Zebra danios are an excellent starter fish for most beginners. If you are just getting a fish tank, or you’re a relative novice that has kept a few fish, then zebra danios are among some of the best fish you can keep.
One of the main reasons for this is because they are incredibly good tankmates. These little fish are compatible with a surprising number of breeds as long as these breeds have similar requirements in terms of water temperature, pH, etc…
With that said, they are not well suited to live with EVERY fish type and breed. In this article, I’m going to cover whether or not a zebra danios can live with its distant relative, the leopard danios.
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Can You Keep Zebra Fish and Leopard Danios Fish
These two types of fish may have similar names in terms of being named after land animals from which they share physical similarities (in color alone), and they may be closely related themselves in terms of their breed but does that mean you can keep them together in the same tank?
Even if you can keep them together, does that also mean that you should? These are the questions I’m going to cover in this article so that you can provide your danios with the ideal living environment.
So, can you keep zebra fish and leopard danios?
Yes, zebra fish and leopard danios can be kept together. The leopard danios are a variety of zebra fish and therefore they have similar requirements in terms of water temperature and pH, tank set up (plants and substrate), and they are also schooling fish so will join a zebra fish shoal quite peacefully.
A lot of the confusion as to whether these two fish can be kept together comes from the fact that zebrafish are active and rather boisterous fish. They are energetic and this often means they shouldn’t be kept with long-finned or long-tailed fish as they can playfully nip at them but end up causing damage.
You can get variations of long-tailed leopard danios and this is why some people say they shouldn’t be kept together but this is a rather isolated and unlikely incident.
Online fish retailer, The Trop co has even put together a great list that shows all compatible fish and danios are very compatible among their own kind (this includes zebra and leopard).
To further explain, I’ll cover the characteristics and requirements for both fish below so that you can get a better idea of why they are suitable tank mates.
Zebra Danios Requirements
Before I get into the zebra danios characteristic, I just wanted to back up some of the points I made earlier about these fish being considered very hardy, easy to care for, and a good beginner fish. The video below is a 10 point list that will run through all the great things about zebrafish and why you should consider keeping a small shoal.
As you’ve hopefully seen, these fish are a dream to look after and will cause the owner very little stress, worry, or frustration. They are very adaptable but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to get some of the basics right in terms of their care.
Firstly, these fish are ridiculously adaptable when it comes to water temperatures.
While those bred in captivity are not as tolerant as wild zebra danios, a lab finding produced by Practical Fish Keeping has stated that they’ve been seen to adapt to temperatures as low as 42 degrees Fahrenheit and temperatures as high as 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
That’s an incredible range of temperatures and a testament to their ability to survive. With that said, as responsible fish owners, we are not looking to challenge our fish but rather keep them as comfortable as possible. Therefore, they are best kept in temperatures of 70 – 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
While they are mostly top-level, surface swimmers, their electric energy means that they will also swim to the bottom of the tank to hide and explore in some bogwood. As they move around so “erratically”, a fine sand substrate is needed on the bottom of the tank as they can injure themselves on sharper gravel.
Whilst mentioning bogwood, zebrafish also need a well-planted tank to swim around and hide. In the wild, their energy is high to avoid predators and they will dart in and out of vegetation so you should ensure the tank is well-planted.
Finally, Zebrafish require a good deal of room to swim around in and satisfy their almost anxious energy. It’s recommended that they are kept in a minimum 10-gallon tank and you should also allow 2 gallons of water per fish.
As zebra danios are schooling fish, you ideally want to keep in the region of 5 – 10 fish so a 10 – 20 gallon tank would be a minimum requirement.
Now that you’ve got a better understanding of the zebra danios, we’ll look into the leopard danios and see what compatible requirements they have as well as any potential issues when looking to keep these two fish together.
Leopard Danios Requirements
Leopard Danios are a type of zebra danios and therefore it shouldn’t be surprising to know that their requirements, needs, and general care is not too different from zebra danios. Leopard danios can be distinguished from zebrafish as they will have spots rather than the zebra’s easily recognized stripes.
Like zebra fish, leopard danios are comfortable in a range of water temperatures and can easily adapt if needed. They also have similar preferences in terms of being in a community and school of fish.
A 10-gallon tank is a minimum requirement but 20 gallons would be best and I’d also recommend keeping them with anything from 3 – 10 fish. While the two breeds can live together quite comfortably, it would be a good idea to get a relatively even distribution of both fish.
This will give a great variety of color in the tank (with a blur between spots and stripes as they swim around) whilst also ensuring they have their own specific breed to school with.
Issues With Keeping Zebra Fish and Leopard Danios
The heading might say issues, but there is really only one issue to consider when keeping these two types of fish together. That issue is a long-finned leopard danio.
I briefly touched on this earlier but zebra danios should typically not be kept with any type of fish that has long fins or a flowing tail because the zebras are fin nippers. They are super energetic, curious, and playful but this doesn’t go down too well with long-finned breeds of fish.
The persistence of zebra danios constantly nipping at the long fins (regardless of whether or not this is done in a playful way) causes significant stress and even injury to the fish on the receiving end. The Spruce Pets covers the effect of this in great detail outlining that aggressive fin nipping can lead to fin rot and ultimately death.
The first reason for this being the case is that fin nipping stresses the fish out to a large extent and a stressed fish is often more prone to illness and infection. Secondly, the physical damage caused by persistent fin nipping is almost a guarantee of injury, infection, and potential death.
Preventing fin nipping is unfortunately not something that is in the owner’s control, the only way to prevent it is to separate the fish if you notice this occurring on a frequent basis or see any damage that is obviously from fin nipping.
This isn’t a guarantee though and therefore, you would only know if this is an issue once you introduce the fish. A large enough tank should also give the fish enough space to not see fin nipping as a territorial response but again, you’ll only discover this after you’ve introduced the new fish.
In Summary
Danios are among some of the best starter fish you can own. They are hardy fish that are easy to care for and provide a great spark of color and energy to your aquarium. While they are compatible with a lot of species, you can also easily keep zebra and leopard danios together in the same tank.
They share similar water conditions and have similar care requirements but most importantly, they will happily school together and treat each other as though they are the exact same type of fish.
If you are considering adding these two types of fish into your tank then I would certainly recommend it to add some color and energy that few other types of fish can provide.
