Danio pink brought to Europe in 1911. The fish is native to Asia. Belongs to the carp family. Habitat - cool, vegetated parts tropical rivers.

IN vivo the fish grows up to 8 cm, in aquariums 4.5–6 cm. proper lighting. When they begin to rush around the aquarium, an illusion of multi-colored sparks is created.

Appearance

Elongated body, compressed at the sides. A pair of antennae above the upper lip.

The color is pink with a blue tint, the belly is shiny. Fins yellow-orange or yellow-green, on the anal - a strip Pink colour. Wedge-shaped red stripes on the sides are pronounced in young fish, fading with age. Juveniles are grey-blue.

Aquarists bred a hybrid pink zebrafish with pearl. These fish have reddish fins.

Behavior

Danios have characteristics behaviors:

  1. Fish prefer to spend time in the upper layers of the water.
  2. Change direction abruptly.
  3. They prefer to swim in a flock.

Lifespan

They live 2-3 years in captivity.

Danio pink is simple in content - it adapts to new conditions, is not picky about food, the arrangement of the aquarium is suitable for many breeds of fish.

Aquarium

Choose a long shallow aquarium, from 70 cm long and 40–50 cm high. Danios live in flocks, for 7–10 individuals you need a volume of 50 liters, for 20 from 100 liters.

A tight-fitting lid is required.

Water parameters

Danios love cleanliness and freshness. TO chemical composition not picky.

However, the temperature fluctuation of 16–26 degrees will not harm the fish. Change water weekly at a rate of 20-30% of the volume.

Plants

For a pink zebrafish, arrange thickets of plants and open areas in the aquarium. Choose plants that create shaded areas:

  • eleocharis;
  • hydrophila Siamese;
  • caroline cabomba.

Priming

Lay small pebbles and several large boulders without sharp edges on the bottom. Install some snags.

Equipment

Use filters with centrifugal pumps or circulation pumps to create flow so that there are areas in the aquarium without water movement.

Aeration is moderate, zebrafish needs oxygen, but it is quite enough to get into the water during changes.

Lighting

Zebrafish look most bright in daylight. Install lamps near the front glass with a power of 45-69 watts. Then the scales of the fish will sparkle with bright colors.

Feeding

The diet of wild zebrafish consists of small insects and their larvae. When kept at home, they eat ready-made industrial feed. As an additive, give bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp.

When buying feed, pay attention to the date of manufacture and store it in vacuum packaging.

They eat zebrafish from the surface. Remove food that has sunk to the bottom or is floating in the middle layers of the water.

Feed the zebrafish once a day. Overfeeding causes problems with internal organs.

Compatibility

Peace-loving zebrafish are well compatible with other fish. Thanks to high degree adaptation to any conditions, become excellent neighbors for the inhabitants of other countries, such as titles and rainbows. Get along well:

  • neon;
  • guppies;
  • gourami;
  • catfish.

Danios are schooling fish and, when kept in an amount of less than 8, they experience stress, which makes them lethargic and inactive. In the group, the fish are bright, active. A flock of zebrafish in an amount of up to 8–10 individuals is aggressive towards neighbors. Increase the population to 12-14 to avoid fights.

Veil does not get along with barbs.

Not compatible:

  • goldfish;
  • acne;
  • cichlids;
  • discus.

reproduction

Zebrafish breeding is available to beginner aquarists subject to the following principles:

  • Do not allow spawning in a community tank. Adults will destroy the eggs.
  • The female spawns at the age of 1 year.
  • For spawning, take 1 female and 2 males.
  • The fish reach sexual maturity at half a year.
  • In a pink zebrafish, reproduction in an aquarium occurs all year round.
  • After spawning, create conditions for the female to re-spawn in order to prevent the development of cysts.

Sex differences

Distinguish between male and female outward signs difficult. Before puberty, the fish are very similar. From the age of six months, the differences are insignificant and require care.

Adults of the same age differ in size: the female is larger and more rounded. The stripes on the sides of males are brighter. The anal fin of females is larger.

Another way to determine gender is to observe mating games. The female is always in the center, and the male swims around, showing himself.

Spawning preparation

Create spawning grounds for pink zebrafish, guided by the principles:

  • Take an aquarium with a volume of 10 liters per 1 female.
  • Water level 7–9 cm.
  • Lay out a separator net or small-leaved plants 2 cm above the bottom.
  • Boil 30% water and add settled. Achieve hardness indicators up to 10, acidity at the level of 7.0.
  • The temperature is within 20-23 degrees.

