Zebra Danio
Danio rerio
Photo: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Fast, hardy, and slightly chaotic. Fine in unheated rooms if the tank stays in the mid-60s. Do not mix with slow long-finned fish.
Fast top-water school. Hardy, slightly chaotic.
In the tank
- Tolerates cooler rooms than tetras.
- Active enough to make a bare tank look alive.
- Water
- freshwater
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Swims
- Top
- Adult size
- 2 in
- Minimum tank
- 10 gal
- Group
- School of 6+
- Temperature
- 64–75°F
- pH
- 6.5–7.5
- Diet
- Flakes, micro pellets, frozen foods. They will hog the surface.
- Beginner
- Yes, if the tank is cycled
How to keep them
- They hog surface food — sink some for bottom fish.
- Keep a school so they chase each other, not long fins.
Tankmates
Other fast hardy fish. White clouds in an unheated tank.
Avoid
Bettas, guppies with fancy tails, slow gouramis.
Check tankmates · Stocking calculator
Same group
Neon Tetra
Paracheirodon innesi
The default midwater school.
A group of six-plus fills the middle of a 20 long so the tank does not look empty.
Cardinal Tetra
Paracheirodon axelrodi
A showier neon that wants better water.
Same schooling job as neons, with a full-body red stripe.
Ember Tetra
Hyphessobrycon amandae
Nano school for a planted 10.
Actually fits a 10-gallon as a group.
Harlequin Rasbora
Trigonostigma heteromorpha
Calm midwater school for a 20 long.
Less nippy than barbs, less fragile than cardinals.
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Tanichthys albonubes
The honest no-heater school.
Lives in the mid-60s without a heater if the room stays cool.
Cherry Barb
Puntius titteya
A peaceful barb for a planted 20.
Schooling color without tiger-barb nipping — if you keep six-plus.