Objective The vertebrate model of zebrafish (Danio rerio) was employed to explore the effects of hypoxia on early embryonic development, hematopoietic differentiation, and erythroid differentiation. Methods At 12h post-fertilization, zebrafish embryos were randomly divided into two groups. The normoxic group was used as the control group, and the hypoxic group was used as the experimental group. The morphological changes of zebrafish embryos were observed in real-time. Erythropoiesis and morphological changes were observed by benzidine, O-dianisidine, acridine orange, and May-Grunwald Giemsa staining. Real time PCR was used to analyze hematopoietic gene expression in zebrafish embryos. Results Hypoxia reduced nutritional consumption of the yolk sac, inhibited the formation of pigment cells, slowed down the heart rate, and delayed the hatching of zebrafish embryos. Inhibitive effects of hypoxia on the production and maturity of red blood cells were observed. Conclusions Hypoxia delays zebrafish embryonic development and inhibits the production and maturity of red blood cells.