thinking about a schooling fish...

I tried neons, but they kept dying. I got 6 rasbora's, 1 died and the other five have been great. They school most of the time, occasionally 1 will go out on it's own, but mostly they stay together.

Part of the problem with any schooling species is that they school for protection. It doesn't take long for them to learn that the tank is safe, and that schooling is required.

Also, many fish that are captive bred (including neons) is that the gene for schooling doesn'tdictate successful breeding. In the wild, fish that don't school well tend to be eaten more often, meaning they contribute less to the dominant behaviors of the fish. In captivity, this isn't the case, meaning more fish that don't school tightly can successfully breed.

And finally, tank size and the number of fish in there is important. In a 10, there simply isn't enough space for the schooling behavior to really be noticable. In a 55, it's noticable if you have a large enough school.

The best schooling behavior I've seen, given all these variable, had been in the pygmy cories. They really are more mid-water fish than the 'regular' size cories, and they school very well, even in smaller groups of 6-8 fish.

neons don't school well... but cardinals are great at it, they're more finnicky and expensive.... another good choice would be rummynose....

they're generally the two best schooling species of tetras

Well, I had bought a small group of 5 gold prestella tetras and they stayed in a nice tight group most of the time, with the occasional wandering. I traded them in for a group of 5 regular prestellas (I liked thier color better)..and they don't seem to stay in as tight a group as the golds did....but they still school pretty nicely. (oh, this is in a 29gallon tank)

They aren't as small as the neons and cardinals though....

I couldn't tell you how well neons school, 'cause I couldn't keep them alive for more than 2 days. But I now have a school of 8 white clouds in my 30 gallon that school very well, very seldom do they break ranks, and guess what! they don't die! :clap: They are identical to neon tetras in body form and size (no more than 2 in) and I really like there color, its not bland, but it doesn't take away from my dwarf gouramis. There are some pics in my sig.

I am going to second the Cardinals. I have 9 in my 55 gal. At first they didn't school very well. Then I started added more fish to the tank. After there was some bigger fish in there, they started schooling all the time.