The Zebra Danio is one of the fish that has been in the hobby forever. They are commercially bred and are available for sale in virtually every pet store, commonly being one of the first fish people keep when entering the hobby. For this reason, they are easily overlooked by more seasoned hobbyists when choosing inhabitants for their aquarium. This spring, the temperatures outside were still chilly, but I was beginning to see mosquito larvae outside in my pond. I went to my favorite fish store, and asked the owner what he suggested for a reasonably cold-tolerant fish that would provide mosquito protection, and he suggested the Zebra Danio.

For all of the reasons I mentioned above, I was hesitant, but the price was right (less than $.99/fish) so I came home with a dozen fish. They cleared out the mosquito larvae problem nearly overnight, and were quite active in the pond. Also, outside in the full sun, I noticed far more colors than their typical brown and tan zebra stripes. Flashes of blue or green iridescence showed up, as well as, yellow on the tops of their fins. Before long, I noticed lots of small fry swimming outside in the pond. My dozen fish had easily tripled, if not more.

When fall came, and the nighttime temperatures began to decline again, I brought the danios inside and placed them in a riparium/terrarium setup that I have going. I thought they would like the extra water flow I have in that particular aquarium, and so far they don’t seem to have any complaints. They are probably the best schoolers and most active fish I’ve kept in a planted aquarium. They might stress more calm/docile tank mates, but they are fun to watch as they never stop schooling from one side of the tank to the other. If you’re looking for an inexpensive schooling fish for your planted aquarium, you really can’t go wrong with the Zebra Danio.

I went to feed the fish in my 75G this evening, and to my delight, one of my three Nannacara anomala females (I have a male and 3 females) were guarding a swarm of fry in the front right of the tank. Fortunately, this is the perfect place to take pictures, despite the dirty glass.

I’m wondering if the other females are also holding fry because the male was staying in another territory with another female, and wouldn’t come out in the open for a picture. Two of the three females are in breeding coloration, which is a predominantly black body with yellow highlights. Their normal coloration is mostly a drab yellow.

The fry were grazing on tiny micro-particles in the beard algae. (Yes I have a little bit of beard algae.) I dissolved a small amount of frozen brine shrimp, which floated down toward them. Being frozen, there were plenty of other smaller particles that the fry were able to fit in their tiny mouths. The female (and other fish) took care of the larger brine shrimp.

These Nannacara anomala are incredibly entertaining fish to watch. The females all have their territories, and the male glides back and forth between them without any commotion. If a female strays too far from her territory, a bordering female makes sure to chase her away, flaring fins and nipping. Fortunately, there’s plenty of room in the 75G for them to occupy without any major damage. Now, I need to focus on rising up these fry!

It’s been about a month and a half since I rescape my 75G aquarium. As you can see, the plants are all grown in pretty well across the board. The Glossostigma elatinoides in the foreground has reached critical mass, and has carpeted 95% of the area in front. It won’t be long before it has fully filled out. The background plants are all growing very nicely, as well, but I still need to yank some of the some between the two mounds to make them more distinct. (Sometimes, I have a problem holding onto plants I like, even though they’re cluttering an aquascape.)

75G - Click for larger image

I could probably stand to add a few more fish to this aquarium that would occupy the upper regions of the water. I have catfish and cichlids in there, which occupy the lower regions, but only a few remaining rainbowfish swim freely up above. The easy solution would be to add all of the zebra danios which have been breeding outside in my pond now that the weather is getting a bit cooler. We’ll see if that happens or not, as I don’t want them picking off any Nannacara anomala fry should the parents breed. Comments/critiques welcome!

I finally got past my resistance and tore down the “Fallen Tree” aquascape in my 50G. I really wanted an aquascape where I can use some nice stem plants, but the manzanita hardscape seen below really just needs a simple low-to-the-ground type design on the right side. The stem plants I had in there looked okay, but didn’t really work with the hardscape.

So, Wednesday evening I tore out all of the plants and hardscape, and made myself a new rockscape using the new rocks I collected from my friend’s backyard. In his neighborhood, construction of the homes sometimes involves dynamite to dig out for the foundation, which conveniently leaves mounds of quartz-based rocks all over the place. I thought a rock-dominated aquascape would allow me to use the stem plants more effectively because the rocks would hide the bottoms, allowing nicely trimmed tops to pop out from behind them.

Above, you can see what I came up with. The foreground is still all Eleocharis sp. ‘Japan’, with a midground almost 100% comprised of Blyxa japonica. Blyxa aubertii is in the back-left with Limnophila repens var. ‘Mini’, Rotala sp. ‘Araguaia’, Ludwigia senegalensis, Pogostemon erectum, and Rotala mexicana var. ‘Araguaia’ making up the background. Comments welcome!

Back in July, I converted my quarantine tank into something of an aquascaped quarantine tank. Then, after rescaping my 75G, I had lots of extra Bolbitis, which I incorporated into this scape. This tank is really just a holding ground for plants and fish, with no CO2, minimal dosing, and a crappy light. Nevertheless, there’s no reason why it can’t look somewhat presentable.

20L - 9/12/2009, click for larger

Above is what it’s looking like currently (despite the poor picture). The Sagittaria subulata is slowly creeping to the right to fill in that side, and the crypts on the left side are gradually filling that in. The Bolbitis easily filled up the space in the back right, and behind the rock on the left. Overall, it’s coming along. There’s definitely an appeal to this low-tech tank because they grow so slowly that you only need to trim a couple times a year. Comments welcome!