So I Thought Zebra Danos Were Peaceful...

[gurnie]

I have 3 zebra danos in a nice sized office aquarium (3 gallons with bubbler, carbon filter and several live plants). They seem to be very happy, very frisky fish.

I bought some ghost shrimp as a clean-up crew, and for a few days everything was well.

That was until a mob hit was ordered on the ghost shrimp.

They have killed 3 ghost shrimp this week. One, very scared little shrimp is hiding in the rocks of my aquarium. I bet when I come to work tomorrow, he'll be dead / eaten too.

Any suggestions? I was under the impression these two species got along. Or maybe you can suggest a different clean-up crew for my aquarium.

 

[orange shark]

zebra danios should not be kept in a 3 gallon

 

[Leitch]

Zebra Danios need at least a 15 gallon

 

[Luketendo]

For a 3 gallon try a Siamese Fighting Fish. They are very colourful and only need a small tank, do not put any others in there with them though.

 

[gurnie]

Ok, any suggestions on the ghost shrimp or keeping some sort of critter to clean the tank that are compatible with zebras? Even in a larger tank there will still need to be a clean-up crew and no point in buying more and more shrimp if they are just going to be killed and not eaten.

 

[K.J.]

Try a small pleco, or corydoras. What are you trying to clean up? Poo or food?

 

[gurnie]

I have a gravel vac and i try to clean the gravel about every other week, but i do want a poo / algae /food eating monster.

What kind of pleco would you recommend?

Cories like sand, right? I have only gravel tanks, so I assume the pleco would be my only choice?

 

[orange shark]

no fish eat poo, but corys and plecs will eat leftover food off the floor

 

[Erised]

Zebra danios tend to be quite 'peaceful' for a given definition of the word. I a tank too small and a group too small they tend to get aggressive, not only to other fish but also to their own species. Even if you'd put the 3 danios is a 15G (I'd personally recommend a min. of 20) you're likely to find they will still pick on other fish and each other. In a larger group (min. of 6) the chasing (which is only natural to danios) will be spread over all 5 other danios and there for will stress them out less. Some see the chasing as aggression, others see it as a sign of playfulness... personal view I guess. I see it as playfulness, even though it can harm (cause too much exhaustion) if it's focused on 1 fish in particular.

As to a clean up crew, I don't know about shrimp as I've never kept them. I myself have always had a group of corydoras in with my zebra danios as a 'clean up crew' and never had any problems.

You are not gonna find a fish that eats poo. Any clean up crew will only eat left over food and bury the poo in the gravel/sand making it look cleaner. In a 15G you'd be limited for plecs, the most common plec for a small tank would be a bristlenose plec. As for a 3Gallon, there is simply no plec small enough for that.

 

[arvlyn]

I have a gravel vac and i try to clean the gravel about every other week, but i do want a poo / algae /food eating monster.

What kind of pleco would you recommend?

Cories like sand, right? I have only gravel tanks, so I assume the pleco would be my only choice?

Corys have always been fine in my gravel tanks.
I'd think a pleco would get too big for a 3 gal.
Nothing eats poo.

 

[gurnie]

That's why I was looking at shrimp. Low bio load and they eat poo.

I think the cory would tip the scale if I added it, the water parameters have read fine (kept a log for 3 months). Adding another fish would be too much.

Is there a better shrimp that the danos can't pick on

 

[Maximus]

Again no, shrimp won't eat poo either.

 

[gurnie]

My mistake, i figured since they were ground dwellers, they were poo eaters.

 

[orange shark]

and you should get the zebra danios out