my neons and cardinals school together all of the time. Occasionally a neon will stray away from the group. I have two honey gourami in the tank with them that may be enough of a "stressor or threat" to keep them together.
Neons not Schooling
- Thread starter tara brown
- Start date
The most likely reason you are not witnessing schooling is because your tank is too narrow. Fish school as a defensive technique. Schooling fish like to be able to see at least 2 or 3 members of the school at all times in order to feel safe. In tall tanks, like your 30 tall, a member of a 6+ school can pretty much always see at least 3 other members of the school. The members are spread out, and therefore each contribute to the school's "sight" of the tank. In a tall tank, a school of 6+ will always know exactly what is going on in the tank at all times, and they don't have to school to do this. Additionally any time that they do begin to school, the tank is so narrow(width wise) that the "school" doesn't have time to make more than, say, one fluid motion before they hit the other side of the tank and turn around.
I'd sorry to say, tanks like this aren't great for schools. Tall tanks are fine, but to really see schooling effects, you really need long tanks, not tall. Even a 30 L isn't a great tank for schooling. I have 8 serpae tetra's in my 30L and I barely see anything. You really need something a good 48" long to see schooling behavior.
Contrary to what has been mentioned, schooling fish will school less as they grow comfortable with their environment. It's a defensive action, so if they don't feel like they are in danger, they won't do it. Point is, some techniques to encourage it are to put the tank in a high traffic area(as has already been said) and to keep one or two larger fish that could be deemed a predator. I have 3 gold gourami's in my 30L. They aren't aggressive, just territorial, therefore my serpae tetras interpret them as a threat, so they do school a little.
I'd sorry to say, tanks like this aren't great for schools. Tall tanks are fine, but to really see schooling effects, you really need long tanks, not tall. Even a 30 L isn't a great tank for schooling. I have 8 serpae tetra's in my 30L and I barely see anything. You really need something a good 48" long to see schooling behavior.
Contrary to what has been mentioned, schooling fish will school less as they grow comfortable with their environment. It's a defensive action, so if they don't feel like they are in danger, they won't do it. Point is, some techniques to encourage it are to put the tank in a high traffic area(as has already been said) and to keep one or two larger fish that could be deemed a predator. I have 3 gold gourami's in my 30L. They aren't aggressive, just territorial, therefore my serpae tetras interpret them as a threat, so they do school a little.
So Jeffrey what you're saying in my case for example, I have a 72G bow with several 6" discus.....the neons feel comfortable, not threatened and the tank is long enough that they know where the others are...so they don't feel the need to school? The rummynoses though are totally different. I know they're not intimidated by the discus in the least, but they sure love to "follow the leader"!
I will say in a 72G I'm surprised you aren't seeing schooling with the neons. Usually they only get "too comfortable" in smaller tanks, 30g or less. 72 is a pretty big tank. I'm not experienced with discus, are they territorial at all? Perhaps a gourami or two(3--two females and male) might increase the "threat level" of the tank to encourage schooling in your neons. Gourami's, while not "aggressive", do tend to be territorial, so they would only give the appearance of being a threat.
In general, the smaller the tank, the less schooling you see. Good schooling also requires high numbers of fish. 10 neons would be the minimum, not 6, to see schooling. 10+ would be hard to do in smaller tanks, but in your 72, depending on what else is in there, it shouldn't be a problem. This is also why it's hard to have more than one school in tanks less than 55g. The number of fish required to create schooling tends to start to push bioload capcity.
I've never had rummynoses, but from what I've read, they do tend to school pretty comfortably.
Jeffrey the Discus are not the least bit territorial ever. And there's no competition at feeding time, everyone peacefully eats alongside their tankmates. They are gentle giants so I'm sure there's a big comfort level in the tank. I think now that I've seen how nice the rummies school and interact, I will not do any other type of tetras in there anymore. Thanks for the info.
@tjg2007
"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)."
Well goldfish need cold water because cold water holds a much higher level of dissolved oxygen then warm water does. So even if your goldfish kept in warm water seem to you, in your subjective opinion, to be "happy", objectively their bodies are working much harder to get the same amount of oxygen as those kept in cold water. That is just a fact.
If you want your goldfish to live long, healthy lives don't keep them in tropical tanks.
"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)."
Well goldfish need cold water because cold water holds a much higher level of dissolved oxygen then warm water does. So even if your goldfish kept in warm water seem to you, in your subjective opinion, to be "happy", objectively their bodies are working much harder to get the same amount of oxygen as those kept in cold water. That is just a fact.
If you want your goldfish to live long, healthy lives don't keep them in tropical tanks.
Given that this is the "Freshwater Newbie" forum, ease up on the turbo. The "subjective opinion" line is a little too sarcastic to be constructive.
I know, I overreacted... I went back to edit it out but it wont let me D:
Someone I know is keeping a blood parrot cichlid, a koi, a pleco, and a comet goldfish together all in a heated tank... >_> If thats not a random assortment of fish that shouldnt be kept together <(((><
:worthy:
sorry
It's cool. I too hold people in other forums to a higher standard, but I try to remember to let the mistakes go in this one.
