I have 5 new Zebra Danios in my quarantine tank. They've been there for about a week. I've read that they are ravenous eaters, they school, they are quick and move all the time. My ZDs do not school, they have only a passing interest in food, and they swim about quietly. They don't look sick or show any signs of injury. The water is 76 degrees, pH 8.0-8.2 (our city has high pH), ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 10ppm.
Z, do you have a few fake plants in your tank for the danios to swim around? in my q tank i keep a few fake plants just to add some sort of cover for the new fish to have so they can acclimate to that type of situation. i think if you added something for them to swim around they would be just fine, danios can tolerate higher ph levels so they should be just fine, as far as your other levels everything seems to be perfect, nitrates are a tad high but nothing to be worried about. i think at this point if they aren't showing any signs of illness they should be fine to add to your main tank.
hope this helps.
Brandon
My Q tank is set up just like a display tank with nice plants, substrate, and a big piece of driftwood (fake). They are always swimming in and out of the plants and the driftwood. I usually find a couple of them doing that...especially since they are not spending their time in a school! I'll be patient and watch them a bit longer.
Maybe you just bought stupid ZD's :) Heh, kidding. I really don't have a good answer for you...perhaps they're just not quite used to each other yet. Though with my tetras it usually takes 24-48 hours before they begin really schooling together well. Odd that its been over a week for your ZD's.
LOL, I wondered too if my ZDs are just a little dense! They were in the same tank at the store so they should know each other. Maybe they are just anti-social. Great, anti-social schooling fish. It's been over a week. Actually, as long as they aren't sick, I like them this way as it won't disturb the calmer fish and they seem to have more personality as individual fish. We shall see....
