Danio margaritatus Update

[PaulineMi]

Bred by Dennis...Ball Aquatics.  I'm loving these little guys. They've gotten to where they recognize me as a food source, secondary to their love of the cherry shrimp in their tank that is. I think I took about 30 pictures to get a couple of decent shots of these speed demons.

[Mugwump]

Nice pics...I can understand the difficulty in getting a good pic....ours never stop either, I think they sleep on the move too...LOL

[BallAquatics]

Great photos Pauline.  The girls look fat & sassy and the boys are bright & colorful.  You are obviously doing a great job of making them happy.   

Thanks for the update!   

Dennis

[PaulineMi]

Dennis is it correct that if the eggs are somehow protected, ie, mop, marbles or grating, the fry don't get eaten by the parents?  When I see them hunting down shrimplets I can't imagine they'd ignore fry.

[Ron Sower]

Pauline,

I know you addressed your question to Dennis, but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth of observation here.  My margaritatus are always down in or behind the java moss or susswassertang.  I know they are eating the eggs and fry because none hatched until I would take out clumps of the plant and place them in another tank.  Then I would start seeing fry appear.

A question I have for you and others is what are the conditions you have in your tanks that encourage them to be out in the open as was noted in your photos.  Mine are mostly in the ''brush'' and out of view.  Last night I did put in some floaters that may reduce the direct light that could be spooking them.  I'll observe them today to see if that helps.

They're in a 4 gallon glass tank with a lid and direct LED lighting over it.  Tank is planted with good cover.  Temp runs 70-74 most of the time.

[BallAquatics]

No, they will also eat all the fry as they hatch.  It is almost impossible to raise CPD fry in the same tank with the adults.  Since the adult CPD are so small, it is very hard to have plants dense enough that the fry can safely hide from them.

Dennis