To Separate Pregnant Zebra Danio and/or Guppy(ies) in a new tank?

[horseridingirl]

I have a 38-gallon tank and am very new to fishkeeping.

I have had 3 zebra danios since I got the tank and one has recently swelled up like she may be carrying eggs. One fish store told me she may be "egg bound" and may eventually die -- or that she may scatter the eggs in bushy plants. Another fish store told me I need to separate her completely in another tank (as opposed to a divider) before she will lay the eggs.

I also have a new pair of guppies and the fish store guy thought the female may be pregnant when I bought her.

Should I to separate them in a smaller tank? I bought a new 10 gallon tank to separate the Danio and/or the Guppy(ies). Also, can I put the females together in the tank? Or just the male and female guppies? Or just one of the females? And how should I set up the tank for each?

Thank you so much!

 

[Ems]

This all depends on whether or not you want fry.

Catching either the danio or the guppy can cause great stress and cause the guppy to abort the fry.

Are you sure the danio has eggs? It could be bloating, dropsy, or other problems.

Female guppies can be put together, of course, but they will most likely eat the fry.
Males will eat the fry and harass the females.

What do you mean by "How should I set up the tank for each?" ?

 

[horseridingirl]

I think it would be neat to have the fry (and educational for my son) but I don't want to stress the fish if chances are the fry wouldn't live. So I should just leave them alone in the tank with the other fish?

In my question about how to set up the tank was asking if I need to do something special in the small tank with nets, breeding grass, plants, etc. for the fry.

 

[z71silverado98]

catch them after theyve gone to sleep, much less stressfull. instead of chasing a zebra around my tank for 30mins and scaring the crap out of it, its easier to net them around 2:00am after everyone has settled down.

 

[Ems]

Except they will still try to swim away and it will STILL stress them...

 

[Kasakato]

Use marbles as the gravel, and add a few plants. This way the fry will go into the marbles and the parent(s) can not eat them. It will be best to get a new tank with a sponge filter, heater, and the marbles listed above.

 

[z71silverado98]

Except they will still try to swim away and it will STILL stress them...

not if you scoop from bottom up and let them float into the net.

If such a small amount of stress will cause an abort, how do these fish produce in the wild? a preg. fish w/ a predator chasing them seems much more stressfull then a quick net and release.

And marbles work great! make a double layer, but dont buy from your lfs or grocery though, go to a dollar store. ive found 200 for a buck instead of 20 for $4(lfs) or 100 for $3 (wal-mart). and be sure to fill the tank w/ only about 3-4" of water to discourage the parents eating any eggs as they fall into the marbles.

 

[Z Man]

Danios are egg scatterers and the male has to be with her when she expels her eggs so he can fertilize them. Then they are quickly eaten by everyone else in the tank.

 

[Ems]

not if you scoop from bottom up and let them float into the net.

If such a small amount of stress will cause an abort, how do these fish produce in the wild? a preg. fish w/ a predator chasing them seems much more stressfull then a quick net and release.

And marbles work great! make a double layer, but dont buy from your lfs or grocery though, go to a dollar store. ive found 200 for a buck instead of 20 for $4(lfs) or 100 for $3 (wal-mart).

Females isolate themselves as best they can when dropping fry.
In the wild, they aren't being chased by predators 24/7.

I'm going by experience here, netting pregnant fish is stressful, and that's that.

 

[z71silverado98]

Females isolate themselves as best they can when dropping fry.
In the wild, they aren't being chased by predators 24/7.

I'm going by experience here, netting pregnant fish is stressful, and that's that.

sounds to me like the fry would like to be kept, so the fish will need to be removed inorder for the eggs/fry to have any chance. Therefore, netting during the sleep cycle of the fish seems to be the least stressfull method ive found. unless all the other fish can be relocated to an adequately sized tank, which doesnt seem practical.

ive got 3 batches of zebra fry and 1 more batch of eggs from the same 5 fish and i use this method. after spawning i return them to the communtiy until they are nice plump again then abduct the little darlings at night