Hi everyone! New to the forum and accompanied by a question. Not too long ago I had several zebra danios in a 10 gallon tank. I had one danio who would bully the others. I couldn't see any injuries so I thought it would all be fine. As time went on and I lost one of my danios I realized that the bully would pick on one specific fish until the fish was starving and weak.

Now, I am left with only my one zebra danio and a bottom feeder in a 20 gallon tank. I would love to add more to my aquarium but I do not want my bully to do the same to other fish. Any ideas? I thought of getting several larger fish that are still compatible with zebra danios but wouldn't be as easily bullied. Do you think this would still cause conflict? Or will it possibly be a fix?

Any ideas and tips are appreciated!

I'm also very new to all of this and will likely make mistakes but I am trying to learn! I would love advice and will spend some time on this forum to learn! If you could take the time I would love information on what would work well in a 20 gallon (I realize now how small a 20 gallon is), both plants and fish, plus what is generally needed for an aquarium. Thank so much

Danios are high strung fish and can be nippy and annoying if they aren't kept in high enough numbers. How many did you have when the problem started?

It could also be that the fish was stressed from being in a 10 gallon tank. A school of Danios needs a larger tank - it's good that you upgraded.

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20g and 36g Heavily Planted

Hi and welcome to the forum...I also keep zebra danios and they need to be kept in a larger school, preferably more than 6. In a larger school, the aggression and bullying will be watered down so no one fish is being bullied all the time.

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26g freshwater- A variety of Tiger Barbs, 2 S. Am. Bumblebee catfish; 38g freshwater-3 fancy fantail goldfish, zebra danios; variety of snails

How many did you have to start with? Danios should definetly be in shoals of 6+, they chase eachother around the tank all the time which can be stressfull if there arnt enough to spread it out between them more evenly as someone stated, I had a problem with all of them in my 10g too at first but now that they've been in my 40g I haven't had a single issue, good luck

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10g- 3 variatus, 4 guppies, 1 blue mystery snail
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 5 swordtails, 1 Opaline Gourami
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve.

Thanks for the replies and I believe I only had four, so too small. I will definitely try having a larger number. How many would you say is good in a 20 gallon?

a 20g long if you only did zebra danios you could fit 12 - 14 (14 might be too many). That is more of a guestimate as I assume they get up to roughly 2".

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