old zebrafish, newly pregnant

Question
I have a 38 gallon tank with 7 tetras, 2 zebrafish, & 1 pleco.  All of these inhabitants have lived in this aquarium for over 3 years.  TODAY, all of a sudden, I found that 1 of my zebrafish is SO ready to spawn!  She is HUGE, and nearly tore the food from the other fishes mouths!  She has never looked or acted like this before, ever.  what do I do?  Why did this happen after 3 years? Could her pregnancy be viable?  Might I actually have little fry from this?  I'm so hopeful!  Thank you for your consideration of my questions.


Answer
Hi Kristi,
 Unfortunately, zebrafish do not get pregnant as such. They are egg layers.  It is possible that she is full of eggs that she will lay, which might hatch if the other zebrafish is a male and he fertilizes them, but she won't give birth to live babies.  Zebrafish are scatter spawners, meaning that she just lets the eggs go and does not provide any parental care for them.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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