Schooling fish for Community Tank

[Ashes]

I've got a general purpose community tank (angels, corys, gouramis, small plecos, loaches) with a school of 6 hifin blackskirt tetras. I like having the schoolers in there because they add a little more "action," but I've had these guys for a few years and I know they're aging on me and will need to be replaced before too long.

Anyway, being the smart, plan-ahead fishkeeper that I am (yeah right!), I'm trying to decide what schooling fish to replace them with. I love these guys, but my tank isn't very colorful (the gouramis are a female dwarf and a pearl, the angels a silver and a marble) and I'd like to get something more colorful, but about the same size or smaller than the blackskirts.

I have some gold barbs in another tank and I thought about using them, but they seem to stay nearer to the bottom, and I'd rather have fish with a higher range. The top quarter of my aquarium is pretty empty, so the fish shouldn't have any territory issues.

My angels were both stunted as young ones (before I got them) and aren't very large. They don't seem to bother fish that are in schools.

Here are some ideas I'd had -
Hatchetfish (not that colorful, but interesting enough to make up for it)
Harlequin Rasboras

Or tetras:
Cardinals
Black neons
Bloodfins
Rummynoses
Glowlights
Head and tail lights
Bleeding hearts
Blue emperors

Any preferences among those? Or any other suggestions (has to be relatively easy to find)?

Thanks!

[firetank]

zebra danios maybe??

[ArkyLady]

I was thinking zebra danios as well. I have seen them mentioned here several times, but never really knew what they looked like. They caught my eye today at the LFS and are pretty colorful and interesting :)

[somefinnfishy]

Giant danios shool are allways in motion like the top and have a nice colour pattern on them as they hit maturity.
Congo tetras but they get a bit big after a couple years.
BTW congo fetch a good price grown up.I get 20 each for nice males.

[valerie]

I have harlequin rasboras in my angel community tank and just love them. They are a really bright redish color and stay almost always near the top. THey are also a smaller schooling fish so you can get more, you could get 8 rasboras to replace your 6 black skirts. I have 8 and they are always schooling.

[Wippit Guud]

If you want really active (we'll call them uber-active), go with 4 or 5 rainbows. Mine are always moving, and the go nuts at feeding time.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Zebra Danios or Neons

[DodgeIntrepidV6]

Neon or if you can purchase them cardinals

[Ashes]

I love threadfin rainbows but if I remember correctly they're pretty expensive around here.

Danios stay pretty small, don't they? I don't want to go with something that's too small, because as good as my angels are, I don't want to tempt them too much. How big do the giant danios get? I like them.

I like the look of congo tetras, but they're harder to find, and as was mentioned, pretty pricey, even the little ones.

I don't really care for the standard neon tetras. If I went with neons I'd go with cardinals (not too hard to find around here) or blacks.

[firetank]

congos are q expensive and get fairly large too...

i wanted some, ive researched it, they get too big....

[Fishiebusiness]

I'd go with either the cardinals or some rummynoses. I hear rummy noses school much better than other species.

[Cichlid Woman]

For just plain classy looking in a bunch, my current favorite is black neons. (Not much color, true, but sleek and ... er ... well, classy looking.)

-- Pat

[Ashes]

I agree with your opinion that black neons are classy-looking. And, I think that the white stripe compared to the almost purplish stripe makes them look bold, even though they're not exactly colorful.

Anyone else have opinions on how rummynoses school, and how the other choices school?

[appaloosatb]

Rummynoses!
Zebra Danios or Leopard Danios are nice too.
What about Cherry Barbs?
Head & Tail Lites?

Just my personal favorites :)

[Serrateeth_2002]

Danios nip,barbs shoal,maybe neons but the angels will gobble them up sooner or later,try larger tetras like blackskirts.

[Fishiebusiness]

I thought blackshirts were specifically ruled out of this competition.

[Serrateeth_2002]

Ooops,i missed that one,try copper tetras,banded pyrrhulina or schooling catfishes like cories,

[JamisonBWolsh]

Isnt it true that the fish will only school if they feel threatened? if there is no aggressive fish in the tank, they will divide. Correct me if Im wrong? Or would that be a schoal of fish?

[Serrateeth_2002]

Fishes that shoal will group only when there is a threat,Schooling fishes will constanly school.

[wiEngineer]

Neons will become angel lunch. Red Serpae tetras might work, and have great colour to them. A quintet of five clown loaches can be a lot of fun (mine fly all over the tank, not just the bottom). However, they do get big (can get to be 14"!) so you'd probably have to swap them out as they grow.

You could also put in some in some Red Velvet swordtails. They are brilliant red/orange in colour and are livebearers. Your angels will chow down on any fry you might get, but if you were careful, you could probably segregate the fry intil they were big enough.

I have a bunch of danios in my community tank (5 each red-finned and leopard) and they have been getting slightly nippy of late and may be removed.

