Will My Danios Breed?

[Liv15]

So I have a female zebra danio and a male leopard danio. They are always trying to breed in my community tank and I wondered if a zebra danio would breed with a leopard danio. They are basically the same fish except one is striped, the other spotty. I read somewhere that any danio would breed. If they do, what will the babies be like, will some be striped and others spotty or will they have both stripes AND spots?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I think they can breed with other variations of themselves.
The fry would probably turn out with some stripes and some spotted

If you really want to breed them though, it would be best to get another tank for breeding and raising of the fry.
Reason being that the eggs will most likely (depending on your substrate) get eaten in your other tank. The fry may also get eaten

 

[Liv15]

I think they can breed with other variations of themselves.
The fry would probably turn out with some stripes and some spotted
If you really want to breed them though, it would be best to get another tank for breeding and raising of the fry.
Reason being that the eggs will most likely (depending on your substrate) get eaten in your other tank. The fry may also get eaten

Yeah I have another smaller tank I can breed them in and i have marbles i can put on the bottom so the eggs can fall between. If they have ever bred in the community tank, I have never seen any eggs or fry (apparently zebra danios in particular have a taste for the eggs, whether their own or not)

I wonder if the breeding tank would need to be heated because I know danios can go in cool water but not sure if they would breed in cool/cold water ?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Yes, Danios are sub-tropical fish. They do best in temperatures of 20*C-22*C. Having them in a tropical tank could shorten their life span.
 
The highest temperature that Danios will breed at is about 25*C. They do best at lower temps though

 

[the_lock_man]

Zebra danios and leopeard danios are exactly the same species, just with different markings, just like an afro-carribean and a caucasian human are exactly the same species. They are a shoaling species, so prefer to be in groups of 6+, and as stated above, prefer cooler temperatures than tropical fish.
 
They will spawn without any intervention from us aquarists, however they will quite happily eat their own eggs, so unless you do the marble thing (or another method of segregating the eggs from the fish) it is unlikely that you will see any fry.