Thuggish Zebra Danios...?
I'm a new Aquarium enthusiast, and I have a 10gallon tank, which ( i suppose) is going through it's cycling phase... I added one... then another Zebra Danios, the first one chases the "new" one constantly... they are VERY active and fun to watch, well a few days ago I added (2) sunset dwarf platy's.. so much the opposite, quiet, shy, sleeps and hides in the plants... well last night, it looks like one of the platy's was attacked, it's tail is 1/2 off and it looks sad, I know the bas@tard danio(the first one) has done something to it... when I was watching, the danio didn't bother with the platy, but the platy is "skiddish" "nervous" what should I do... and how do you know if a fish is #1 dying #2pregnant?.. sorry for the long post, I'm new to aquariums
Comments
get some fairly large fabric leaf plants for your aquarium -- plants help the balance of your fish in many ways. get the one that are 8-12" for a 10 gallon aquarium. they might seem big at first but they will fill your aquarium in a beneficial way.
they provide hiding and resting areas which would be a big benefit to the platies.
they break up the line of vision for more agressive fish. if the danios can't see the platies they will not chase them.
they also provide stimulation and give more active fish something to interact with. often fish like to swim around things.
i would get some aquraium salt or melafix to help your platy's tail heal.
pregnant platies get fat -- just like any other pregnant mom does.
Zebra Danios, and other Danios are very active. They chase and play with each other all the time. They generally ignore others.
You need more than two Danios or two Platies, as they are schooling fish. I'd say one more of each, then your tan is maxed out. Wait for it to cycle.
Hard to tell the gender of the Danios, but the Platies should be fairly easy. Try to get two females and one male. The males chase females constantly. Two males to one female will be horrible for the female. Sounds like you have one of each right now.
I'd also work on a plan for a 20 or 29 gallon tank as the danios will do better with more swimming room and you can add more fish and get proper schools.
LOL. "B.astard danio." Awesome. I worked for a year in a university zoology lab taking care of zebrafish (zebra danios) for research and they can be kind of cannibalistic. They won't hesitate, for example, from attacking other sick fish, especially fish with wounds. I once found a sick zebra whose eyeball was falling out after being attacked by one of its tankmates. Perhaps check the platy to be sure it wasn't already sick with something that may have enticed the zebra to attack it.
Anyway, I can't really comment on what to do with the fish, or how to quarantine them. My brother has a small tank of zebras and guppies that live quite well together, and guppies have extravagant tails that you would think zebras would love to attack, but they're quite fine with each other. But I can tell you how to sex the zebras: females tend to have rounder, whiter bellies (even when not pregnant) than the males, and the males have a more pinkish tint, while the females are bluish: http://zebra.sc.edu/methods/sexing.html . So when you find out which zebra is which sex, you can watch its belly, which will get bigger with eggs.
I suggest you remove the platie, My platies are really shy too, And when how do you know if there pregnant, If it is a female and it has been in with a male it will be pregant, And if you get more danios like 6 the will get along better, Because they are schooling fish, And how do you know if a fish is dying, It could show diffrent symptons lying on the gravel, floating, doesnt look heatly etc.
maximum possibly definite...the only concern i'm able to work out is that the neon's would get slightly nippy with the danios. yet, danios a extraordinarily speedy. i might shrink back from the long-finned danios for that reason.
WOW DUDE!!! WHAT A SWEET QUESTION!!!