Dozey

One fish I’m looking at stocking my tank with is Zebra Danios. My research indicates that they should be kept in schools of at least six. So I’ve got two questions about adding these to my tank.

I know I should only add 2 or 3 fish to my tank at a time, but as I do want to quarantine them for 3 weeks before adding them to the tank, if I get two at a time it will take it will take 9 weeks before I get their school up to size. As they are very small (2” at adulthood) would I be able to get away with adding all 6 at one time?

Also, all I have is a 3 gallon tank. Would 6 little Danios be okay for 3 weeks in a 3 gallon tank if I do daily water changes?

Thanks for your thoughts.

jdhef

I would think that you could probably get away with putting all six in a 3 gallon for a couple of weeks and then adding them to your tank all at once. But if you wanted to be a little more conservative, you could go 3 & 3.

Dozey

This also crossed my mind and it would cut down the wait time to just 6 weeks. My biggest concern is that the 3 would be agressive with each other before I could get the rest into the tank. My other concern regards my shark. Will they need the protection of a school to keep my shark at bay?

jgon_

6 in a 3 gallon is fine. We keep them in much denser numbers and smaller tanks than that in my lab (which is normal, they are healthy happy breeders-but then again we have some super filtration going on hehe).