Zebra Danio are egg scatterers and will lay from 50 to 500 eggs when they spawn.

The first thing you need to know when spawning danios is which are male an which are female. Males are skinnier and slightly smaller then females. Females become much plumper as they fill with eggs.

Danio will spawn in the early morning with first sunlight. Well fed females can produce 20 to 50 eggs everyday. This expends a lot of energy, so if you plan on collecting all the eggs from the morning spawns your fish should be well fed on high protein foods.

These fish will very quickly eat their own eggs and fry and so must be separated from their eggs. If you do not separate them then the fish will eat the eggs, recycling most of the energy lost in the spawn.

If you wish to collect some eggs it is best if you prepare ahead of time and cover the bottom of the tank in marbles. Eggs will fall down between the marbles and out of reach form the parents. You then have to remove the eggs (or the parents) to another container.

The eggs should be kept at 85 degrees F (28 C) and will hatch in 2 to 3 days. They will then hatch and absorb their egg sacs for the next few days. By the end of day or they are ready to start eating live food. Paramecium is recommended at this stage.

By the 9th day they are large enough to be fed baby brine shrimp. Keeping your fry in green water helps as well since it will provide them with a continuous supply of microscopic food.