# Raising Zebra Danio Fry



## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

I don't have the resources to breed bettas (all those jars! eek), but I do have a tank of zebra danios that are all healthy and from what research I've done, it's ridiculously easy to get danios to spawn. I figured I would give it a shot, but I'm not sure what set up I want to try.

My first idea was to use craft mesh to section off ~1/4 of their existing tank (10g, but I'm hoping to find a 20g long if I try this), with either a false mesh floor a few inches above the tank bottom or large marbles to let the eggs fall through. Then the divider would get situated in place, and basically would keep the adults out of the fry's section until they're large enough to hold their own, but still allow fry to move freely & therefore keep the numbers low since any that went into the main tank section would presumably get eaten. With this method I would probably end up with maybe a handful of fry that live to adulthood, which is alright by me since I don't have space for a ton.

The other set up I was considering is the much more traditional one, where I use a 17g bin I have and set up a spawning and grow-out tank in it, safely away from the hungry parents. This would (assuming I don't mess up) yield a lot more fry, but then I have no place to put them all. If I can convince the Petsmart down the street from me to take them (for free or in exchange for store credit, I don't really care) this method would probably make more sense all around.

It would be a ton of fry though, and even if I cull some I'm not sure I could convince the store to take them all, which means they would be staying in the hotel Rubbermaid. Or maybe even getting fed to my betta(s), but that might be way more than I can handle.

I'll probably talk myself out of attempting this at all, but I enjoy planning out projects if nothing else. 

Anyway! Does anyone have thoughts, ideas, informative websites to search? Or is this just a horrible idea all-around and I should forget I ever had it?


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## WolfHhowling (Apr 10, 2013)

Rana said:


> I don't have the resources to breed bettas (all those jars! eek), but I do have a tank of zebra danios that are all healthy and from what research I've done, it's ridiculously easy to get danios to spawn. I figured I would give it a shot, but I'm not sure what set up I want to try.
> 
> My first idea was to use craft mesh to section off ~1/4 of their existing tank (10g, but I'm hoping to find a 20g long if I try this), with either a false mesh floor a few inches above the tank bottom or large marbles to let the eggs fall through. Then the divider would get situated in place, and basically would keep the adults out of the fry's section until they're large enough to hold their own, but still allow fry to move freely & therefore keep the numbers low since any that went into the main tank section would presumably get eaten. With this method I would probably end up with maybe a handful of fry that live to adulthood, which is alright by me since I don't have space for a ton.
> 
> ...


First off, you need a pump heater, and filter for Danio's of any size.

Second even if you equip a bin with all that stuff, babies are going to die. The reason is simple, most of the eggs won't hatch, reason is simple. Both mom and dad eat them as they are being laid. You would only be able to do a mom dad pair at a time like you would betta's you also half to by what you would feed baby betta's.

Also danio's only live 3-4 years. so they can be bred at 3-6 months of age and never stop breeding. 

Out of the eggs that manage not to get eaten by either mom or dad. that leaves you with 100 or so possible hatches. out of those natural selection will kill off any fish that aren't fit enough to compete with there large siblings for food, since danios are fast and some times ruthless. So smaller less fast babies will starve to death.

The likely hood of a large chain pet store tanking any fish you breed is a big fat 0. You will half to look for mom and pop stores in you area who would do that, or post in crags list, or aquabid and either ship or pick up only.

The average danio goes for about 1.15 at petco. Thats the long fin type. and its illegal to breed the glow ones. 

Does this help???

I wouldn't start breeding them, until you know there is a market and a large one in your area for them, or stores who sell them, that are local mom and pop.


In reality all fish breedings end up being expensive. You need a breeding tank a grow out tank, inc, food and time to put into it.

However livebearers are a lot easier, and a lot more cheaper since you don't have to get them special food such as bbs or live anything, just crush up adult food.

That and there are a lot less of there fry to deal with, then danio.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

WolfHhowling said:


> First off, you need a pump heater, and filter for Danio's of any size.
> 
> Second even if you equip a bin with all that stuff, babies are going to die. The reason is simple, most of the eggs won't hatch, reason is simple. Both mom and dad eat them as they are being laid. You would only be able to do a mom dad pair at a time like you would betta's you also half to by what you would feed baby betta's.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your response! I left out some info in the original post because I was already getting long-winded and because it was just a sketch of my idea.

The main tank is filtered and heated, if I do set up a bin it'll have a sponge filter and a heater in there as well. From what I was reading they spawn better in groups of ~4 females to 8 males, but they can be pretty much any size grouping so long as there is enough genetic material to go around. 

I would expect a low survival rate, especially since this would be my first time handling fry of any type, and because I have less males than females (whoops). Which is why I figured I might as well raise them in the same tank to speed along the natural selection process and end up with a manageable number. If I go with the divided-tank method, I'll have an exra sponge filter in there in addition to the regular one, and basically devote my life to water changes to keep everyone happy.

For food I was planning on a greenwater-based culture for their first week or so and then either BBS or some form of microworms if they are still too small for pulverized flakes.

It is very true that finding homes would be a huge challenge, unless I miraculously end up with just enough that I can house them all myself. I have already begun looking around my area for non-chain stores, because you're right- the chances I would be able to talk the chain stores into taking fish I bred is probably really low. I plan on doing my best to have everything in place with homes/stores before I so much as start setting anything up, since I would feel horrible if I under-planned and my fish suffered for it.

The only reason I'm thinking about breeding danios and not another fish is because I already own them, so I have the starter stock in hand. But livebearers are something I will definitely keep in mind!

In all honesty I know that the sensible thing would be to not breed, and like I said I will probably end up talking myself out of it before I even start seriously planning. I just love the idea of raising little fish fry, and for all I know my danios have already been spawning and just eating everything without my knowledge!


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## WolfHhowling (Apr 10, 2013)

Rana said:


> Thanks for your response! I left out some info in the original post because I was already getting long-winded and because it was just a sketch of my idea.
> 
> The main tank is filtered and heated, if I do set up a bin it'll have a sponge filter and a heater in there as well. From what I was reading they spawn better in groups of ~4 females to 8 males, but they can be pretty much any size grouping so long as there is enough genetic material to go around.
> 
> ...



Ya breeding is a lot of fun, I am very impressed that your did most of your homework first some people don't.

My little platy just dropped another batch to day....  and yet  but any way that was kinda an accident on my part. lol

So I got into fish breeding that way, but its all right be cause I have a game plan on getting them all little homes lol.


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