Pregnant zebra danio

[Anamorphic]

Hello all! I chanced upon this site while doing a google search for information on breeding zebra danios. Some great info here. I was wondering if I could get some help on something. As you can probably guess from the subject, I've got a pregnant zebra danio. At least I'm assuming she's pregnant; it's got a pretty clearly distended stomach. I first noticed it about two weeks ago, and reading here in another thread that their gestation period is about three weeks, I'm guessing she's about ready to drop the eggs.

I know I'm supposed to keep it seperate when it lays the eggs, so the other fish don't eat the eggs. But my problem is, the only other tank I have is very small; about 2.5 gallons, I think. And I really can't afford to get another tank right now. Should I put her in this very small tank until she lays? The tank is unfiltered, of course (do they even make one for a tank that small? Even if they do, I'm not sure I could buy one... I'm really broke! ). Would she be okay in such a small, unfiltered tank for the week or so it takes her to lay the eggs? And then would the eggs be okay in there until they hatch? How long until after they hatch can I add them to the main tank?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Allivymar]

welcome Anamorphic

Ack. Taking a chance with such a small unfiltered uncycled tank. Its really hard to keep water parameters good in a tank that small even with one little fish. Its going to take very strict monitoring to keep ammonia from showing up (I doubt she'll be in there long enough for nitrites to spike, but test for em anyway). If ANY show up, water change. You'll probably need to siphon the bottom every day as there is no filtering and nothing will be cleared from the water column.

Danios are not live bearers btw; she will need a male to fertilize those eggs no matter where she is. You might want to read this website; gives much more detailed info about the process then I could LOL : http://userpages.umbc.edu/~rrhudy1/danio.htm

 

[madasafish]

Anamorphic (neat name),

Go ahead and follow AlliV's advice, but I thought you should know that they do sell filters for tanks that size. They usually cost $3-5, and the replacement cartidges are cheap. I've got the second-to-smallest model on my 2.5, and there is a tinier filter which looks like a large air stone. If you syphoned off some water from your larger tank into the 2.5 and coughed up the $4 bucks (approx) (I know how it feels to be strapped...), you could have peace (piece?) of mind. You could also transfer over some of the gravel from your other tank in order to establish bacteria a little. Obviously, the filter would not have any bacteria to begin with, but at least you'd have some in the water and substrate. And, as you may want to make this your breeding tank, it might be worth trying to jump start the cycle this way, or with some Bio-Spira.

 

[Anamorphic]

Thanks for the advice, guys! I think I can handle $5 or so for a filter. Didn't think it would be that cheap! I'll check my local aquarium store tomorrow. As far as putting a male in as well... can it just be any male? I thought I remember reading that they were loyal to the one they originally mated with. Or am I remembering that wrong?

Thanks also for that link, Allivymar. Very informative. I'll be sure to check the ammonia and nitrates levels daily.

 

[Terry]

I set up a small tank a few years back to breed Danio's, i had a spare 3gal tank and what i did was put a small air operated sponge filer in and i lined the bottom of the tank with marbles instead of gravel, there was just a small clump of plant which i left in the pots, and all i did was introduce a small group of danio's and waited.
After a while things started to happen the females that were in there started to plump up with eggs and the males started to chase them everywhere. Haveing no gravel in the tank there was only one place for the eggs to go, and that was in between the marbles that lined the bottom of the tank. After they had spawned i removed all the danio's back to my main tank and just waited for the eggs to hatch.
Here is a quick rundown of what i did.

Tank 16x8x8
Light, But that is optional
Heater set at 23-26c / 73-79F
I put 2 layers of marbles on the bottom.

Place the well conditioned danio's in the aquarium.
When it comes to spawning this normally happens in the morning, and it tends to be a frantic affair. With the males chasing the females around at breakneck speed, Eventually the males and females embrace each other in which they twist into an S-shape. you will find that they will spawn just above the substrat, often near a clump of plants.
The non-adhesive eggs fall down in between the marbles and the breeding fish can't get to them. Adult females can normally produce up to 400 eggs.

I hope this is off some help. But remember this is how i did it, there are other ways as well.

 

[Anamorphic]

Thanks, Terry! Okay, possibly a stupid question (can you tell I'm new at this?)... so I take the plump female and one of the males (hope I sex 'em right and can pick out a male!) into the other tank. How will I know when the process is done? I assume the female will immediately look... well, not pregnant?

 

[Anamorphic]

Update and one more question: I took a walk over to the petstore and picked up a Smallworld Filter for $5. Thanks for the suggestion, madasafish! Okay, so it's set up, and I moved the female to the smaller tank (as per the suggestion in the link Allivymar supplied of keeping the female seperate from the males for a bit before spawning), along with some of the gravel from the main tank, and a small plant. Now that I'm looking at her swimming around in it, the tank looks even smaller than I thought. I could have sworn it was 2.5 gallons, but now that I measure and do the calculations, I find that it's only 1 gallon! Gulp! Is this too small? Should I just put her back in the main tank and take my chances?

Thanks again for the help here, everyone. I really appreciate it!

 

[Terry]

Sex differerances for Zebra and leopard Danio's.

Although they are differant, zebra and leopard danio's are the same species and can be sexed in the same way. Males have an overall goldern background colour, while females are more silver.
Body shape is also a good indicator, since the females tend to be much plumper than the males.
If you do manage to breed these, rearing the fry is as follows. The eggs will take up to 4 days to hatch, then on about the 7th day the fry will become free swimming. Depending what food you give them i.e infusoria, liquid fry food, crushed flake, newly hatched brineshrimp your fry should reach about 1" in eight weeks.
I hope this helps.

 

[goodygirl]

glofish danio and spawning

Hi everyone....
I have a few questions on breeding my blue glo danio I know she is full of eggs as when I first bought her 6 months ago she was very slender and slim which had me thinking speedy (her name) was a boy until a few days ago when she became very prominent with eggs.
So today I went and looked up on the glofish website on how to sex them and went and bought some more, another female 2 males and a baby not sure yet on the sex because he/she is still to small to sex.
I also bought the breeder net and set it up in the tank and placed speedy and one male and a another female in there because the guy at the store said to do so, so the male wouldn't stress her out as much chasing her around to spawn.
What I need to know is was he correct about that? and when and how long should it take for her to want to spawn her eggs is there anything different I should do to help the process along? She's been noticeably swollen for at least 3-4 days now and this morning she looked even bigger that last night.