Zebra danios scaring all the other fish

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OnlyBear

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I am a new member to this forum and I would like to ask for your guy's help.

have a 9.5 gallon tank in which I have 1 neon tetra, 3 glowlight tetras,1 black neon tetra and 2 zebra danios and 1 dwarf frog. I know the numbers aren't the best but hear me out.

I use to have a tank where it was just Neon's and glowlight's. I also had a a second tank where lived my betta Elfie and my dwarf frog Skoczyn. After my betta passed away I decided to move my African dwarf frog into the tetra tank. I had 5 Neon's and 5 glowlights. After some time I am now left with 1 neon tetra and 3 glow lights. I was planning to add more fish until my mom told me that at work this lady was keeping TWO FULL GROWN ZEBRA DANIO'S IN A CUP THAT YOU BUY BETTA'S IN. I knew I had to take them in. Then my friend told me he had a black neon as he was the only fish he coulden't find a home for and I accepted him as well.

Everything was going fine for a few months as the 1 neon and 3 glowlights formed a school together with the black often following them (not chasing) so that surprised me but I noticed they stay near the bottom of the tank more and more with the two zebra's zooming around on the top. What should I do? Add more fish and rehome the Zebras or maybe add more zebras to defuse them or more tetras.

Thanks in advance
 
Oof, sounds like a bit of a predicament. If the tetras are hovering close to the bottom they are likely stressed, possibly due to the danio's but also possibly due to the tank layout.my first suggestion would be to add plants, preferably soft ones (live or fabric) for the tetras to hide in / feel more secure in.

Next, do you have the opportunity to set up a bigger tank? If not, we have to work with what you have but in a bigger tank you would be able to get more tetras which would help them feel less stressed (security in numbers type thing).

Another thought is tetras don't like super strong lighting, so if you're up to trying it getting some floating plants may also help them feel more secure.
 
Unfortuntely 9.5 gallons is only really siutable for a single betta or a small group of nano species fish wise.

With all the fish you have needing bigger groups and a lot more space they are indeed probably stressed and showing the signs your seeing.

Only options would be to upgrade your tank size then up your groups. If this isnt possible id rehome the Danio's. They are really active and need space to swim and a group 6+. They will chase each other and leave other fish alone if in a right size group.

If you could upgrade it would be best for all :)

I wish you luck
 
Thanks for the tips.
I agree with you completely. I put some pictures of my tank below and if you look you can see the three glowlights hiding under the "tripod archway".

I can't really upgrade right now as our house isn't the biggest and my room already has two other huge tanks with one for a leopard gecko being almost 40 gallons. And the other for a Russian tortoise being about 45 gallons. I think I will try to find my two danios a new home where they can live with many other of their kind. And if I manage to do that I will obviously bring up the tetra numbers.
 

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