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How to look after
Brachydanio rerio
Zebra fish, Zebra danio
Hamilton, 1822

(Other members of the genus Brachydanio)

ADULT SIZE: 5 cm

WATER CONDITIONS: Not critical

TEMPERATURE RANGE: 23-27 C

FOOD: Feed Brachydanio rerio live and dried foods

DISTRIBUTION: This species comes from India, Nepal, Bangladesh

SEXUAL DIFFERENCES: Females are rounder/plumper than males.

AQUARIUM CARE: An aquarium favourite for many years. This lively (but ultimately peaceful) shoaling fish is well suited for the community aquarium, where it will play in any current and continuosly display activity. They occur in faster moving waters such as the Ganges and its tributaries, as well as a number of slower moving even stagnant waters. This species is also widely used as a lab animal, for genetic and developmental studies. The leopard danio is a colour morph of the zebra danio, in which the stripes have broken into spots to some extent. These fish are usually kept together in dealers tanks, and mostly spotty, or mostly stripey individuals are common. Long-finned varities are also available, though perhaps less hardy in the aquarium.

BREEDING: Like all Danios, the zebra fish is an egg scatterer. Its eggs are large and easy to raise. The best technique is to spawn over marbles; eggs are laid in early morning, the parents should then be removed, and the eggs collected, hatching after 2-3 dayws

Have you bred Brachydanio rerio? Why not fill in a breeding questionaire?, or examine existing Brachydanio rerio breeding reports

Brachydanio rerio
Zebra fish, Zebra danio

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Brachydanio rerio
Zebra fish, Zebra danio
breeding notes

BREEDING: Like all Danios, the zebra fish is an egg scatterer. Its eggs are large and easy to raise. The best technique is to spawn over marbles; eggs are laid in early morning, the parents should then be removed, and the eggs collected, hatching after 2-3 dayws

Have you bred Brachydanio rerio? Why not fill in a breeding questionaire?

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This page summarises breeding reports provided by visitors to this site, along with some statistical analysis. Please feel free to contribute - whatever your experience! 3 breeders have filled in breeding reports, a summary of the results are shown in the graphs below. You can read the full reports here. To add details of your experiences of Brachydanio rerio, why not fill in a Breeding and maintenance Report.
Would Brachydanio rerio be a good addition to a community tank? Never Doubtful, only with VERY calm fish Only with species of similar size Yes, a good community fish	How would you describe the disposition of Brachydanio rerio? Very timid Slightly timid Neutral Somewhat aggresive on occasions Very aggressive
In which water conditions do you keep these fish? Very soft and acidic Moderately soft and acidic Neutral Moderately hard and alkaline Very hard and alkaline	At what average temperature? 10-15°C 16-19°C 20-23°C 24-27°C 28°C+
What, if any is the biggest difficulty encountered when breeding these fish? Poor egg production Poor egg survival Poor fry survival rate Deformities Skewed sex ratio	How would you describe sex ratios when breeding Brachydanio rerio? If you are unsure please leave this question unanswered. Almost all males Somewhat male heavy Roughly equal Somewhat female heavy Almost all females
In general, how difficult is Brachydanio rerio to keep and breed? Very easy Easy Average Difficult Very difficult	How sucessful have you been at breeding Brachydanio rerio? Very unsucessful Fairly unsucessful Average Fairly sucessful Very sucessful

Remember, each record represents only one persons experience; if you had different results, or used different methods, please share your experiences

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Water conditions: Neutral	Water temperature: 24-27oC
Disposition:	Community tank?: Yes, a good community fish
Spawning Method: Adult fish removed from tank	Breeding problems: Poor egg production
Sex ratio: Roughly equal	Breeding difficulty: Average
Sucess: Average	Years Experience: 1
Other Comments:
Date this record created: 6th January 2012	Breeding date: 2011
Breeder:	Location:

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Water conditions: Moderately soft and acidic	Water temperature: 24-27oC
Disposition: Active, but not aggresive	Community tank?: Yes, a good community fish
Spawning Method: Peat (or similar) spawning substrate	Breeding problems: Poor fry survival rate
Sex ratio: Roughly equal	Breeding difficulty: Very easy
Sucess: Very sucessful	Years Experience: 2
Other Comments: Using a mesh helps as spawned eggs are not adhesive. A bare bottom helps with maintenance. Baby brine shrimp is not suitable for newly hatched fry, at least for the first two weeks or so. Egg yolk did not help either. Infusoria should be introduced (Keeping a dense bulk of java moss and using water from main tank for water replacement seems to work though). Once 6 weeks old, fry are almost as hardy as adults.
Date this record created: 3rd March 2011	Breeding date: 2010
Breeder: Ceyhun	Location: Istanbul

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Water conditions: Moderately hard and alkaline	Water temperature: 24-27oC
Disposition: Active, but not aggresive	Community tank?: Yes, a good community fish
Spawning Method: Adult fish removed from tank	Breeding problems: Deformities
Sex ratio: Somewhat female heavy	Breeding difficulty: Easy
Sucess: Average	Years Experience: 4
Other Comments: My first zebra fish breeding was accidental; A group of 6 fish was kept in an 18" tank, with just a filter and a gravel base. The tank was going to be closed down, so the fish were moved, and the filter and heating were turned off. A few days later, when it came time to strip the tank down, I spotted a large number of fry. Unfortunately a good number of these had deformities (bent spines mostly) which I put down to being kept too cool, though it may actually have been due to insufficient oxygen
Date this record created: 6th January 2008	Breeding date: 1995
Breeder:	Location: UK