Danios pregant? Or sick?

[it4lian]

Well last night I got 4 zebra danios for my 12 gallon tank. I've noticed 3 of them have developed much more fatter and rounder stomachs than when I got them last night. I could tell the 3 were females however when I bought them because they were arlready a little rounder in the belly. And also the one male is fine so I'm not sure if he's just a player or he hasn't gotten sick yet if its a disease. What do yall think?

[Obsidian]

How long has this tank been set up?

In my experience with my danios the females do not get fatter just before laying eggs. Now keep in mind that my danios are little fishy sex addicts and spawn at least weekly, often more than this. I have to assume that my danios are fairly normal, which tells me that if a danio is getting noticeably fatter overnight it's probably not from the eggs. My danios are fat, but they don't get skinnier after laying and fatter before hand.

[it4lian]

been set up for a week, added em in to help cycling

[Obsidian]

Is the male chasing the fatter females around the tank? Not just following, chasing and at times it will look a little like they are going to fight, but they tend to keep their heads out of it. If they are doing this then that is spawning. If they are just swimming and chasing and never coming together its just regular chasing. Even though the tank is not cycled IME fish will attempt to spawn. So this is one possibility.

Do they gasp at the surface at all and do they have red gills? Like maroon red not just a little red. If so they are stressed from the ammonia and/or nitrite currently in the tank. To my knowledge the cycle is not something that would make your fish get fatter though.

You may want to research internal parasites. I believe most would make your fish get too skinny rather than too fat, but I have very little knowledge about them and so am not a good source of information about that.

Do their scales stick out like a pine cone? If so it is probably dropsy, which treatment for is often not successful. Again I do not know the treatments for it, but it gives you an idea of where to look.

Is there any way you can post pictures of the fish? If so that might help folks to help you. I know with danios its hard!

IMO it's unfortunate that you chose to cycle with fish, when you can do this quite effectively without causing a living being any harm. Danios are hardy, that is true, but that is like saying "go ahead and beat up little johnny, he's tough, he can take it." Just because they can live through a cycle, does not mean it is not causing them current pain or future harm. I cycled my first tank with fish, and it was the worst decision I have ever made in this hobby. People told me to take the fish back but I was led to believe (by the store) that the only way to take fish back was if they were dead. They got all their fish back dead. I lost every single "hardy" fish by the end of the cycle, and a few not so hardy ones that the store told me were hardy. I now know that a store will take back fish that are alive, and that even if that store would not there are others that would have. The fish I bought paid for my ignorance with their lives. So I am passing that information on to you in hopes of providing good information. My other tanks have been cycled fishless, and I had no losses there.

[TheOldSalt]

My own glofish ( bright red zebra danios ) have swollen up to nearly double their normal size over the past two weeks, and they're spawning like crazy. ( Figures. Why can't I suddenly start mass-producing something profitable? ) This happened when things warmed up around here, so that makes sense. I think your main worry at this point will probably be that spawning causes tank pollution, which is something you don't want right now when you're trying to cycle the tank. Just keep a closer watch on things and things should be fine. After the cycling is done you'll probably still have spawnings aplenty, so then you can start to worry about what to do with all those fry.

[it4lian]

Eh, I think it was just my eyes playing tricks on me last night. It was like almost 2 in the morning for me and I was gettin ready to go to bed when I noticed it and I think I just convinced myself that they'd gotten fat. They look normal to me again now, but I'm awake now. They are a little more red than they should be, and I plan on doing my next cycle with a fishless cycle, but I also planned on keeping zebra's as fish for this tank, so I hope these 4 survive (gonna get 3 more once done cycling). Anyways thanks for yall's help. I'll make sure I'm awake next time I think somethins wrong with the fish.

[Obsidian]

TOS mine just dine, constantly. They have been spawning at least weekly for 2-3 months now and none of the fry have survived. Even in the plants, they hunt them down. The only fry that made it were the ones I deliberately separated.

[oliesminis]

never found a danio fry and ive had them for 6 months, have got a betta in with them though so not much chance

[it4lian]

Yeh I got a betta with my danios as well, so I don't think their babies gonna be doin alright if they have any.

[it4lian]

sorry for double post. I noticed last night that my fish got fat again, about an hour after I fed them, which now that I think of it is when I noticed the others got fat as well. Because about 5 hours after I fed them last night they looked fine to me again. So my question is do they get a little fat after feeding? I did over feed them quite a bit these last two times because I started using 2 new foods and I'm still trying to figure out which is enough. I loaded them on bloodwords last night when I accidently dropped too much in and couldn't get it back out, so I think that coulda helped em get fat, but I don't know. I'm an idiot at this stuff cause all I've ever kept is bettas. What yall think?

[GoodMike]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

My own glofish ( bright red zebra danios ) have swollen up to nearly double their normal size over the past two weeks, and they're spawning like crazy. ( Figures. Why can't I suddenly start mass-producing something profitable? )

careful, im under the impression that due to patent laws, its illegal to breed and sell glofish. kind of silly..i know

[it4lian]

Lol, thats stupid; ain't your fault that their horny.

[TheOldSalt]

Selling & distributing them is forbidden, yes, but you can still breed them all you want, and good luck with stopping them from doing it.

[GoodMike]

no, actually read what the ban is TOS. the ban is on any Intentionally breeding of this fish, as well as selling.

[elvis332]

well thats how it is girls are fat boys are skinny i know that because i have 2 gaint danios

[it4lian]

So its illegal for an LFS to sell glofish? ooo... mine is gonna be in trouble then lol. They got a tank of bright red ones and some orangish colored ones. And yeh the danio's look normal to me again lol. My betta's finally starting to come out now too =D. He'd always stay in the back corner of the tank which has a ton of fake plants for him to hide in. Thanks for yall's help.

[TheOldSalt]

No, they can BUY them from the licensed wholesalers and then sell them just fine, but they can't grow their own.

That makes sense, Mike, since anyone intentionally breeding them is probably up to no good.

[bcpatti3]

OBSIDIAN "Is the male chasing the fatter females around the tank? Not just following, chasing and at times it will look a little like they are going to fight, but they tend to keep their heads out of it. If they are doing this then that is spawning. If they are just swimming and chasing and never coming together its just regular chasing. Even though the tank is not cycled IME fish will attempt to spawn. So this is one possibility. "



I have three "golden danios" and one short finned zebra danio. I have noticed this morning that the zebra danio is constantly on the golden danio following it everywhere. I got a little concerned becuase is looked like the golden danio was rubbing up against rocks, going into tight spaces and then doing little circles in the pebbles. I was thinking maybe it was sick but the zebra danio only seems to be attracted to this particular fish. Sometimes it looks like they are wrestling. Is this possibly SPAWNING?

[TheOldSalt]

Yep, that's spawning.

[it4lian]

I noticed one of the danios had a maroon spot on its butt, well idk what part of the body it really is. Its like the part where their stomach goes down a little bit, but its before the tail and that small fin on the bottom of their body. Do all danios have this? I just only noticed it on one when it turned from the front of the tank, but I can't see the others to tell if they have it either. Yall know what it is? I don't think I was clear in explaining it though, so do your best to interpret this, can't seem to put it any better lol.