Spawning

Separate females and males in separate tanks for 2 weeks. During this time, feed only live food. A rounded abdomen in a female is an indicator of readiness for spawning.

In the evening, place the male in the prepared container, after a few hours the female. Raise the temperature by 5 degrees and turn off the lights.

In the morning, aquarium zebrafish begin spawning. In a few hours, the female will lay about 200 eggs. When finished, remove adults from the aquarium.

fry care

Gently shake the eggs off the safety net or plants and remove them from the aquarium. The fish hatch in one to three days. On the fourth, start feeding the fry with food ground into dust. After two weeks, switch to a larger food.

Place the fry in flocks depending on their growth.

Repeated spawning

After spawning, put the female on re-spawning in a week. Without this, cysts will develop and the individual will become infertile.

After 4 weeks, the fish are ready for re-spawning.

Diseases

Fish are hardy and have good immunity. Pink zebrafish diseases appear due to improper care: pollution and poor nutrition.

Bloating

Signs:

  • enlarged abdomen;
  • carp lies at the bottom;
  • lack of contact with the flock.

As a treatment, dilute 1 tablet of Trichopolum in 30 liters of water. You can carry out the procedure in a common aquarium, it will not harm healthy inhabitants.

growths

Rare disease. Place the affected individual daily for 15 minutes in warm water with the addition of salt (1 tablespoon per half liter).

Swimming in circles

The unusual way of swimming causes nitrate poisoning. Replace the entire volume of water and change 1/3 of the aquarium every day for a week.

bulging eyes

Frequent illness caused by pollution. Without help, the fish lose their eyes and go blind. As a treatment, flush the entire contents of the aquarium and replace 1/3 of the volume of water every other day.

Trichodinosis

The disease develops due to Trichodina ciliates entering the aquarium with soil or food.

Signs:

  • the fish scratches on glass and plants;
  • scales fade;
  • light-colored coating.
  • enhance aeration;
  • raise the temperature to 30–31;
  • feed bloodworms with antibiotics for a week;
  • salt baths as with growths.

Tuberculosis

Treated with antibiotic food for 2 weeks. If the fish has no appetite, quarantine it and dissolve the medicines in water:

  • kanamycin - 3 g / 100 l;
  • rifampicin - 600 mg / 100 liters.

Do not add antibiotics to a community tank.

Danio pink- one of the most common types aquarium fish. He has gained wide popularity due to his unpretentiousness, beauty, accommodating with many other fish. If you decide to start breeding ornamental fish, zebrafish are a great start for a beginner aquarist.

He is not picky about environmental conditions and feeding, forgives many mistakes for amateur beginners. But still, before you put a pink zebrafish fry into the aquarium, you should find out at least basic information about keeping the fish and caring for it.

In nature, zebrafish does not look as colorful as in an aquarium. The pink zebrafish was bred artificially. Inhabits the waters of Indochina and South-East Asia. The fish has a small body size, up to 4.5 cm long, but in wild nature sometimes grows up to 8 cm. The shape of the body is elongated, slightly flattened on the sides.

Has a beautiful pink which is reflected in the title. Stripes along the sides white color. The fins of the fish are transparent.

Danio belongs to the carp family, there are two pairs of whiskers along the edges of the oral cavity. The scales on the back and sides have a complex range of colors: shades of blue, olive and green. They live in an aquarium for an average of 5 years.

Normal living conditions for fish are:

  • - +21...+25 °C;
  • - 5-15 °dH;
  • acid-base balance -6-7.5 pH.

Did you know? The elder brother of the pink zebrafish - rerio, was in orbital space station. Not many fish were honored with such an honor.

In the aquarium, you should keep a group of fish, no less than 8 pieces. The minimum size of the aquarium (length) - 70 cm, volume - 50 liters. Danios are very fond of accelerating in flocks and swimming in a straight line, so the length of the aquarium is very important for them.
As decorative elements, pebbles and other elements are used, which can be found in sufficient quantities in a pet store.

The fish jump out of the tank quite easily, so you will need a lid. It is necessary to install good lighting, preferably near the front glass.

