What are the minimum numbers for shoaling fish?

fineanimal

fineanimal

AC Members
Jun 23, 2007
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Minnesota
Hello,

I'm new at this, currently cycling my first tank (10Gal), and I'm desperately trying to decide how to get 100 species I find fascinating into 10 inches of fish!

The biggest problem is researching shoaling fish--I just can't get a straight answer on what the minimum number of fish I could have for them to feel comfortable. For example, I'm cycling with two Zebra Danios, but I know they'd prefer a few more friends. But is three really enough? Is five enough? Technically, five Zebra Danios leaves me no room for anything else!

Another example: Different sources on Gold Pristellas might say I need a "minimum" of two, three, five, six, or even 10, just for the fish to be minimally comfortable. That's a range from 3 to 15 inches! I have no idea what to make out of that kind of contradictory advice.

I know that's a tough question to answer, and there's probably a different answer for each species, but any insights would help. I want my fish to have enough friends to feel comfortable. But I'm also hoping to end up with something more varied than a 10 gallon Betta bowl!

Right now I'm mainly deciding among these fish:

more Zebra Danios
Cory cat or otocinclus (for bottom-dwellers)
Platy
Cherry barbs
Glowlight/Lemon/Serpae/X-Ray Tetra
Harlequin Rasbora
White Clouds
Black/Golddust Mollie
Dwarf Gourami

Thanks for anyone who can clarify this better for me.
Paul
 
Your 10 gallon tank is much too small for 100 species.
 
Derringer said:
Possibly you could assemble a background with pictures all 100 ;)
Click to expand...

I think he was just trying to make a statement on how many he finds interestig and like to have in his tank... if it were possible.

To answer your question, the more the better, but at least 5-6.

To add my personal $0.02 to it, unless you have a huge tank and more than enough space, you'd probably do better with non-schooling/shoaling fish. Keep in mind, this is my own personal preference, 10 schooling fish and nothing else in a tank doesn't do it for me. I like to observe the different types of fish and their different behaviours.

Oh and welcome to the hobby! :)
 
3 fish that school are minimum, most people will say 5 as well. No less than three though.
 
Thanks for the responses, everyone. And yes, I was just being ironic about the 100 species in a 10g tank. I would if I could, but....

Here's a related question, though: What's the real story on odd vs. even numbers? I usually hear that it's best to have odd numbers, I guess to avoid pairing that breaks up the school. Yet I also see 6, 8, or 10 frequently. Is there a rule for using odd or even numbers in small schools?
 
as far as minumum number, i would go with 6 fish at least.

even or odd i think is a personal preference as to which is more pleasing to you.
 
Like Mgamer said, the inch per gallon rule is not a very good rule. A good minimum number of fish for a school would probably be 5-6. As for stocking, u could probably do 3 platies and a dwarf gourami, or 6 platies. I think that the danios would be better for a 20 gallon.
 
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