Danio Problems

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jeff

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Guys,

I am new to the hobby, getting a guppie habitat for my 5 year old has peaked my interest. Boy, aquariums have come a long way since I was a kid and you had the old submersible air pump/filters.

Well, here is the bottom line where I may need some help. I set the aquarium up, 10 gallon, let it run with some live plants for about 24 hours, and threw in 2 zebra danios as guinea pigs. Things went great for the first 24 hours, then the water clouded a bit. Just slightly, so I am watching the fish and letting it run.

However, the two zebras don't appear to like each other any more. One, the smallest, stays in a corner, while the other pretty much swims everywhere. The smaller appears to charge the larger when the larger gets close to the corner, but the larger will usually end up chasing the smaller. They move so fast that I think that I may be mistaking schooling behavior with agressive behavior, but maybe not.

If anyone has any pointers, just let me know, but I am new so don't bash me too hard.

My plan right now is to let the system run, add a two guppies, and maybe another zebra.

Jeff
 
Hi Jeff and welcome. :hi:

Zebra danios are shoaling fish and as such will feel far happier in a group of at least six.
As you have only added a couple of fish and are going to leave it run for a time before you add anything else I assume you are aware of the cycling process that needs to be completed before the tank is truely habitable. If not then I suggest you read up on it. There are tonnes of articles about it in this forum so I'm not going to rewrite it all.
Also, Zebra danios are boistous little things. In my little shoal there is one dominant fish (a female that's almost twice the mass of the males) that bosses the others around. You might just be seeing a combination of the bossy fish attacking the weaker fish that's scared due to the lack of company.
I used zebra danios to cycle my tank as they are a hardy species. I'd add a couple more fish to dilute the aggression of the dominar and give the other fish some mates. Test the water using a kit to check on the progress of the cycle process and, once the cycling is complete, gradually add more danios to make a little shoal (six total min.). You can then think about adding other compatible fish species.

Enjoy your new hobby,

Waterloo Kid
 

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