View Full Version : What does it take to get danios to school?
mwelin
12-04-2007, 3:57 PM
The danios were in the tank first so I thought they were just being a bit laid back but we've since added 4 dwarf gourami and 2 angels and they still don't school. I thought for sure the angels would do the trick but no dice. After about 5 minutes with the new inhabitants the danios went back to just sort of each doing it's own thing.
Right now there are 5 danios, do I need more or is there some other trick I'm missing?
silentskream
12-04-2007, 4:09 PM
they'll school better if there are more of them. what kind of danios are they?
dreadboy113
12-04-2007, 4:22 PM
I have 4 Odessa barbs, 3 pearl danios and 3 glowlight danios and they school quite often together. I only have 3 plecs, 2 snails with them. So i don't know why tidy do it. Its great to see them do laps of the tank. Odd that they do it together though.
Maybe your danios are to comfortable/not scared in your tank so don't want to school.
theotheragentm
12-04-2007, 4:49 PM
Fish school as a natural response to predation. When there is a threat, they will school together. Unfortunately if you create a community tank that is completely peaceful, the need for schooling disappears. I have 16 Harlequinn Rasboras in my tank and they school when I first walk into the room as a reaction to seeing me. After that, they're all over the place on their own. Having a larger, peaceful fish may get them schooling a bit. I have a 4" Gourami that doesn't eat my Rasboras but they swim around him, sticking together in the process.
mwelin
12-04-2007, 7:53 PM
They're zebras. I guess maybe once the angels grow up a bit they'll help. I did get home after work today to find them schooling and they continued for about 1/2 hour while the angels were being active.
theotheragentm
12-04-2007, 10:22 PM
I know I've seen Neons school around Angels, but that's because they're the natural food source. Normally they get eaten in shared tanks.
Caius
12-04-2007, 10:44 PM
I've had danios school with a convict in the tank :grinyes:
Disclaimer: no danios were harmed in the making of this post
jpappy789
12-05-2007, 5:42 PM
My danios loosely school...sometimes they follow eachother other times they just do their own thing...true schooling is not a very common thing in a community tank unless you have a large number within the school
What I'm wondering is what is wrong with them being laid back?
TwanDizzle
12-05-2007, 9:33 PM
that's what gets me... everyone wants a schooling fish, and all the stores (actual stores and online) advertise schooling...but in reality, they don't really school because there's such a high comfort level... how many of a fish would it take to scool continually?? in the wild, you see schools conisting of hundreds, if not millions of fish.... but obviously you can't fit that many in any size normal "home" aquarium.... there's no sure-fire way to guarantee a fish will school without running the risk of having a lot of them eaten....
they school if they're threatened... they're not threatened unless they know they'll get eaten... so where exactly is that fine line?
mwelin
12-06-2007, 2:52 PM
There is nothing wrong with being laid back, it's not going to get them kicked out of the tank or anything. I just love to watch them school and I was told they'd do just that with the angels added which has not been the case. So I asked.
Thanks for the input everyone!
Star_Rider
12-06-2007, 3:14 PM
I have seen danios do just what you describe in a tank with angels and Discus.
not school
but I also know they are not normal co-habitants with these species of fish and they are very active.
some did get eaten by the angels..but others simply committed danio suicide(swam in to the filter)
Squawkbert
12-06-2007, 3:17 PM
Stick this on the side of the tank...
http://www.willegal.net/tropical_fish/jack.jpg
mwelin
12-06-2007, 4:00 PM
I'm a bit worried that one of my danios will commit suicide by angel. The smallest of the lot does not seem to have any sense of self-preservation and he hangs out with the angels fairly frequently. Hopefully they become fast friends while the angels are too small to eat him.
He also takes a go at my Python when I'm cleaning the tank so I have to keep an eye on him then too. The others are content to nibble on my knuckles...guess that's what hand feeding them bloodworms gets me.
mwelin
12-06-2007, 4:02 PM
What is that?!
What is that?!
Jack Dempsey I think.:)
LOL! He meant sticking the picture of the JD to the danio tank, eh?:laugh:
mwelin
12-07-2007, 11:02 AM
It intimidates the heck out of me so maybe it would work on the danios, lol.
Star_Rider
12-07-2007, 11:39 AM
I'm a bit worried that one of my danios will commit suicide by angel. The smallest of the lot does not seem to have any sense of self-preservation and he hangs out with the angels fairly frequently. Hopefully they become fast friends while the angels are too small to eat him.
He also takes a go at my Python when I'm cleaning the tank so I have to keep an eye on him then too. The others are content to nibble on my knuckles...guess that's what hand feeding them bloodworms gets me.
lol
with angels it's hit and miss whether or not small inhabitants become a 'snack'
mine were raised with danios and black neons and neons..all became a target at some point..my black neons are always hiding from my angels.they do exhibit a loose school all the time when they are not hiding.
I know , a "Danio school bus" , im sorry couldnt pass it up. merry christmas everyone!
Gordofish
12-19-2007, 6:11 PM
I had 20 zebra danios in with my 4 inch oscar who would chase them but I didnt think he was big enough to eat them yet. They still didnt school and he ate 6 of them before I relocated them. He would wait until they were sleeping I think since they were faster than him and they had room to run in my 100g (5ft long). So I dont think anything will make them school consistently, even things that eat them.
~Kswords~
12-19-2007, 6:15 PM
I have 2 long finned zebra danios, 1 regular zebra danio, and 2 leopard danio's. Mine school together just fine. How large is your tank? What's your setup like? Do you have rough currents of water?
mwelin
12-20-2007, 1:05 PM
It's a 40 gallon tall. There is a pic of the tank in this post, we've added a few more plants in the back corners. There are some fairly wimpy bubbles on the left and the filter is the only other source of current, the water is now up to the base of the filter so it's really not very strong now. We've done what we can to keep it calm for the angels.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133239
ThePBM
12-20-2007, 4:31 PM
how big of a tank is it? danios are active swimmers so it might just be relative. they might be swimming as they do now even if they were in a tank 5 times that size, and then it would be considered 'schooling'.
a school of fish need a place to swim, since they don't school just to stay still and look pretty.