Danio has an excellent appetite and eats both dry food and live food with pleasure. Choose live food right size, bloodworms, coretra, young brine shrimp are suitable for this.

The surface of the water with small insects sitting on it is another source of food for the fish. Complex mixtures with vitamins and minerals are also a very good option.

Sometimes fresh vegetables should be given: cucumber, zucchini, Bell pepper. Vegetables must be grated, if there are no fresh ones, frozen ones will do.
You need to feed 1 time per day, this will be enough. It is not worth feeding anymore, the fish has a good appetite, and even when it is full, it will continue to eat. And this can cause digestive problems.

Danios do not eat food from the bottom or floating in the water column. They like to feed from the surface, the rest of the food should be caught so that the water does not become cloudy and organic matter does not decompose in it.

Important! It is necessary to take care of good water filtration in an aquarium with fish. Proper aeration is equally important.

Compatibility with other inhabitants of the aquarium

Danio gets along with almost all peaceful fish:

  • neon;

 Normally they feel next to shrimps and snails. If there is one in the aquarium, you should not run a veil zebrafish there. More frisky neighbors can taste their veil.

Fish, the neighborhood with which is contraindicated:

  • acne;

It happens that pink zebrafish show aggression. The reason is most often that their population in the aquarium is too small. In this case, the number of individuals should be increased to 12-14 pieces.

If you seriously decide to start breeding aquarium fish, you just need to learn how to distinguish between the sex of pink zebrafish. You can, of course, if you have free time and a desire to experiment, go empirically: by selecting several fish and separating them from the rest of the mass, wait until the females begin to spawn.

But you can do it easier and try to find out by some, sometimes subtle, but fairly accurate signs, how to distinguish a female zebrafish from a male.
Of course, you can see how the female spawns, somehow mark the fish and next time just put it in the spawning ground. But such luck will not always accompany you. In addition, there are situations when you have to choose a female from a common flock of fish when buying.

In such cases, you should look at the size of the individual. The female is larger than the male, it has a rounded abdomen, the male has a smaller “growth” and a much thinner “build”. These signs are typical for adult fish, about the same age. Up to a certain point, the female may be smaller than the male.

The male is searched for by color - a well-established method, which, however, requires attentiveness and observation. The longitudinal stripes on the sides of the male have brighter colors than those of the female. characteristic feature it is explained very simply - the female during the breeding season chooses the most striking partner.

Did you know? In the United States, transgenic zebrafish (rerio) have been bred that glow in the dark with ultraviolet radiation.

Another sign is the shape of the anal fin. Females tend to be more round and larger size. But this is a rather dubious way, especially if you are a beginner aquarist. Sizes and differences in shape are so slight that it is easy to make a mistake.

You can watch " marriage dances» fish. The male arranges a real "gypsy with an exit" around the object of his passion. He circles near the female for quite a long time, from which we can conclude: the one in the center is a female, and the one that courts her, respectively, is a male.

In nature, the spawning of pink zebrafish falls during the rainy season. At that time fresh water becomes warm and warms up to the desired temperature.
But it was noticed that under natural conditions, in female zebrafish caught in winter, the abdomen was filled with caviar. This circumstance indicates that the timing of the breeding season, in addition to the season, is affected by the quantity and quality of food. From this we can conclude that zebrafish can be bred at home all year round.

At home, zebrafish breeding occurs as follows: two males and a female are planted for spawning. Spawning of a group of fish with the same proportions of males and females is also used.

Important! The spawned female should be put back on spawning in a week, otherwise she will never again be able to give offspring.

Decanting eggs from small fish is quite problematic, so females are selected for spawning, whose age does not exceed 1 year. With males in this respect it is easier.

14 days before spawning, males and females are separated. Females are fed in abundance with live food, their abdomen becomes round - this is a sign of readiness for spawning. When breeding, pink zebrafish from a common aquarium are transplanted into a prepared spawning ground.

The normal spawning volume for one female zebrafish is 10 liters. The bottom should be laid out with a separator mesh, so that it is about two centimeters above the bottom. Sometimes plants with small foliage are used for these purposes, pressing them with small stones to the bottom of the spawning ground.

Approximately 30% of the total volume of water should be boiled (provides the necessary hardness), the rest should be fresh settled.
Check the readings of hardness and acid-base balance, during spawning these are the most important indicators. Normally, they should be:

  • stiffness -<10 °dH;
  • pH = 7.

