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I am just so excited that I HAD to tell somebody so I thought I'd post it here!!! When I bought my zebra danio a couple of months ago, one of them was without stripes (albino, I'm assuming) and it was tee-tiny! I called it a runt. And every day ever since, I have been pleasantly surprised to see it survive another day.

Well, I watch it closely and it hides very well but always gets a bite to eat at feeding time. I had no idea that it would survive, let alone grow. But low and behold, it is growing. Now, mind you, it is still the tiniest fish in the tank. But, it turned from white to a really pretty greyish color and its tail fin is more spread out with a very faint design on it. That tiny little runt is getting pretty!!!

I wish I could catch a shot of it with the camera but it is extremely difficult. It does come out and hang around the plec when there's an algae wafer in there, hoping for a nibble, but it zips around so fast that I can't hardly even catch it on video. Maybe one day when it is bigger and lazier. lol But as it is, I am very proud that this fish is so healthy and thriving. They are all happy but that's the one I've always worried about.

Zebra danios have THE most known color forms of any captive species, and they all pretty much do as well as the next. This owes not only to their history in the hobby but also as its use as a scientific organism. Among those that are commonly sold are zebra, leopard, golden, and blue. True albinos will have a red eye. I believe goldens have a red eye as well. They don't have predators to worry about so there's nothing too much keeping them back. Glad to hear it's doing well, though.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Ah then this one is definitely not an albino. I forgot about the eye color being a good tell-tell sign. This one must just be a mutant. Its eyes are the same color as the other zebras. Its just that it doesn't have any stripes and its much smaller than the others.

Yeah, they may not have many predators but if the school is too small they do have to look out for each other. I only got four of them and I should have gotten at least six (I now know). One of the four was killed by the largest one. But all the plants I have in there seem to have provided them with hiding places and comfortability because they seem happy even though there are only three of them. And the little one almost doesn't count because it just stays out of the way and doesn't interact with the others.

'Course I think having the tetras in there have made that bully zebra feel more a part of a school. They all play together from time to time. And it doesn't seem aggressive anymore.

Does it have shiny stripes? Many things go into the coloration of fish, one of them is melanin which is the dark black/blue pigment; melanin, of course, is also in the eyes, hence why the eyes become red without it. Generally even in albinos the fish will still create what is known as guanine in the skin, which is reflective; if you notice in Paleatus Cory albinos, for example, they may be all white but they still have patchy shininess on their body where their blotches would be if they were normally colored. Zebra danios, likewise, have guanine in their stripes; that's why golden danios still have shiny stripes even if they don't have blue stripes and are pretty much albino.

And then of course there is a false type of albinism called leucism, where the eye color remains black and the body is pigmentless. Don't know if leucistic zebra danios are common or not. On top of that, leucistic animals have a lack of all pigments, not just melanin. I don't think guanine counts as a pigment, though, so the reflective stripes may still be present in leucistic zebra danios.

It's rather surprising that a zebra danio outright killed another, but all the same it's good that they're settling down.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.