What are the minimum numbers for shoaling fish?

[fineanimal]

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

[Mgamer20o0]

well first of all the inch per gal doesnt really work. i really think zebras do better in a 20 gal tank. they are very active and need space to swim.

i would cross off mollies and platies from the list. schooling is 5-10 fish. it really depends on the fish but the more the better.

[Rbishop]

Your 10 gallon tank is much too small for 100 species.

[Derringer]

Your 10 gallon tank is much too small for 100 species.

Possibly you could assemble a background with pictures all 100 ;)

[Alestro Bakai]

Possibly you could assemble a background with pictures all 100 ;)

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! :)

[hitman12131976]

3 fish that school are minimum, most people will say 5 as well. No less than three though.

[jm1212]

i would say six is a good number to start at, with more being better. lemons would be good in your tank.

[fineanimal]

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?

[wataugachicken]

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.

[dvd_wightman]

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.

[fineanimal]

Yeah, that's another concern with the danios. The two I have seem happy enough in this tank, but with a school of 5 or more I'd expect frequent head-on collisions, given the speed they cruise around. Funny thing is, I first thought they were bland and only added them to cycle the tank. They won my heart, though, so I'm trying to find a way to keep them now.

[Plecosterone]

Zebras=little fishies on crack. It is amazing how fast they can zip through a tank and not run into anything. They are always chasing each other around and adding some animation to a tank.

[UCF-Planted]

On the even vs odd issue: I've noticed with my Black Neon Tetras that one always seems to be leftout, so my school is an odd number, even though there are 6 in the tank. If I had known that would be their behavior before I got them I would only have gotten 5, or gone up to 7. Perhaps it's just that the one fish is smelly and the others don't like him on a personal level, or they are ingrained to school in off numbers so they cast him off as the even-man-out. I'm not sure why, but I will always do schools in odd numbers from now on.

[fineanimal]

Or maybe he's the artist of the bunch, and he needs his own space :)

[Phil22]

In my case, for some reason, it always seems one schooling fish is off on its own. I have 5 serpae tetras...4 always seem to be toghether. 5 danios, and one always seems to be on its own...but they break up and chase each other around constantly. The 6 platys never seem to really school...I have 6 and they're all over the place. The 3 cherry barbs kind of stay in the same general area, but I wouldn't consider it really schooling. Not sure you can ever be sure if the odd or even numbers will hold together.