In the evening, males are launched into the spawning ground, after 3-4 hours, females can be launched. Now you need to raise the temperature by 5-6 ° C. The normal indicator is +26...+28 °C. It remains only to turn on the light.

In the morning, at sunrise, spawning will begin. It will continue for several hours. The female spawns, about 200 milky eggs. After the end of spawning, the participants in the process should be removed from the spawning ground.

It is advisable to remove the mesh (plants), after carefully brushing off the eggs. Duration of incubation - 35-50 hours. After four days, the fry will begin to swim, they will need feeding. For these purposes, ciliates, living dust, nauplii are suitable.

As the fry grow, they will need more serious food and a larger aquarium. Puberty in fry will come to six months of age. In principle, it is not difficult to breed zebrafish on your own at home. But this procedure should be treated very responsibly and carefully.

Did you know? One of the varieties of zebrafish, the veil, appeared as a result of an artificial mutation; in nature, such a fish does not exist.

For pink zebrafish, some diseases are characteristic, which we will discuss later.

Bloating. Signs of illness - the belly noticeably increases in size. Sometimes this symptom is confused with caviar or overeating, but more often it indicates bloating. The fish lies on the bottom, the stomach is swollen, it does not swim and does not come into contact with its fellows - there are signs of swelling.

Treat as follows - 1 tablet of Trichopolum is diluted in 30 liters of water. Recovery usually occurs within 7 days. It is possible to arrange preventive measures for the neighbors, it will not be worse for them.

The fish swims sideways. Sometimes the fish swims in a circle, while being active, in contact with its neighbors. These are symptoms of poisoning. It can be caused by high levels of nitrates.
Change the water in the aquarium and update it by a third every three days.

growths. Growths are extremely rare on zebrafish, but if such a growth does appear, you should increase the salt content and increase the water temperature.

Pour 1 liter of prepared water (t +28 °С) into a separate container. Add there 2 tbsp. l. salt. Keep the fish there for 15-20 minutes, then return to the aquarium. After three days, there will be no traces of growths.

bulging eyes. The most common disease. The disease most often develops during spawning. The color of the body remains the same, only the abdomen increases. When spawning, this circumstance is not surprising, but attention should be paid to the eyes. If they are strongly bulging, this is bulging eyes. After two weeks, the eyes fall out and the fish goes blind, and after that it dies of hunger. The reason is bad water. Change the water by 1/3 every other day.

Trichodinosis. The fish rubs against various surfaces and plants, constantly swims next to aeration, the color loses its brightness, a light coating appears on the skin, separating in flakes.

The causative agent of the disease is one of the types of ciliates - Trichodina, which enters the habitat with plants and soil. Sometimes - in feed, if they were poorly processed.

Treatment: aeration should be increased, the water temperature should be raised to +31 ° C. Salt baths are recommended.

Important! For the purpose of prevention, it is necessary to feed the fish with a bloodworm with an antibiotic for a week, every month. Other food for these purposes is not suitable - the product will be washed out, destroying the microflora in the aquarium.

Tuberculosis. The most acceptable treatment is feed with antibiotics (rifampicin, kanamycin). You can inject drugs into the aquarium or into the jig. In the event that the disease develops rapidly, the zebrafish no longer takes food, and you want to save it - you should plant the fish and inject the drug into the water:

  • kanamycin - 3 g per 100 l;
  • rifampicin - 600 mg per 100 liters.

Medicines should be introduced into the aquarium only when it is impossible to do otherwise. Antibiotics destroy all bacteria, and this leads to a violation of the biobalance.

The best solution is to add the drug to the feed. Soak the bloodworm in a solution (1 g/100 ml of water) of kanamycin for 30 minutes and feed it to the "patients". The course of treatment is 14 days.
Do not forget that water is the main habitat for fish. Its condition means for the inhabitants of the aquarium no less than air quality for us. Carefully monitor the indicators and condition of the water, take care of your little pets, and they will delight you with their presence for a long time.

Size of hydrobionts - M L

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Fish size

M - up to 3 cm, XL - up to 4 cm.

Habitat

The main habitat of these fish are the quiet rivers of Thailand and about. Sumatra.

