Neons not Schooling

tara brown

tara brown

AC Members
Nov 2, 2006
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Ontario, Canada
www.flyingdog.ca
Hi All,

3 weeks ago i added 6 neons to my 30tall and 2 weeks ago i added 4 more. They are not schooling at all - they are just all over. I'm disappointed because they look so beautiful when they school.

Is this normal? do i need more of them to school?

They share their tank with 3 rasboras, a guppy, an ember tetra and some cories.

Thanks,

Tara
 
A couple of things:

1) fish typically take up to 2 weeks to settle into their surroundings and it is not uncommon for fish to take this time before exhibiting "natural" behavior, or what we take for such.

2) The act of schooling a defensive behavior against predators. Although most schooling fish do this innately, the presence of a 'stressor' will bring this out more profoundly.

3) TOO much stress (ie. a cycling tank) will inhibit natural behaviors...

A "stressor" can be in the form of many things. Simply having the tank in a high traffic area (near a door, or in a hallway) will be very sucessful, over stocking, introducing a larger fish into the tank, etc. are all good choices if compatible, but remember, they will exhibit this behavior once they settle in and, and again, just to re-inforce the point, any stress is ultimately not a good thing imo, but in some cases needed for a healthy system. <--I can explain if needed. ;)
 
Wow, that's really interesting - thanks!
What larger fish would be compatible in a 30tall with the fish i have already mentioned? Looking to add more fish anyway....

Tara
 
No problem. :)

As for the stocking, you have a lot of schooling fish that require friends. Remeber to try and keep your schoolers in groups of 6+ (ie. Rasboras)

Also, I personally suggest that Cories also be kept in small groups of 4+ (3 is the bare minimum if the situation prevents more).

As for what I use, I like my Dwarf Neon Gouramis. When he swims around it naturally makes the Neons gravitate towards one another. I like this b/c the gouramis is completely passive towards them, but he is 6x their size and just naturally intimidates the neons imo.

Lastly, how many fish do you of each species?
 
I've got 10 neons, 3 harlequin rasboras (i did have 6 but 3 died in a huge tank misadventure), 1 poor ember tetra (also, had more but he is the lone survivor), and 5 cories.

I am looking for very hardy fish for my tank as i am still a newbie.
 
Tara - I've had neons off and on for years and really never saw them school! Even when I'd get down to 3 or 4 they didn't even stay together. I did see the funniest thing in my LFS last week. They had apparantly gotton in a lot of new stock so the neon tank was really, really crowded with neons. They had placed a tall over shaped rock in the center of the neon tank. The neons were circling the rock.....the entire tank! It made me laugh out loud! I thought....they each keep following the one in front so it's never gonna stop till somebody finally puts a net in the tank or something! The best real schooling fish I have ever had (and still have) is rummynose tetras. I have 12 that go everywhere and do everything totally together!
 
Only time I have seen of my fish school was when they were first put in the tank....they would all stay together for about a week. They will also school up while during water changes but go back to doing their own thing shortly after...... My bloodfin tetras do stay in groups of 2 or 3 alot playing chase around everything in the tank.

Like mentioned before stress is a big factor that makes them school .... So I look at it like this...If I one day I started seeing all of them schooling I would be looking into what is stressing them out
 
My neons actually school most of the time. They tend to go their own ways after lights out but other than that they stick together pretty much. The first school I had had 3 eaten by Opaline Guoramis and I got 5 to add to the 3 remainders when I thought that issue was cleared up but the remaining gourami killed 2 more so I am back to a school of 6. And they all schooled up right away.

Right now the 6 neons are in with 5 guppies, 5 painted platies, and 2 goldfish (I know they are coldwater in with the more tropical types but they like it). The Goldfish may be why they school so much as they are about 4 inches long right now and the neons are so tiny.
 
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