View Full Version : Whats a good, small schooling fish thats NOT a neon tetra?
JamesBenjamin
11-11-2003, 4:22 PM
To go in with some sword tails, ottos, 2 clown loaches, some cherry barbs and a few other peacefull fish.
I just get sick of looking at neons! haha.
Thanks in advance, guys!
tricksterpup
11-11-2003, 4:27 PM
How about Harlequin Rasbora, Rasbora heteromorpha ?
jim
http://www.petresources.net/fish/cyprinid/pics/haras05.jpg
Depends on your tank size. You could get rainbows, considering you have a large enough tank.
sumoschro
11-11-2003, 4:49 PM
flame tetras, silver tip tetras, red tailed rasboras, the list goes on, but if you go to your LFS im sure you'll find some sort of schooling fish to put in there.
For what it's worth, my collection of nine zebra danios hardly ever school... :rolleyes: The little buggers are usually all over the tank!
Oh well...
-fpsiv
:D
1 fish 2 fish
11-11-2003, 5:59 PM
white cloud mountain minnows, just about any tetra
MrGoodbytes
11-11-2003, 6:24 PM
Threadfin rainbowfish (Iriatherina sp.) would look nice. They stay pretty small and have very attractive finnage.
Hey, why not try cardinal tetras :p?
Graeme
JSchmidt
11-11-2003, 7:04 PM
I think the harlequin rasboras are nice schoolers, too.
Jim
Slappy*McFish
11-11-2003, 7:10 PM
Cherry barbs are a favorite of mine.
valerie
11-11-2003, 7:23 PM
I have 8 harlequin rasboras and they are almost always schooling. They stay more towards the top of the tank.
Most schooling fish will only school if there is a threat in the tank. I think mine school because i have angelfish. If they feel secure they won't school.
medge00
11-11-2003, 7:38 PM
I agree with the threadfin rainbows... my celebes rainbows have always schooled. some larger rainbows will school, but you need at least 4 or 5 and it depends on the size of your tank
I find SAE's and Otto's school quite nicely, but that's probably not what your looking for. Amano shrimp?
JamesBenjamin
11-12-2003, 4:55 PM
Thanks for all the ideas, I'll read up a on these fish while bored at work this week. What I'm going for is a 120 (or so) tank to upgrade the 55 I have now. I'd like a school of 20 or so fish that actually school (not shoal), to offset the 3,4 or 5 of a kind that I have of my other fishes.
I think I may find some tetras that are cute (not neons though, haha) and go with them.
Thanks!
i have 5 hengeli rasboras. they are nice and stay small.
hle_81
11-12-2003, 5:53 PM
zebra danios
fishfood
11-12-2003, 9:00 PM
I like giant danios. They get about 4 -5 inches long so they can get too big for smaller tanks.
The more comfortable fish get the less they end up schooling. Eventually they separate when they find that life is not dangerous in the tank.
My White Clouds do a good job of schooling most of the time but still tend to wander off.
The best schooling job I ever saw was at the Houston Aquarium where they had a tank with probably 100 neon tetras and an electric eel.
ScottoMacD
11-12-2003, 10:00 PM
Originally posted by Slappy*McFish
Cherry barbs are a favorite of mine.
I couldn't agree more.
FANTASTIC FISH! Peaceful and a very nice color!
I keep mine in my planted tank with an array of different fish and they work out great.
yashinfan
11-12-2003, 10:10 PM
I vote danios :o
Captain Hook
11-13-2003, 12:40 AM
How big is the tank you are talking about?
I really like danios as well but they are not really a schooling fish (IMO). Smaller tetras would probably stick together pretty well. Barbs would also stay together a fair amount but I don't know if you would call them schooling fish either.
LMOUTHBASS
11-13-2003, 9:45 AM
school well or whiteclouds, i like dwarf neon rainbows
MrGoodbytes
11-13-2003, 10:15 AM
Dwarf neon rainbowfish are really nice fish and would make a very eye-catching display.
Leopardess
11-13-2003, 12:05 PM
I can't believe no one has suggested Glowlight Tetras! They're sooo beautiful once you get them home and in good condition. Really, pics do not do justice! They are tight schoolers and max out at about 1 - 1.25"
They do prefer a planted tank, but its not necessary...
They definitely get my vote...
UNLESS - you've got some extra space kicking around and like the Celebes Rainbowfish idea:) I love mine.
How about some of these (http://www.wired.com/news/photo/0,1860,46678,00.html)?
Clownloach458
11-13-2003, 5:36 PM
i say.. White cloud minnows..theyre about the same size. but they do not die evry easily..i had one that had 1 eye and lived for almost a month.
SwedishFish
11-13-2003, 6:48 PM
I suggest the fruit salad tetras there natural colors are very pretty also when they are painted :)
Leopardess
11-13-2003, 9:01 PM
Painted fish are not something one should invest their money in. They are altered fish...buying htem just keeps the demand up to alter more of them.
They are usually dipped in an acidic solution which strips them of their slime coat and dipped in dye, or ones like painted glass fish, which have dye injected (shodily, may i add) into their spinal column.
Either way, it freaks the fish out and they usually die fairly soon after buying them.
SwedishFish
11-13-2003, 10:05 PM
Yes for most painted fish do die but they l can live if you can take care of them and make them stable. I bought the fruit salads in there natural color.. I do not support painted fish but I do buy them cause i like the fish not just because its dyed blue or something.
yashinfan
11-14-2003, 5:56 PM
Plz let's not get into the topic of painted fish, and keep this post on track. Just a questoin, but did you ever say how big the tank is? pH? temp?
Because certain fish won't go with your setup.
JamesBenjamin
11-14-2003, 7:06 PM
The tank fight now is well planted, and a 55gal, but soon we're moving. I figure since we want to get a bigger tank soon, may as well wait till we move, get something HUGE (125g?) and move over the fish slowly and just break down the smaller tank after.
Right now we have:
2 clown loaches (4 inch)
3 cherry barbs
3 long finned danios
7-9 swordtails
4-7 mollies
A pleco (6 inch)
3 albino cories
a rainbow shark (black with red fins on the top, bottom and tail.. that might not be the real name)
a yellow and black stiped longish fish thats 3 inches now, but apparently grows to 10-14 (he'll move to the oscar tank once he's big)
2 dwarf guarami
hmmm... i think thats it.
but i want to add a decent size school to this tank, (well, the new one) 20-30 SMALL (1-2 inches) fishes.
thanks for all the input guys!
GoLdFiSh_GrL
11-14-2003, 11:33 PM
I'd say about 6+ tiger barbs... I have 6 of them and their schooling behavior looks so cute! :p
JazzyB
11-18-2003, 2:03 AM
I'm in the same boat in that I'm looking for some smaller schooling tetras to compliment my 3 juvenile silver dollars. I currently have: 5 redeye tetras (probably going soon), 4 tiger barbs (going tomorrow), 3 SD's and 2 ottos.
Ideally I would like to have: 3 SD's, 2 Ottos, 4-5 smaller tetras. Tank is 27G. BTW, the SD's will be moved to a larger tank once they've grown a bit.
Need suggestions!:cool: