Danios In The Community Tank

[scouse_andy]

I have a 240 litre tank which is just coming to the end of it's fishless cycle. It is quite heavily planted with a big piece of bogwood, some slate hidey holes etc and a sandy substrate. I have six kuhli loaches in quarantine ready to go in and am also planning on getting 6 corys - possibly rabauti, and six cherry barbs. So that just about takes care of the bottom of the tank. I may add to the corys in time by maybe getting 6 of another species.

I have 3 zebra and 3 leopard danio in a separate tank and would like to put these in too. Which other fish could I get for the tank which would not get harassed and possibly fin-nipped by the danio? I have been considering shoals of harlequin rasbora / rummy nose tetra / black phantom tetra. Would these be ok with danio and their aggressive swimming and possible fin nipping? If not and I need to go for a fish who can stand up for itself a bit more what would anyone suggest?

I had been considering gourami for a centrepiece but now I have decided to add the danio what could anyone suggest? Kribensis / bolivian ram? anything else obvious?

I am new to all this so I'd like the fish I go for to be relatively hardy.

Thanks in anticipation, Andy.

 

[The-Wolf]

aggressivness from danios is often caused by the following
1 ) too small a group
2 ) too small a tank

as you have 6 and they will be going in a large tank you shouldn't have any problems with aggression from them
however given that 6 danios would look quite sparse in a 240 ltr can I suggest you increase the school 2 fold.
ie add 3 more leopard and 3 more zebras.

 

[scouse_andy]

Cheers for the quick reply, Wolf.

In that case I may well go for 4 zebra, 4 leopard, 4 pearl. They are great fish. The six I already have are spawning so I'm hoping that if I can get them into the community tank when it has properly cycled then I may have a few babies in my smaller tank. What is the best thing to feed danio fry?

aggressivness from danios is often caused by the following
1 ) too small a group
2 ) too small a tank

as you have 6 and they will be going in a large tank you shouldn't have any problems with aggression from them
however given that 6 danios would look quite sparse in a 240 ltr can I suggest you increase the school 2 fold.
ie add 3 more leopard and 3 more zebras.

 

[The-Wolf]

I always use infusoria from ZM systems to raise my danio fry.
if you really want to have a go at breeding them checkout my website on danios.
you'll have more sucess if you don't have them in a comunity tank.

http/www.danios.odd-fish.net/DANIO/SexingBreeding.html
zm fry food

EDIT
I notice zm now call the infusoria ZM100 etc
I'd go for ZM100 for danio fry

 

[Amunet]

You could also get liquid fry food at a petstore or this very fine powder stuff when they get a little bigger.. something like first bites or some such.
And then when they get even bigger, finely crushed up flake food will do.

Your danios will probably be fine if you just left them as is and put them into the main tank with anything. We only have 3 right now and they've never nipped. They do chase (well the boss one does), but that's about it for their aggressive behaviour, but then again I guess it doesn't depend on personalities and all that heh
Anywho.. GL with whatever you decide to do! Sounds like it's gonna be a great tank!

 

[scouse_andy]

Thanks for your help. I may well get maybe 3 more, 3 pearl to make a group of nine (3 of each). I'll have to post some pictures when it's all done. They are actually quite well behaved, I had a group of five before who used to nip and stress each other like crazy, they were in a tank which was too small. Anyway the 6 I now have are in the same tank and get on far better. I'm keen to move them as soon as the big one cycles though as they need the swimming space. As I said they seem to be constantly spawning in there too.

How would they do in the 240 litre with particularly shy fish like pearl gourami or glowlight tetra? Would they nip and would there agressive swimming potentially cause problems?

 

[ghostchoir]

I doubt you'd have any problems. You've got a big tank and enough danios, they should be fine swimming around amongst themselves. Mine are with slower fish and to be honest they ignore them completely, just play amongst themselves. Whenever new fish go in mine tend to act very mean and nip them and chase them, but after about five minutes (or until they are distracted with food) they tend to ignore them completely for the rest of the time!