Description

The length of this species of zebrafish is up to 6 cm. The body is elongated, slender, moderately flattened laterally. 2 pairs of antennae. The back is gray-olive, the side is gray-green, silvery and, depending on the lighting, casts a greenish, bluish or purple color. Along the body, starting at the level of the pectoral fins and gradually expanding towards the caudal peduncle, there is a red stripe with a blue border, which becomes weaker with age and may disappear altogether. Dorsal yellowish green, anal fin cherry to orange red, tail greenish. Fish are especially beautifully colored when kept in a large flock.

The male is more intensely colored; there may be a cherry-red spot in the middle of the tail. The female is much fuller, especially before spawning.

All zebrafish are exceptionally strong fish with excellent health, so even completely inexperienced lovers succeed in keeping them.

Small pebbles or gravel are perfect as soil. Plants can be planted at your discretion, only the main thing is to leave an open, well-lit section of the aquarium for a flock of zebrafish to swim.

Optimal water parameters for keeping zebrafish: Temperature (t) 20-25°C (summer), 17-21°C (winter). Water hardness (dH) 5-15°. The recommended stiffness is not more than 10°. Acidity (pH) 6.0-7.5.

For the well-being of the fish, it is necessary to change the water every 7-14 days up to 20-25% of the volume of the aquarium, as well as good filtration with aeration. It is good when the temperature of the replacement water is 2-3 degrees higher than the aquarium water, and it is infused.

Breeding

Achieving spawning in zebrafish is very simple. Failures are mainly due to the shortcomings of the conditions of detention. One of these disadvantages can be called too high water temperature in the aquarium in winter.

Before spawning, males and females should be seated and, after raising the temperature to 23-25 ​​° C, feed them well with bloodworms or tubules for several days (the latter are worse).

A three-liter glass jar is the most excellent spawning ground for small species. For large species, a cylindrical jar with a diameter of 40 centimeters is most suitable. In these vessels, the bottom is convex in the middle, which is very important. But in extreme cases, you can use a rectangular jar or aquarium with a bottom size of 40 × 20 centimeters for large species.

An excellent plant substrate for spawning is spawning or moss, which amateurs call fontinalyss (Amblystegium riparium). In extreme cases, you can use peristolistol. Plants are laid on the bottom, and pressed with well-washed pebbles. Spawning is poured with tap water, previously settled in a glass or enamel bowl for 6-8 days. You can take water from a clean, safe in all respects aquarium, but in this case it must be properly aerated by strong blowing or repeated pouring from vessel to vessel. The water level in the spawning ground for small species should be 6-9 cm, for large ones - 10-15.

Experiments have shown that the fertility of eggs increases sharply when not a pair, but three adult zebrafish (one female with a rounded abdomen and two males) are used for spawning. The foregoing does not apply to zebrafish. Producers are planted in the spawning area in the evening, and the next day spawning is usually observed, starting the earlier, the brighter the spawning area is lit. If spawning does not follow, the fish should be left in the spawning ground for another day, if even then they do not spawn, they are caught, and the eggs are gently squeezed out of the female, squeezed into a wet cotton wool. The operation is easy. The fleece with the female is clamped between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, the abdomen up. Caviar is squeezed out with light movements of the index finger of the right hand, directed from the head to the tail of the female. After such an operation, the female is ready for spawning in a week.

Chasing the female, the males now and then squeeze out (or rather knock out) eggs from her. And this is where the advantage of a spawning tank with a convex bottom becomes indisputable. The eggs of the zebrafish are non-sticky and, falling to the bottom, they roll along it to the edge of the vessel, under the plants. As a result, they are all preserved. otherwise, all open caviar would have been eaten.

When spawning is over, the fish need to be planted, and it is useful to start blowing the spawning tank.

The temperature during zebrafish spawning can be from 22 to 28°C.

The larvae hatch in 3-4 days. On day 6-7 they need to be fed with ciliates.

Further, after two days, it is useful to pour the larvae into a large jar and feed them with ciliates or dust for another week. When the larvae grow up, they should be given cyclops. Soon they will be colored, turning into fry.

Feeding

Danios are undemanding to feed. However, preference should be given to live ones over dry and artificial ones, and bloodworms, coretra and small soft daphnia are the best for living zebrafish. Feeding two or three small portions a day is better than feeding once, especially during the breeding season. With a single feeding, it is preferable to do this in the morning. Danio takes food from the surface of the water, but can also sink to the bottom for food.

