Zebra Danio-Tail missing????

[robdollaz]

I came into the office this morning...fed the fish, and noticed one of my female zebra danios is missing its tail, from the dorsal fin-back. This is my 5g tank, which is stocked with 4 ZD's(1m 3f) and a small CAE. She doesn't look stressed...I spend most of my day with these fish, considering theyre right next to my monitor at work...and they never fight. The CAE has nothing to do with them, and vice versa.

The females look swollen, but I don't know if any are laying...I noticed that 1 male and his "chosen" female are very protective of the live plant I have...but I dont see any eggs.

 

[unwritten law]

danios can be a bit nippy... i cant really tell anything from the picture but Id just treat it with some melaflix or stress coat stuff to prevent infection, it should grow back.

 

[jo3olous]

someone probably pissed off someone else in the middle of the night, lol. It's good that your new tank is cycling up, 5Gs are really bad for danios, Hexes are just horrible tank choices in general.

I mean, the tank is probably what, 1foot in length and all height? Fish don't swim up and down they go side to side. My best guess is that your danio tipped off another and had no place to run since the length of the tank is short; keep in mind these are very active fish, they love to swim. So all that volume the Hex tank has (5Gs is incredibly small for these fish anyway), is wasted because your fish will not utilize the majority of the hex tanks water volume, except as more tank space to dilute wastes.
if we were to compare hexes to regular tanks
5G reg > 5G hex
5G reg > 10G hex
20G long > 40G hex

It's useless info I know, because you have your new tank cycling already, but just thought I would note for anyone considering a hex tank.
Congrats on your 55G hope it goes well!

 

[robdollaz]

At first I hated this hex tank, but its really practical considering its in my office. Ive had the Danios in here for quite sometime now....and they do utilize the entire tank, and show no signs of stress whatsoever. This is why I was surprised to see what I did this morning.

If it continues, I will set up a 10g at home and move them.

 

[jo3olous]

At first I hated this hex tank, but its really practical considering its in my office. Ive had the Danios in here for quite sometime now....and they do utilize the entire tank, and show no signs of stress whatsoever. This is why I was surprised to see what I did this morning.

If it continues, I will set up a 10g at home and move them.

Oh I thought you were putting them in the 55G anyway. I mean give or take what your fish end up doing in response to the tank, it's logical for a danio to be in a school of 6+++ and in a tank of 20G or more. They are active swimmers, and they are supposed to hit an adult size of 3-4 inches. My friend had some danios that weren't growing throughout his college time in a 10G, then when he got home he dropped 4 survivors into his 75G tank at home and they grew; FAST. He has a sole danio surviving with a 13 inch pleco, a tinfoil barb, 3 african cichlids, and 3 ottos.

Typically though, a hex has no benefits and I just wanted to note the downsides of them. Although if you upgrade your small tank also, the 5G hex would make a nice betta/fry tank! *celebrate

 

[robdollaz]

How well would these danios fair in a tank with african cichlids?

 

[jo3olous]

i don't know too much about african cichlids. I mean I have a friend that has a lone giant danio in his tank with 3 african cichlids but i forget what type they are. I've also never had an african cichlid tank... let's see what others say...

 

[DarthPadre]

From past experience africans are very terratorial, to an agressive extent. Even if there's plenty of room and hiding places for the cichlids, the danio will still be in some danger (even considering their speed). I think they would actually be happier in that hex tank.

 

[jo3olous]

From past experience africans are very terratorial, to an agressive extent. Even if there's plenty of room and hiding places for the cichlids, the danio will still be in some danger (even considering their speed). I think they would actually be happier in that hex tank.

Yep they are speedy little buggers, which is why they need the length of a tank to swim. They will also be to the mid/top of the tank, where the cichlids should mainly be mid/bottom. I don't think the african cichlids will pose a threat to the danios, most of the african ones are not aggress/aggressive i THINK (not sure). Even if they are territorial, 55Gs is a lot of room unless you get 6+ cichlids...