Scientific name: Brachydanio rerio, Danio rerio
Common name: Zebrafish
Aquarium size: 80 liters
Temperament: Calm
Temperature: Between 18º and 25º
pH: Between 6 and 8
Diet: Omnivore
Length: 5 cm.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ZEBRIT FISH:
The zebrafish, danio rerio or zebrafish, is a fish of the cyprinid family, suitable for beginner aquarists, as it easily tolerates many of the mistakes of novices.
It is an oviparous that reproduces easily in an aquarium, which is also a plus for those beginners, who will find that raising aquarium fish is quite a challenge.
Its calm and gregarious temperament makes it ideal for a community aquarium, where it can coexist with other species of fish.
The zebra danio is a small fish, measuring about 5 centimeters.
They are golden or silver in color, with five to nine longitudinal dark blue stripes, qualifying them as zebrafish.
It is not easy to distinguish males from females, except when they reach sexual maturity, then we can see how the female acquires a more rounded shape, looks a little larger than the males and loses some color.
In the spawning season, when the female zebrafish is pregnant, the males intensify their coloration.
Another sexual dimorphism is in the stripes, that the males alternate blue and gold bands, while the females are blue and silver.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT OF THE ZEBRIT FISH:
Its original distribution is somewhat confused, since it is possible that originally, the danio rerio was confused with other danios.
They are currently known to be present in India, Eastern and Western Ghats ranges, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
It is found in rapid and shallow rivers, with silty bottoms and with abundant vegetation.
Some recent information about their life cycle assumes that the adults live in streams and small rivers, seeking calm and shady areas, until the rains come and they look for marginal ponds and rice fields to spawn.
AQUARIUM CARE FOR YOUR ZEBRIT FISH:
The size of the aquarium should be around 80 liters, in which it is convenient to add a dark substrate and a good number of plants, some of them floating, to diffuse the light and emulate its natural habitat as much as possible.
A strong filtration is not necessary, although we may see that they have a preference for swimming near the outlet of the water pump.
As for the temperature of the water, between 18º and 25º C should be ranges in which the zebrafish is comfortable.
The pH of the water must be maintained between 6 and 8, with a hardness between 90 and 357 ppm.
FOOD OF THE ZEBRIT FISH:
They are omnivorous. In the natural state it usually feeds on mosquito larvae, small crustaceans and other invertebrates.
For feeding in the aquarium, we must provide a diet that includes dry food, along with small live or frozen artemia larvae, you can even add small pieces of boiled vegetables to your diet.
During the mating season, ideally we should increase the presence of live prey.
BEHAVIOR AND COMPATIBILITY OF THE ZEBRIT FISH:
It is a calm and sociable fish. We can use it in a community aquarium, in combination with other small cyprinids, tetras, rainbow fish and catfish.
As it is a gregarious fish, we must have a small group in the aquarium of no less than 8 to 10 fish. In this way we will make them calmer, in addition to enjoying the spectacle of seeing them swim in sync, and their colors, which will be more vivid.
Zebrafish are very popular as they are peaceful, hardy and also cheap. The price of zebrafish has fallen a lot, thanks to the fact that they are easily farmed in large quantities.
This also has its problems, since inbreeding is present in this type of fish, we can find that some specimens develop morphological deformations.
Another big problem of the danio rerio is one of the most common diseases, the Neon Tetra Disease (disease of the Tetra neon) that is caused by a parasite.
It can be recognized by the appearance of white spots on the skin, and the attacked fish separates from the group.
This disease has no cure.
It is best to remove any fish showing symptoms.
Compatible fish without restrictions:
- Cherry Barbel.
- Corydoras.
- Pearl Gourami.
- Apple Snail.
- Mosquito fish.
- Ramirezi.
- Silver Dollar.
- Tetra Neon.
- Rasbora Galaxy.
- Chinese neon.
- Nun.
- Guppy Endler.
- Platy.
- Kribensis.
- female betta.
- drunk.
- Telescope.
- Tiger Barb.
- Harlequin.
- Botia Clown.
- Ancistrus.
- Molly.
- Ax Fish.
- Bubble eyes.
Fish compatible with restrictions:
- Climb.
- Rainbow.
- Kois.
- Goldfish.
- Killis.
- Paradise.
REPRODUCTION OF THE GOAT FISH:
Like many other cyprinids, the danio rerio does not show much parental care, spawning often and in a large aquarium, adequate control will be difficult to establish.
We can be surprised from time to time, finding a small group of fry swimming, without having had time to react. If we want to have a number of small zebra fish, we must prepare a breeding tank.
We will proceed as follows:
- The breeding aquarium should be dimly lit.
- At the base, we will put a mesh, marbles or some type of carpet, so that the eggs when they are deposited, are out of reach of the adults.
- It is convenient to change the water from a slightly acidic pH to a neutral one. With a temperature close to 25ºC.
- We must take a pair of fish to the breeding aquarium, when we are sure that the female zebrafish are pregnant and full of eggs.
- To force spawning, small amounts of cold water should be added every few hours.
- We must also add small amounts of live and frozen foods.
- When we have evidence that the eggs have been laid, after a few hours we must remove the adults, since they will eat the eggs they find.
- Once the female has spawned, the small fry should appear within 24 to 36 hours.
- Fingerlings eat very small food, we can find dry food suitable for fingerlings already prepared. Once they start to grow, we can add artemia larvae.