Instructions for use

Important! In winter, if you do not set goals to get offspring at this time of the year, zebrafish should be kept at lower temperatures than in summer.

DISEASES OF DANIO

When buying a zebrafish, special attention should be paid to the integrity of the skin and fins. At the same time, the fading of the color does not always indicate illness, just moving - transplanting during the sale process could cause a shock. But even if the zebrafish looks healthy, it must be kept in a separate aquarium in quarantine for a couple of weeks.

The zebrafish is very disease resistant. Despite the fact that she rarely gets sick, you need to have aeration in the aquarium. For the correct maintenance and prevention of diseases in zebrafish, a clean water regime is very important. When feeding her, one must adhere to the rule - it is better to underfeed than to overfeed. It is overfeeding that is usually the cause of zebrafish illness.

Most often, danios suffer from bulging eyes. The disease usually strikes them at the age of several years during spawning. The color of the body does not change, but the abdomen noticeably increases, which looks natural during the spawning period. For two weeks, both eyes protrude more and more from their sockets, then one by one they fall out. Blind fish die from exhaustion. At autopsy, a thick white mass is found behind the eyeball, which causes bulging eyes. The reason is poor quality water. Treatment: partial water change every 2 days.

Another disease that zebrafish suffers from is trichodinosis. The causative agent is the ciliate Trichodina, which has spike-like processes with which it is attached to fish. Localized on gill filaments and skin. Enters the aquarium along with plants, soil and food if they have not been properly disinfected.

Signs of illness: the fish begins to rub against hard objects and plants, more often than usual swims up to aeration bubbles. As the disease progresses, the color of the fish fades, a grayish-white coating is visible on the skin, which is separated by flakes. Treatment of trichodinosis: increased aeration, raising the water temperature to 31 degrees. Therapeutic baths are made in a separate or shared aquarium with table salt or tripaflavin.

Danios are prone to obesity.

Prevention of zebrafish diseases

To prevent zebrafish diseases, you must follow simple rules. All items brought into the aquarium must be disinfected: in a manganese solution, in boiling water or with other disinfectants.

Danio is the favorite fish of almost every novice aquarist. She is beautiful, unpretentious, very friendly and does not create any problems in the process of growing. But, like other inhabitants of the aquarium, she can get sick and who, if not her owner, should study her “tricks” and know how to cure a pet? Consider the main diseases and ways to deal with them in order to meet the problem with all weapons!

The main diseases of zebrafish pink

Bloating. The first signs of the disease are an increase in the belly by 2 times. Some aquarists confuse this with overeating or caviar, but in most cases it is bloating. Zebrafish are prone to it and very often their owners are faced with such a problem. Danio lies on the bottom, practically does not swim, does not contact with fish, and the stomach is much larger.

It is necessary to treat with metronidazole (1 tablet per 30 liters of water). In a week the disease should pass. For prevention, you can “drink” other residents in the aquarium - there is nothing wrong with that.

Swimming in circles. In some cases, the fish begin to swim in a circle, but remain quite active and react to other participants in the "movement". As a rule, this behavior occurs when poisoning. Some individuals are very sensitive to the amount of nitrates, so you just need to replace the water with normal composition and periodically (1 time in 3 days) change 1/3 of the aquarium water.

growths. There are practically no such growths on zebrafish, but if such a disease occurs, then you just need to increase the salinity of the water and the temperature. Separate the fish into a jar and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Keep it there for 15 minutes at +28 degrees, then put it back in the general aquarium. The fluffy growths will die and disappear in a couple of days.

Danio rerio is an active fish that lives in flocks with a clear hierarchy and has an interesting color.

Representatives of this species of fish were among the first to settle in aquariums and are still very popular with aquarists.

Danio rerios are unpretentious and do not need specific conditions of detention, therefore beginners in aquarism will also cope with their maintenance.

What is this fish?

Danio rerio (lat. Danio rerio) is a freshwater fish of the carp family of the zebrafish genus. Due to their beauty and lack of aggression, many species are popular in the aquarium trade. In their natural environment, zebrafish can live in small streams, canals and ponds, as well as in rivers..

The habitat depends on the season: during the rainy season, fish are localized in flooded rice fields and puddles, where they feed and breed, and at the end of the rainy season they return to rivers and large reservoirs.

