What strange "schools" do you have in your tanks?

[Sidi]

When I decided to go planted on my main tank a couple of my fish had to go, a school of 5 tinfoil barbs (the borg) and a marbled headstander (Fido). I ignored the fact that the headstander used to hang out with them, so they became separated, the barbs to a larger tank and the headstander downgraded to my girlfriend's 29 with guppies, mollies, hatchetfish, and tetras. The headstander, as far as I had read, wasn't a schooling fish at all and was aggressive towards his own species.

Of course the barbs were fine with the move, since they're more focused on playing ring-around-the-rock or "let's see how many fish we can pack in the corner of the tank" (when not eating their weight in food). Over time though we started to get worried about the headstander, he didn't seem happy. He was always on one side of the tank pushing against the glass, and we began to notice the male guppies were picking on him a bit (they didn't bite fins, but were sort of picking at his side...despite being 1/4 the size of the headstander).

Anyway, we decided to try putting him in with the barbs, and he has been assimilated into the borg once again. He spends half his time following them and half his time behaving like a normal headstander. I'm not sure what will happen as the borg continue to grow and become much larger than him, but so far they seem to just ignore him. Right now they're maybe a half inch longer and two or three times his bulk.

Anyway, I was curious about other strange schools/friends people have in their tank. I know there have to be some other strange ones out there.

 

[David14259]

My Albino cherry barb schools with my 3 rummy nose tetras. I think the rest of the normal cherry barbs kicked him out of the club.

 

[Regen311]

I have about 5 white cloud minnows, 5 zebra danios and 1 pearl danio (that actuallly got put in with the fish by accident at the fish store)... and I was worried about the pearl danio being alone, but he schools with the other danios and white clouds. They all school together in my 55 gallon. It's fun to watch really. They don't always swim around together, sometimes tehy're spread all over the top of the tank, but they also swim around together pretty often too. It doesn't seem like they nkow the difference. There will be a group of 2 white clouds and 3 zebra danios swimming around together, and then the whole group will swim together. I think this might be a common thing though, it surprised me though.

 

[plecoperson]

Lessee...I think the pygmy cories and the H formosas are pretty weird, and sometimes the otos join into that school as well. They really are pretty similar in color and pattern, I guess!

Then there's the sidthimunki loaches and the zebra danios...that is pretty odd, too....

 

[Regen311]

I forgot the strange pair in my tank. I have a small platy who thinks that he is a white cloud. There are 5-6 other platys in the tank, but he was a baby who grew up, so he's about 1/2 the size of the others right now. He chases teh white clouds around... almost like he's trying to mate with them... which is funny but kind of creepy. He seems to be schooling with them...

 

[locorosa]

I have two Panda Corie's and two Yo-Yo's that love to hang out as a group. One of the Yo-Yo's in particluar like the larger Panda. They are fun to watch as they patrol side by side on the bottom of the tank.

 

[WaterPond]

red serpae tetras, clown loaches, and boesmani rainbowfish all school together in my tank.

 

[coldmachineUK]

My black neons school with my white cloud mountain minnows, even though they look more similar to the Blue Emperor tetra I have in the tank. Always puzzled me that one.

 

[tropicfishman]

my 29 gallon is all about what fish I like, I have:

4 head and tail light tetras
3 tiger barbs ( 2 died )
red tail shark
2 small clown loaches
black skirt tetra
2leopard danios
3 zebra danios
and a ton of live plants lol

 

[Michael]

At one time I had 5 Clown Loaches and a CAE in my 120. When the Clowns did their clown dance around the tank the CAE would join them, very entertaining. The CAE did get big and aggresive and now lives in a tang tank with shellies. He is 8 years old and 7" long. Everyone frowns on CAE's but I have to admit I like him.

 

[kansei]

I have a school of 5 Blackskirt Tetras , 3 Silver dollars and 3 Bala sharks . The balas will leave the school for a high speed chase but always come back .

 

[aquariumnoob]

I have a 10 gal with 3 otos, 3 cories, a betta, and a bamboo shrimp. the betta spends about half of his time cuddled with the cories. guess the guy just gets lonely sometimes.

 

[STARFYRE]

My fish aren't really schooling fish. I have 3 yellow severums that have formed a posse with my marbled angelfish. At one time a tiger barb was also part of the crew, but he has gone to the big ocean in the sky.