the gill cover to the end of the tail. The pattern is repeated on the anal fin. The dorsal fin is olive with a white border, and the pectoral and ventral fins are colourless

 

[Scottw68TN]

Spot on terry. the females will be bluish and the males yellowish. That probably means there happy and showing off. The amount of tint varies from time to time.

 

[Terry]

I would also say that if you have some females in there as well get ready for some spawning action, like Scottw68TN they are showing off.
If they all suddenly go to the bottom of the tank and look like they are nibbling at the gravel i would say they have spawned. It happens a lot in the shop. But if you have plants check the leaves you might be lucky and find some eggs.

 

[afFISHionado]

Wow. I had no idea that they may be ready to spawn as a result of the color change. I will keep an eye out for eggs though it might be tough as my tank is densely planted. Thanks to all of you for your help.

 

[Scottw68TN]

Zebras like shallow water to spawn in and marbles or rock bottom will help. Zebras are egg scatters, thus the rock. They tend to go back and forth while spawning, thats why the shallow water. If it is feasible, I like to separate the fish for several days before I spawn them. Two males and one female seem to work best. I put the fish in the spawning tank in the evening before I turn out the lights. If everything goes right, the fish should spawn the next morning. If they don't, don't get concerned, let them go for another day. Don't feed for a couple of days, if they still haven't spawned feed very lightly and let them go a couple more days. If they still won't spawn remove the fish and try again in a week or so. Don't get discouraged. Even though conditions are ideal, you're still dealing with a living animal and they just might not be ready. (Hint, if tank space is limited this is a good time to have other fish that or ready to spawn in this tank.)

If you were successful, you will know because the female will be noticeable thinner. Remove the fish at this time. If you look closely, you should 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 small, DO NOT FEED until the fry are swimming. At this time you can start feeding liquid fry for egg layers(available at your pet shop) Within a week you can start feeding dry food made for egglayer fry(at your pet shop).

http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/zebradanio.shtml

 

[Sinuhe]

Hmmm, I have 2 Zebra Danios in my tank that's cycling, one of them bigger and fatter, and another smaller and slimmer. They chase each other around, and the bigger one nibbles the bottom a lot. I can't imagine they would have spawned after a couple of days in a cycling tank, tho? I can't really tell their sex, but the bigger, fatter one is probably female. Their colorings look similar. Think they could be spawning, or just being playful, and looking for food in the gravel?

 

[Scottw68TN]

They are very playfull fish. probably wouldn't spawn that quick but she could have already been knocked up!

 

[Scottw68TN]

Actually I was just joking about the knocked up thing. They don't work like that.

 

[Sinuhe]

OK

I only chose these 2 Danios as hardy fish for cycling the tank, but I'm finding them quite interesting and fun, and planning on getting a whole school of them once my tank can handle it. I like lively fish, even if Danios they aren't the most colorful ones around.

 

[Scottw68TN]

They are great in a school of 4-6. And the ones I have have long fins very flowing and cool to watch. And they werethe 1st fish in my community tank a few have come and gone but they remain active and healthy.

 

[Sinuhe]

Are the long finned Danios as hardy as the regular ones? (Sorry for hijacking the thread )

 

[Scottw68TN]

Yes they are!

 

[madasafish]

Yeah... hm. I've got a couple of zebras together right now, and the yellow one is chased by the bluer one. A lot. Do you think the female would be this pushy???

 

[Scottw68TN]

Maybe just very playfull. I think mine switch back and forth I will watch closer tonight. Fish tag.

 

[FishOCD]

After one of my danios looked like it had swallowed a pea, I separated her to a small tank with marbles and a heater set at 80F. One night four days later, I put in a male. I wrapped the tank with a towel so it would be dark (computer lights, night lights, security lights -- my house is never lake-bottom dark). The next morning they did their morning somersaults (my danios always do this anyway), but two days later she was no thinner and I returned them both to the main tank last week. But just in case, I left the small breeding tank running but after three days took out the heater. Just now as I was about to break down the tank I looked in the water with a strong magnifying glass and saw what had to be 50 babies with a dust-sized fleck for eyes and otherwise completely transparent. I can't believe how tiny they are. I now wonder if they haven't been regularly reproducing in the past 2-3 years -- and then chowing down on the fry without me noticing. PS: the female-who-ate-the-pea is still just as fat.

 

[Sinuhe]

FishOCD, that must have been exciting! Good luck with the fry!

By the way, what exactly do you mean by "morning somersaults"? Yesterday morning as I turned on the lights, my smaller danio was chasing the bigger one like crazy, and trying to swim up to his/her side, circling around. This went on for several minutes at least. Is that what your fish is doing, as well?

 

[dralarms]

Mine is, haven't figured that one out either.

 

[FishOCD]

Zebras, ahem, "enjoy" each other's company in the morning. (Or so the literature says.) And these 6 have a romp EVERY morning when I turn on the light. Of course I don't know if this is just their morning speed tai chi or true hanky panky, but the evidence I found in the tank a few hours ago suggests something more adult than water aerobics. I have had these danios for nearly three years and what I witnesed a little over a week ago was no different than their usual first-light activity: speed chasing each other in circles and serpentines of you-chase-my-tail and I'll-chase-yours. My point is that either it's impossible to tell play activity from true breeding or mine have been breeding continually and eating the eggs/fry.

I am a little worried about Mom: her belly is so unnaturally large I'm surprised she can swim. If she deposited 50 eggs last week, then what's still in her? But she's just as active as ever.

Meanwhile I hope at least a handful of the babies survive. Despite good care, my children lost all 20 mollie fry last year... and those fry were the size of Hummers compared to the danio fry. How do you make a water change without sucking out half of the minute little guys?

No, zebras may not be the most glamorous and colorful fish out there, but they certainly have personality and zip all over the tank all day long. I have a pair of platinum gourami who are lacy and beautiful -- I think, since they almost never come of hiding. B-O-R-I-N-G.