zebras

Question
How long do female zebra's stay pregnant?

Answer
Hi Kristen,

Female zebra danios ought to be conditioned in order to release their eggs, and need to have a male present to have them fertilized. If there is no male present, she will either reabsorb the eggs (never release them) or eventually release them...but nothing will happen, of course. If you don't use a method to keep them from eating the eggs, they will make short work of them...they just scatter them randomly and I guess they must taste really good! You can either use a breeding trap for the parents (a breeding trap looks like this)....
http://www.plantguild.com/NET_BREEDER.jpg
...or you can use the reliable "marbles as substrate" method which will be mentioned lots of times when you Google zebra danio breeding.

To condition her, you need to feed her (and the male too) yummy foods such as frozen foods, and keep the water quality high by changing the water frequently. You also ought to make sure it isn't too warm, zebra danios don't like their water warmer than 75 degrees. If you don't condition the female, it will take her longer to release the eggs. Either way, she shouldn't be "pregnant" (actually the word you are looking for is gravid) for longer than 3 weeks.

If she still looks fat after a few weeks, try using 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of Epsom salt (mix it with warm water first) which acts as a muscle relaxant and laxative. Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is not sold at the pet store but rather the pharmacy or grocery store.

These websites will help you with breeding zebra danios:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/zebradanio.shtml
http://articles.gpasi.org/brachydanio_rerio.html
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/danio.htm

Follow the advice outlined, and you'll soon have more zebra danios than you know what to do with!

I hope that helps, take care.
Nicole