[Serrateeth_2002]

how could i have forgotten one of the most interesting schooling fishes,loaches are great,get small loaches like dwarf loaches,yoyo loaches.

[Cichlid Woman]

An interesting point was brought up, that shoaling fish will only group when there's a threat, and schooling fish will school all the time.

Which are black neons? Mine are casually lounging all over the tank; they don't school anymore, probably because there's no threat in my tank? If they're shoaling fish, which species will school all the time? (That's what I was after when I got the black neons ...)

Thanks,

-- Pat

[Bobs]

I'll second the Rainbows. They are very colorful and very active. I didn't see what size tank you have, so I don't know if size is a problem. Rainbows get bigger than neons.

[Ashes]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Things are starting to get redundant.

I have corys already and right now I don't want anymore. The bottom of the tank is busy enough already, so the same goes for clown loaches (plus they just get too big)! I already have zebra and yoyo loaches.

I don't really want anymore barbs because they spend too much time near the bottom of the tank.

Do you really think the black neons would get eaten? They're sold pretty large around here, and they look too big for my angels to eat. The angels really aren't that big. As far as schooling/shoaling, the angels, while not aggressive (they're very curious about everything!), are nosy enough to get the blackskirts to school once in a while.

I've got another tank with livebearers (guppies and platies). I keep the pH in the community tank pretty low (6-6.5), and from my experience with guppies, I don't think swordtails would do so well.

I think rainbows are just too expensive around here, but I'll recheck the price on the threadfins. Those're the only ones I really care for. But don't they like a higher pH?

I like the serpaes, but I've heard they're nippy. Any experiences?

[wiEngineer]

I have two red serpaes in my community and they seem fine with everybody else that's around (neons, black mollies, black and white skirts, flame tetras, danios, corys, two plecos, a beta, etc).

[nvision]

this seems to be a popular topic at other forums as well. and yes, the rummynose is usually the winner.

other tetras, as noted by others, tend to lounge randomly around in the tank once they feel comfortable with the surroundings. now i've seen my rummynoses do this also, but for the majority of the time they still school cheerfully with their peers. they do get a tad larger than most popular tetras though, about the same size as zebra danios.

try a dozen or two of the rummynoses if you get a chance. their trail of red masks snaking thru the aquarium is breathtaking.

[ewok]

red eye tetras are pretty neat.

giant danios are always active with just a slight hint of color to them. they get around 1 1/2"......

i sort of liked the list you had too. ;)

[Ashes]

Gah! So I fell in love with some bleeding heart tetras at the LFS. They're sooo pretty. Not saying this is what I'll go with, but does anyone know anything about them?

I think I might be leaning toward the rummynoses, though...

[irishspy]

Originally posted by Ashes
Gah! So I fell in love with some bleeding heart tetras at the LFS. They're sooo pretty. Not saying this is what I'll go with, but does anyone know anything about them?

I love Bleeding Hearts. :cool: I've never kept them, but I'm planning to add them to the new tank I want to set up in the new year. From what I've read and observed, they're peaceful and tend to school in the middle layers of the water column. They'll take flake and small frozen and dried foods readily, and it's said they're happiest in lower light tanks with plenty of plants.

--Anthony

[swimsinkfloat]

My vote rummynoses or zebra danos

[goldfries]

i think a few swordtails would be good for your tank.

guppy and neons might be meal for the angels, as mentioned above.

ever considered Blue Rams?

the fish that i brought up in this post are not shoaling/schooling fish, but they do make the tank look nice.

i don't agree on Zebra Danio as you can't see their blue tint unless you view them closely and they spend most of their time on the top-level only.

[Ashes]

Don't want livebearers, and I've already got too many cichlids.

[goldfries]

gotcha!! :D

so you have mainly cyprinids and characins to think of. since cichlids hardly ever school, being territorial.

i don't see any live bearers school anyway.

my fav schooling fishes are tiger barbs and neon/cardinal tetras.

[val]

Here's a different recommendation (boy, aren't we good at telling other people what to buy!).

Checker Barbs. They do shoal somewhat, mine were all over the tank. Very hardy, easy to sex (males have reddish dorsal fins with a black leading edge), easy to feed. More subtle color than you may want, but I really came to love them. Some tank in the future will be a checker barb tank, and I mean 80 barbs in a 100g tank...

Val

[beviking]

nvision nailed it! I have (had) lemons, neons, cardinals, glo-lights, and rummy-nose tetras in my community tank (which I've refered to as the Peace tank b/c everyone is so relaxed they don't school EXCEPT the rummynose!). The rummies almost always school and I only have 5. They don't stay at the top but they are so much better looking than I imagined (usually in the lfs their heads are mottled red - after acclimating them at home, their heads get solid red).
I also have zebra danios. Excellent fish, always playing tag with each other, can get nippy with other fish. They school often, but not all the time. The stripes are quite unique and watching them dart around is always fun!:D
Hope this helps!