Zebra Danios

A fish with an intriguing name and an arresting appearance indeed! Their body is a silver or plain with seven to nine bluish stripes. Between the stripes, males have gold while females have silver. Zebra danios come from the coast of India. Plain old zebra danios grow to about 2 inches.There are many varieties and species of danio which can interbreed. All of these danios have barbels and the same body shape and can interbreed to produce fertile young.

Brachydanio rerio = zebra danio = zebra fish. The regular zebra danio has black and yellow to white stripes horizontally across its body and on its caudal and anal fins. Other glamorous members of the danio family are called the leopard danio, blue danio and gold danio.

To make things more interesting for aquarists, there exists another variety of zebra danios with anemone genes in them so that they glow under UV light. They are called glofish or glo-lite danios (not the same species as glowlight danios). These human- manipulated zebra danios do produce viable young with each other that also glow. They can breed with all the above zebra danios and related danios.

Aquarium Care: Zebra, Blue, Leopard, and Gold or Albino danios prefer slightly acid, soft water between 60 and 75 degrees F. A temperature of about 72 degrees F is perfect. At cooler temperatures, they are less active and eat less. They can take temperatures as low as 50 or as high as 85 degrees F (one source says 110 degrees F!) for short periods. They get along well with white clouds and rosy red minnows. Be sure to keep them in a school, at least three with 6 to 10 being better. Danios tease each other and other fish but never do any real harm. Provide at least a few gallons per danio. Danios can live from a few years to as many as ten. They usually stop breeding after about five years. They really eat anything but they relish their own newborn fry and baby brine shrimp.

Giant Danio: Last but not the least is the giant danio. As its name suggests, it is large. This danio cannot breed with other types of fish. It looks like a large pearl danio. Giant danios require warmer water than other kinds of danios as we have described above (75 to 83 degrees F). Due to their size and desire to school, they need large tanks. A half dozen could live in a 50 gallon tank without many other fish. They are reclusive and tend to hide if they are not in a large enough school in a large tanks with lots of plants.

Danios: the fish with whiskers! All danios have barbels under their chin. They look like two small hairs on either side of underneath of their mouths. Some people say the fish have whiskers. When swimming quickly as danios do, the barbels are pressed against their bodies and difficult to see. Danios that are resting or making turns have easier to view barbells.