mommybaby295

I have 2 danios in my 30 gallon tank - when I feed, the larger one chases the smaller one away from the food. Is this normal? How do I make sure the smaller one is eating?

Robin4

AlyeskaGirl

I agree with the above poster.

Shawnie

I agree with the other posters its a pecking order that most schooling fish do ...and with only 2, the less submissive one is always going to loose

mommybaby295

Oh, I'm in the process of cycling my tank (I messed up thanks to some bad advice and am now doing a cycle with fish) - I'll end up with 6 danios, but for now I have 2, and don't want to add more fish until the cycle is complete.

Tony G.

If you are cycling with fish i would suggest you do daily waterchanges with a dose of prime to detox the ammo for 24 hrs. If you aready knew that then great!
I agree with everyone, danios must be kept in schoos as if they are alone they can become rouge! just kidding, but they can become nippy...

Shawnie

although i NEVER recommend cycling with fish, its just not healthy, at this point where your tanks stands, id add 4 more....the reason is , cycling with them is stressful enough and the fact that you already have 2 picking on one another, is going to end up with one not making it...if you are vigilant with water changes and either prime or amquel+, id go ahead and add 4 more so they can at least maybe they can relax more in a proper schoo...others may disagree and again, I never reccomend cycling with fish ...this is one of those" breaking the rules to save the fish and help the situation" the best we can ..

Tony G.

great info from shawnie, being in an uncycled tank is enough stress, and having a bully will make it worse... so i would follow shawnie´s advice..

mommybaby295

I'm using TSS to speed up the process - I did a 90% water change and then added the bottle yesterday, so I understand that now I'm supposed to wait a week before any water changes and before testing the water at all.

I was watching them when I fed them dinner tonight - I overfed, thinking the bully would eat and then the other one could - but the bully ate all the bloodworms and chased the other one away the entire time!

So I'll get 4 more tomorrow and see what happens?

Tony G.

If you are using tss then yes, i would add them all at the same time...

mommybaby295

okay, i'll go buy them after work

mommybaby295

Thanks for this advice to go ahead and complete the school, guys. When I went to feed the danios this morning, they bigger one looks healthy and big, and the smaller one's color has changed! He's much darker now than the other one. Poor thing - I think it's stress. On my way home from work today, I'm going to pick up more danios and then keep my fingers crossed that the little guy recovers.

mommybaby295

I added the 4 new danios, and things are much better already. The 4 new ones were from a different LFS, so they are a different variety, and somewhat larger than the 2 originals. They are all picking on each other some, but I am hoping that it is natural and will stop once they figure out their pecking order.

The smallest one that wasn't eating and had turned dark is already, after 24 hours, back to a normal color.

Thanks so much for the advice to complete the school even though my tank is still cycling.