View Full Version : Schooling Fish?
I've ordered a new 40 gallon and I'm going to transfer all fishies and plants from my 20 gallon to the 40. (After I build a stand, which could take a while).
Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the fish population I have now, but the only thing I thought would be neat to have is about a dozen, small (like neons) guys that will school. My Cardinals kind of school loosely, but I'd like to have some that really stay and move together.
Any thoughts on some guaranteed schoolers
LongTime
08-16-2004, 5:50 PM
What do you have already? I did not see a link to your tank.
Ok - I have Platys, Guppies, Mollies, Cardinals, and a few of the more peaceful Cichlids. Oh - and some Cories.
downloader
08-16-2004, 7:34 PM
Rummy nose tetras school pretty tight most of the time
Jakmax
08-16-2004, 8:43 PM
I think you were right on with the neons. A group of 12 should look awesome together!
Well, I've already got 6 Cardinal Tetras, and they dont stay together a whole lot, but I'm going to check out the Rummy Nose guys. I don't have anything like those, and they might be a nice addition to the populations,
Can't wait to get my new tank going, but making the stand and canopy is going to take a while, so I've got time to decide on new fish.
Thanks,
After awhile the schooling fish will loose interest in the tank unless there is a real or perceived threat to them. I have rummies and they don't school at all, I also have silver tips that do not school. Eventually they get a safe feelign and just sort of hang out a bit. I think you would be best off adding more cardinals to the tank as the chances of some of the schooling with a bigger group will probably be better.
dwayne
08-17-2004, 10:36 AM
I had a school of 10 neons a while back. They schooled together very tightly for about a week, then they got comfortable with their new environment and didn't really school together at all, there'd be like 2 or 3 going around together, but I never saw that tight school again, unless I added a new fish or changed the tank decor. Just an f.y.i....
I like rummynoses though, they're really bright, and imho and ime, much less delicate than neons.
Good luck!
~Tara
Copper
08-17-2004, 12:40 PM
I have about 9 raspboras that school well together. They also seem to be a little more resiliant than the neons. I started with about 6 that were pretty loose, then added another half dozen. A couple died off leaving me with what I have now, and they stick pretty close. Voracious little eaters that love bloodworms. :D
Ya...I would definately go with more Cardinals. The bigger the school, the better. However, it is true that if fish get too comfy...they simply just don't feel the need to school. You could put a *****y fish in ur tank - something that would be slightly aggressive, but wouldnt EAT ur fish :P If you want them to school you may have to force them to...
Actually, more Cardinals sounds pretty good. I checked out the Rummy Noses and they are a bit too plain.
I do have 2 Electric Yellow Labs, which are supposed to be semi-aggresive, but mine seem to be pretty laid back. They only spar with each other once in a while (like at feeding time). I dont think I want anything more aggresive than that. Dont want to stress out my fish just so I can watch them school.
nvision
08-18-2004, 12:38 AM
i also find rummynoses to school the tightest and most consistently. you may like to give them a second chance, a school of them may win your heart. :) not sure how they will react with your other fish though. i would think cichlids would stress them out, as well as requiring a different water parameter.
LongTime
08-18-2004, 7:29 AM
Schooling is primarily a defensive activity and the school does tend to break down unless there is a threat. I have cardinals and rummys. When they feel threatened by the "great python monster" ;) they ALL school together!
Hmmm..... Guess I'll have to think about this for a while.
Thanks everybody for your input.
tpl*co
08-18-2004, 9:47 AM
I bet it's really pretty :). You can put yellow labs with those fish? I have bigger yellow tail tetras (9), a red-line shark, a pair of bosemani rainbows, some dojo loaches, a bristlenose, and a pair of rams in my planted 50 gallon tank. They also school really losely and when they feel frisky they chase each other in the school (kinda like sorting out a pecking order, all show though, they don't hurt each other). LOL, on the great python monster. My fish must be really comfortable (or dumb) since they come by and are curious what the thing pulling up the gravel is. I swear one time I'm going to suck up my ram female! Now, the big net menice though! LOL! Only works on the fish I'm trying to catch.
TonyN
08-18-2004, 11:09 AM
Yeah, the Yellow Labs really do pretty up the tank. They are so bright yellow with that beautiful black edging on the top and bottom fins. They are also very active, so they can always be seen.
I've had them for about 6 months now and they have never bothered any of the other fish, and they come up and take food from my fingers with all the rest.
falcon
08-18-2004, 11:21 AM
I would give rummy noses a try. They might look plain at first, but they look nice in a planted tank. I actually like them more now then cardinals. Cardinals stopped schooling altogether, but I find that rummy noses reinforce cardinals to school a bit. They chase them too and on ocassion, the two groups will school together. I also have rasboras and find that they are pretty nice too and like to play in the fast current.
falcon
tpl*co
08-19-2004, 10:23 AM
Are they OK with plants? I've been waffling about putting some peaceful african cichlids in my tank but was wondering if they needed special requirements, would tear up my plants, tear up my fish, etc. I was waiting for a lfs to get some wild strain kribs for me to see (pelvicachromis taeniatas). *Sigh* l love the color of blue peacocks like flame tails, but they grow so big and I'd have to redo my whole tank!