The first mention of zebrafish dates back to 1822. when they were found in rivers and streams on the east coasts of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan. They came to us in 1905-1906 and were re-imported to the USSR in 1950.

Appearance

The fish has a narrow elongated body, the maximum length of which in the conditions of aquarium maintenance is 5-6 cm, the lips are decorated with pairs of whiskers.

The body from the gill covers to the fin is decorated with parallel stripes of yellow, yellow-green and black-blue.

How to distinguish male and female?

Females have a larger and rounder body than males and wide stripes on the abdomen, tapering towards the tail and head. The body of males is shortened and thin with brighter luminescent stripes.

The anal fin in males is short and pointed, in females it is long and rounded.

How many live?

In their natural environment, zebrafish live for about 1 year., in aquariums - 3-4 years, the life span depends on the conditions of maintenance and care.

Species and their photos

Glofish

Glofish is a genetically modified species of rerio with a bright color. These fish have low requirements for food and care, but they live in warm water up to 28 ° C.

Veil

This species differs from the main one in its long pectoral fin and bushy tail, reaching 2 cm.

Red

A variety obtained by implanting a sea coral gene into the DNA of a fish.

When kept in an aquarium, it reaches 5 cm in length. Along the red color of the body are darker stripes running from the gill flaps to the caudal fin.

Pink

Small fish, the body length of which does not exceed 6 cm. The pink color alternates with white stripes along the body. They feel comfortable in a container filled with stones, snags, floating plants, at a water temperature of 18-22 ° C. In Europe, the species appeared in 1911.

Blue

The length of the translucent body is no more than 4 cm, the color can be pale gray-blue with a golden hue or saturated, the fins are green with a yellow tint. The belly is bluish in color with golden stripes along the length, the fins are translucent. Females are usually more gray in color, males are slimmer, their color is more intense.

Firefly

A bright orange-yellow fish with a body length of 3 cm. The caudal fin is transparent in the middle with bright yellow outer rays. The dorsal fin is yellow in females and red in males.

Care and maintenance

Additional aeration is desirable, but it can be omitted, since zebrafish swim in the upper layers of the water, where the maximum amount of oxygen is. For the same reason The aquarium must always be covered, because in case of danger, the fish can jump out of the water.

The volume of the aquarium depends on the number of fish: if you plan to keep 5 individuals, an aquarium of 20 liters is enough, if 10 or more, then the volume of the aquarium should be at least 35 liters.

Important! The aquarium should be long and narrow.

Daylight hours for an aquarium should last 10-12 hours, the rest of the time requires artificial lighting at the rate of 0.5 W per 1 liter. water.

Small pebbles and gravel are used as soil. Of the plants, geleocharis, vallisneria, kabomba, sagittaria and other long-leaved algae are preferable, which must be planted along the walls - a flock of zebrafish should have an open area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe aquarium with good lighting for swimming.

Hardness - 5-15 dH, acidity - 6.0-7.5 pH.

Once every 1-2 weeks it is necessary to change the water - approximately 20-25% of the volume of the aquarium, in addition, a good filtration system is needed that sucks up food residues and waste products. After some time, bacteria will appear in the filter tube, enriching the water with the necessary microflora.

Temperature regime

The water temperature should be 20-25°C in summer and 17-21°C in winter.

Feeding

Under natural conditions, they feed on various insects, seeds and larvae; in an aquarium they eat any food, preferring to swallow it from the surface of the water.

The composition of dry food includes useful macro- and microelements, vitamins and minerals, but you should not constantly feed them to fish, alternate dry food with live food: bloodworm, brine shrimp, tubifex.

Using bloodworms as food for zebrafish, it is necessary to rinse it in advance and soak for several hours in a solution of potassium permanganate.

Food must be given 2-3 times a day in small portions, since fish of this species are prone to overeating, which threatens with various diseases, bloating and the accumulation of toxins, and uneaten food causes water to oxidize and harmful microorganisms multiply in it.

The most popular foods for zebrafish are General Duna, Tetra, Sera, Denerle.

Compatible with other aquarium fish

With the right selection of neighbors in the aquarium, the quality of life of zebrafish improves significantly and its duration increases.

Peaceful the nature of zebrafish allows them to get along with almost all non-aggressive fish, for example with:

  • guppies;
  • pecilia;
  • mollies;
  • tetrami;
  • swordsmen;
  • parsing;
  • minors;
  • thorns;
  • neon;
  • tarakatums.

Zebrafish are incompatible with large, aggressive and slow fish, such as:

  • acne;
  • angelfish;
  • koi;
  • discus;
  • astronotus;
  • cichlids.

It is better to keep zebrafish in small flocks of 10-15 individuals, where a clear hierarchy will be observed, and the whole family will be able to more easily cope with stressful situations.

reproduction

Zebrafish females are not viviparous, they lay eggs, which are then fertilized by the male.

Spawning takes place in a separate container. It can be a small (10-15 liters) volume aquarium or, in extreme cases, a three-liter jar.

At the bottom should be laid fontinalis or pinistolium, crushing the algae with small stones so that they do not rise, and pour fresh water, settled for at least 48 hours, the temperature of which is 23-26 ° C. The water level above the algae should rise by 5-7 cm.

It is necessary to deposit a pregnant female and several males into the prepared tank 7-10 days before spawning. This should be done in the evening and in the morning the female will start spawning, giving 50-400 eggs at a time.

Reference! If spawning does not start in the morning, it is necessary to leave the producers in the spawning tank for another day, feeding abundantly with live bloodworms and daphnia.

At the end of the process, the spawners should be returned to the main tank and half of the water in the spawning tank should be replaced with fresh water. After 3-4 days, larvae appear from the eggs, settling on the walls of the tank, after a few days fry appear, which must be fed with rotifers or ciliates.

As the fry grow, their diet needs to be changed. and after 20-30 days give them cyclops, daphnia or bloodworms. Over time, they need to be transplanted into a larger tank and fed like adult fish.

Diseases

In general, zebrafish have fairly good health and disease resistance, which is one of the reasons for the popularity of this type of fish. However, if the conditions of detention are not observed, they may be susceptible to certain diseases.

Tuberculosis

This is an infectious disease that enters the aquarium with soil, algae or other infected fish. The fish become lethargic, they lose their appetite, scales fall out.

Tuberculosis can be cured only in the early stages of the disease. The main medicine is kanimicin, it must be mixed with the feed in equal parts.

Important! The infected fish must be kept in a separate container with water, and at the end of the treatment, regardless of its outcome, a general cleaning of the common aquarium and disinfection of decorative elements is required.

bulging eyes

The most common disease in zebrafish that occurs due to poor water quality.

Fish get sick during spawning, while the onset of symptoms is often not monitored, since the main one is an enlarged abdomen, which can be taken as a sign of pregnancy.

After a few weeks, a more serious symptom becomes noticeable - the eyes of the fish bulge and eventually fall out, which becomes the cause of death.

Alkalosis

Alkalosis, or alkaline disease, occurs as a result of an imbalance in the acid-base balance of water. If the fish often jump out of the water, scratch themselves on the walls of the aquarium or its bottom, and their skin turns pale, these are signs of alkalosis.

To fix the problem, the installation of a pH buffer is required. that maintains the acidity of the water at the required level.

Growths on the body

Such a problem occurs quite rarely and when it occurs, it is necessary to transfer the fish from the general aquarium to a separate container for quarantine, where the water temperature is 28 ° C, for the use of salt baths.

Trichondiasis

This is an infectious disease caused by ciliates-trichodina, resulting from insufficient disinfection of objects that are placed in the aquarium. If the fish becomes ill with trichondiasis, it rubs against the walls of the aquarium, the shade changes her skin to paler, a dirty coating can be seen on the body.

It is necessary to raise the temperature of the water to 30 ° C, and take baths with tripaflavin or table salt.

Where to buy and what to look for?

When buying, you need to examine the skin of the fish and make sure that there are no signs of illness and mechanical damage on the body and fins.

Important! The fish may look too pale as a result of being frightened by the hand-to-hand process.

After the purchase, you should place the danio rerio in a separate container to make sure that it is healthy.

The cost of fish depends on the rarity of the species.. Common varieties of zebrafish cost from 35 rubles, fluorescent ones - from 45 rubles, and zebrafish firefly - from 137 rubles. per copy.

Related videos

Watch a useful video about zebrafish:

Conclusion

Danio rerio is unpretentious and at the same time very beautiful fish. With proper care, properly selected lighting and decor, an aquarium inhabited by fish of this species will decorate any interior for several years.