Is my zebra danio gravid?

Question

I have 2 females and 2 males that are zeba danios and one of the females look gravid with eggs.
My 10 Gallon Tank consists of 2 adults guppies, about 10-12 guppy fry, 6 neons, 2 white clouds, 4 platys, 2 catfish, and 2 algae eaters.
My Zebra Danio has been looking gravid for about 2 months now. She is getting pretty big, When should I expect her to lay her eggs?
I took some pictures of her but I was lucky to get the shots that I got because she moves very very very fast.
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4488/dsc00326ea0.jpg
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/227/dsc00327iy7.jpg
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3839/dsc00328nq9.jpg
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1769/dsc00329wl7.jpg
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/7959/dsc00333wi1.jpg
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/479/dsc00334ux7.jpg
How do you know when she is ready? Should I set up her birthing tank yet? How big should her belly be? So, many questions because I've never had baby zebra danios, only guppies.

Answer 1

She looks to be full of eggs to me. The best way I have ever found to breed danios is this:

Using a very clean 10 gallon tank cover the bottom with marbles and then cover the marbles with a layer of plastic grid. You can get this grid from craft stores or Walmart in the craft department and it is used for various weaving projects. Add enough clean fresh water to cover the marbles and grid plus about 2" over the top of them. Be sure the water is dechlorinated and the same temperature as your main tank. Move the male danios into the tank. The next day, in the evening when the lights are about to be turned out, add the female danios to the tank and turn off the lights. The next morning turn the lights on at about daybreak if possible and the dannios will probbaly lay their eggs almost immediately. They scatter the eggs around as they spawn and the eggs will fall under the grid and marbles where the adults can't eat them. When you see that the females are thinner again, move the danios to the main tank and add a few more inches of water to the tank. Add a sponge filter. The baby danios will hatch and become free swimming in a few days and will swim up out of the marbles and grid. That's when you need to start feeding them very small foods. Vinegar eels, micro worms or baby brine shrimp are the best foods for the first week or so, then you can add a little crushed flake food. You can remove the marbles and grid as soon as the babies are swimming. Change about 50% of the water as much as every 2 days being sure to get up any uneaten food and dead baby fish.

This works for me, give it a try and good luck!

MM

Answer 2

Zebra Danios don't get gravid,they just get full of eggs that aren't fertilized until they are expressed by the female into the water column and then fertilized by the male. The eggs then sink to the bottom were they are eaten by the parents.If you want to try to raise danios get a separate tank, and put a double layer of marbles on the bottom.Use a sponge filter with a very slow air bubble water lift tube. Add 4 to 6 well conditioned danios(a few floating plants would be OK),and watch carefully. The fish will usually spawn in the early morning hours,just after sun-rise. When you see that the event has happened remove the parents,increase the air flow and treat the water with "Methylene Blue"(an antifungus medication). Watch carefully, the fry will be very hard to see. They will look like tiny slivers of glass barely 1/4" long. When you see hatchlings turn the air supply back to the slow bubble rate again. The fry will only be able to consume "infusoria"( a brew of microscopic plants and animals that you must learn to culture). Water conditions must be carefully maintained by doing small daily water changes. The water temperature should be in the mid to high 70's F. After a couple of weeks the fry should be large enough to eat newly hatched brine shrimp. At this stage they will begin to grow more rapidly and become easier to care for. Of course you understand that the spawning tank should be cycled,but you can hasten this process by conditioning that sponge filter for several weeks in your main tank before setting up the auxillary tank.Then fill the new tank with water from the main tank. Oh yes, one more thing ,the 6 well conditioned fish should include 4 males and 2 females. Sounds complicated,but if you can satisfy all of these conditions it should work every time. Be patient and observant,and have fun with your fish.------Good luck.-----PeeTee

Answer 3

You can't possible have that many fish in a 10 gallon tank. that many fish would crowd a 30 gallon tank. You need to seriously think about getting a larger tank.
Also, danios are river fish and will get generally unhappy unless they have 48 inches in tank length to swim. All catfish get huge eventually, except corydoras. And Chinese algae eaters are going to get very cranky in that small tank when they reach 6 inches in length. They will start to eat the other fish.
btw. In the pictures you linked to, the fish look like giant danios, not zebra danios. Giant danios get 6 to 8 inches at maturity.