TonyN
08-19-2004, 10:46 AM
No problem with plants. I've never seen them show the slightest interest in any of my plants, and I have about a dozen different types of plants in my tank.
One thing that I think helped get my yellow labs settled peacefully was that I bought the smallest ones I could find. About half the size of my Platies and Mollies, so they werent big enough to beat up on anybody. So they just kept to themselves, and as they grew (about two inches now), they just settled in peacefully. (at least thats my theory, and I'm sticking to it.)
Still cant get these smily faces to work - But I'm laughing - Ok?
tpl*co
08-19-2004, 11:02 AM
I hope they do though :). I saw someone grow out baby Jack Dempseys in a community tank too, but I wouldn't keep them in there in their adult form! Maybe if they don't pair off and breed they'd be OK? Chiclids get teritorial when they have a family to think of.
I used to have a tank full of big South American cichlids as a kid, and when I moved out I didn't have a big tank until now. I vowed to have nice peaceful community tank and not have any cichlids, but someone traded me some rams and I'm looking again...
OK, maybe if I keep compatable cichlids? LOL, that wouldn't be waffling too much would it? I'm not to the point of totally reconfiguring my tank (though I just got an empty 20 long that I'm waiting for the local fish clubs auction to configure out :))
TonyN
08-19-2004, 11:38 AM
Ok - you just used those smily faces to bug me, right? LOL
tpl*co
08-19-2004, 11:51 AM
For some reason I can't paste the ones to the right either. I have to type in a colon and a right bracket to get a happy face. ":" + ")" no dash in between will give you :).
jujubee
08-20-2004, 10:40 AM
i just added a Ruby Ram to my 46 gallon tank and he is a bit territorial so my bloodfin tetras and zebra danios have started schooling a bit tighter now. Before they all just kind of hung out. And the ruby doesn't really attack them at all, just chases them out of his area. So you may want to consider doing something like that. ANd the ruby ram is a beautiful fish too.
TonyN
08-20-2004, 12:41 PM
Hmmm...... Like this? :) Wow - Thanks.
tpl*co
08-23-2004, 12:20 PM
If so, my rams are the most non-chalant fish in my tank and don't induce anybody to school, LOL. My schooling fish are going about with their displays and my pair of rams are just hanging around the bottom, looking for food and ignoring them. In fact when I first introduced the male, my platies ganged up on him! I would have to place my vote that rams are the most peaceful cichlid I've seen :) (well at least mine are, and they aren't shy either).
Ok - A final follow-up to this old thread. - I finally got my new 40 gallon up and running, and decided to go with the Rummy-Noses. It took trips to 4 different lfs's, but I finally managed to get 7 of them. They are soooo.. neat. Schooling very tight. Just what I wanted.
Thanks for all your help.
bluegopher
09-25-2004, 10:23 PM
I second (3rd? 4th?) rummynose tetras. I have had a school of 6 for about two weeks, and have rarely seen one stray from the school, even at feeding time. However, several of them lost much of their color when I brought them home, and have yet to regain most of it. The color seems to be slowly coming back, or at least I hope.
Mine lost their color too when I first got them home, but they got it back again in only a couple hours.
Maybe yours are still stressed out for some reason.
falcon
09-27-2004, 8:14 AM
Rummy noses will lose their color when there is no light but will regain it again when there is suficient light. They will also lose color if the water quality is not that great - that's what I've heard.
falcon
KarlskidMarx
09-27-2004, 8:26 AM
Those labs are african cichlids and require totally different water parameters than your south american fish. If you want a cichlid in there, put in an angel, that will also encourage your tetras to school. If you do put in an angel, avoid neons, they're way too small and end up being after-dinner mints for the angels.
spiffish
09-27-2004, 9:24 AM
I just added 4 black nean tetras to my tank. They seem a bit bigger than the regular neons, and are schooling very well. I like that they are more "natural colored" yet have a bright iridescent stripe. I plan to increase my school size in the near future.
tpl*co
09-27-2004, 10:00 AM
Are Rams, Apistogrammas (sp?) and members of the krib family pelvicachromis (sp?). I have Rams in my tank now (with african and south american tetras), but I have some wild kribs waiting in a quarantine tank to swap out with them. I bought a pair of pelvicachromis t. moliwe (pretty and uncommon like the regular kribs) and another one that the fish store says is wouri but doesn't look like the pictures on the net. (They say their fish source is very reliable and that they said it was p.t. wouri). They have the same shape as a pelvichromis but have a lot of blue in their gillplates (even when stressed). I also had a hard time seeing any different in sexes from the fish they had in the tank. I ended up picking the least agressive fish with a spot on it's dorsal and one without (Hardly any markings on the fins, the moliwe is loaded with markings) :confused:. Hopefully I have a boy and girl, especially at $20 a fish! I've seen them displaying to each other and then one fish gets a rosy cast to the belly (kinda a flash, doesn't stay) so I hope I lucked out. They had one fish that was keeping all others at bay and I assume that was a dominant male, but I got a smaller similar one. The quarantine tank has some young endlers and they are still all there so looks like they are going to be OK community wise :)