Do you prefer Odd or Even numbers of fish in your schools?

[MartinBlank]

Topic says it all.... just wondering what the opinions are out there concerning this.... prefer an add number of fish? even number? don't care?

Pure curiosity

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

It all depends on the type of fish your talking about. Some fish really are no good in even numbers and others are better in odd. depends on the fish

 

[meegosh]

I think it all depends on what you want. I wanted a school of neons once so I got 5, then added 5 more over time, etc. So eventually I think I had 15 or so. On the other hand, I got 10 von rios a while back just because that was all that was left. I don't think there is a benefit one way or another if you are talking about large schools.

 

[MartinBlank]

It all depends on the type of fish your talking about. Some fish really are no good in even numbers and others are better in odd. depends on the fish

I would be really interested if you could expand no this thought. What are some types of fish that do better in even schools? What do better in odd? That thought hadn't even occurred to me

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Female bettas do better in 3, cherry barbs do better in a group of 6 or more depending on the female/male ratio, gold barbs do better in groups of 5, cories like groups of 6 or more, etc...

All these numbers are my experiance only and as always there are people who experiance other outcomes so dont take my word as law.

 

[krap101]

I've begun to think that fish like neons cardinals and most tetras and cories might do better in odd groups. It might be in my head, but I noticed when in small numbers (like in aquariums) like 6-8, the school tends to split down the middle and stays separate for alot of the time. If you have an odd number, then one group will always be bigger, and they'll recombine. I haven't tested this out totally yet, but I kind of got the idea with ants/bees. When choosing a new nest/hive, a single ant moving in one direction can change the location of the new hive. It may not be true, but it's what I like to think. When you get hundreds or thousands of these fish, these problems become really minute.

 

[Silent Night]

I tend to lean more towards odd. Everyone has a different opinion of how many certain species may or may not prefer.

In most cases (if you have a small LFS like me) it entirely depends on stock at the time of purchase!

 

[HN1]

Even or odd makes no difference. Until I see proof differently, I'm operating under what has proven true in my tanks. Fish need proper groupings, but they don't really care if their population is divisible by 2 or not. They're not big on math.

 

[logansmomma1228]

I've begun to think that fish like neons cardinals and most tetras and cories might do better in odd groups. It might be in my head, but I noticed when in small numbers (like in aquariums) like 6-8, the school tends to split down the middle and stays separate for alot of the time. If you have an odd number, then one group will always be bigger, and they'll recombine. I haven't tested this out totally yet, but I kind of got the idea with ants/bees. When choosing a new nest/hive, a single ant moving in one direction can change the location of the new hive. It may not be true, but it's what I like to think. When you get hundreds or thousands of these fish, these problems become really minute.

I think this makes a lot of sense. Not saying that they are math whizzes, lol... but I am going to test this theory by getting 11 GWCs as opposed to 10. Then I plan on getting an even number of cories.

This might not be the greatest experiment since I am going to use two different kinds of fish... but I will add more if I think they would do better.

 

[krap101]

Instead, you could try starting with 8 gwc's and then add 3 more, (going from even to odd) taking into account that there are also more of them, which may be why they school better.

I did this with my cories a few years back, and I saw they liked to split off into smaller groups. It was either the increase (I think I went from 6 to 9) or the oddness that made them less likely to break off for long periods. I won't say that the number didn't have anything to do with it, but I'd like to think the oddness has something as well.

 

[Silent Night]

They're not big on math.

lol. got it in one. nuff said

 

[taylorodw]

IMO odd numbers are better because that means things are never perfectly split or even. Odd numbers are also known to be more pleasing to the eye.

 

[mgamer20o0]

it doesnt matter.

IMO odd numbers are better because that means things are never perfectly split or even. Odd numbers are also known to be more pleasing to the eye.

how can the eye tell the difference if there was 50 fish in one tank ant 51 in another?

 

[krap101]

Drop a box of matches, and see which way they fall?

 

[DragonFish71]

Odd. According to Japanese numerology, odd numbers are lucky.

 

[BlackMagic]

i can never go with even,

i bought 6 tiger barb, one day 1 die, so i went back to pick up 3 more to add to the tank. couple week later 1 die. so everytime i try to even it up. one always end up dying.

same thing happen when i bought 6 Eye Red Tetra.

same thing happen when i have 6 red belly. one end up dinner.

so ever since than, whenever i buy fish, i go with a odd number.