Which tetras school the best?

[eah]

I have 10 serpae tetras in my 55 gallon tank. They will sometimes school but often they will spread out and explore on their own. I'm guessing it's because I don't really have any "predator" fish in the tank. I do have a blue gourami, but he's pretty peaceful and only about 3" long.

Anyhow, I've been considering replacing the serpae tetras with a different type of tetra (or other schooling fish). I'm not planning on doing it for a while because I don't have enough time to set up a QT tank and (more importantly) find a good home for the serpae tetras. It is something that I've been thinking about in the back of my mind though.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might go about selecting a type of fish that is more likely to school in my 55 that would also work well with the tank's current inhabitants (5 peppered corydoras, 1 blue gourami, 1 rubberlip pleco). This is provided, of course, that I am able to find a good home for the serpae tetras! The fish would need to be pretty readily available and hardy.

I'd appreciate your opinions on this.

 

[justrelax]

i recently added four penguin tetra's to my 55 and boy are they fun to watch! in fact, i think i may get a few more to add to the group...
they are ALWAYS swimming back and forth, back and forth. they don't bother anyone else in the tank, and they have really nice colors. at first you could only see the black stripe along the bottom of their tail fin, now they have this great yellow trim below the black stripe, and this greenish stripe the length of them above it. they mostly hang out towards the top of the tank, so they are easily visible.
good luck!

 

[R&L]

My head/tail light tetras(6) school really good. Sometimes they even join in with the scissor tail rasboras.

 

[Codefox]

I've seen H&Ts school with Black Skirts...makes for a nice display

 

[hc8719]

why get rid of your serpaes? your tank is big enough to hold much more

no tetras will school if there arent big fish present, cardinals are a common but colorful fish

imo, buying hordes of tetra's isnt the answer to anything, they are always cheap and easy to find, and in the end you have a bunch of cheap fish, when you wish you had put the money towards a couple larger more impressive fish

you want a fish people take a second look at, get a bgk, silver dollars, clown loachs, tiger barbs, glass cats, kissing gouramis,

tetras are only a part of a tropic tank, without other fish, your tank will always be missing something

thats just my opinion

 

[TomK2]

I have some pristella tetras tha school rather well. I have 10 of them. They are usually in two loose groups, but when spooked they get into one tight group. The schooling is a defense mechanism, so when happy and going about thier business, schooling is less likely.

 

[HannahJ]

The Buenos Aires tetras in my mother's 15 gallon school very closely together, but that might just be because there are only three of them (as soon as we get my mom's plecostomus moved out, the number will be going up). They're large for tetras, though, so you might not find them as attractive.

 

[eah]

For some reason, I prefer small fish. One day, when I have space for a 90 gallon, I might upgrade and get some fish that grow to a large size. But, for now, I think I'll have to stick to smaller fish in my 55.

I guess I had been hoping to have a school of fish that would actually school. It's nothing against the serpaes, I just figured I would ask in case others had better experiences with different tetras schooling more tightly. I definitely recognize that in the absence of a threat, fish won't school as much. And, I certainly don't want to stress out my fish, I just wanted to figure out if there was an easy way to get them to school or replace them with fish that would.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

 

[JustOneMore20]

I think the best schoolers I've seen are Rummynose tetras. They aren't too hardy though. I have some in my 55g and they school all the time. It may be because there are 3 angels in the tank, but even my other tetras don't school all the time.

 

[hc8719]

I definitely recognize that in the absence of a threat, fish won't school as much. And, I certainly don't want to stress out my fish,

putting a larger fish in a tank wont put stress on schooler fish, they'll just stick together

i mean if tetras in the amazon got stressed every time a larger fish swam by, they'd all of committed suicide

 

[eah]

putting a larger fish in a tank wont put stress on schooler fish, they'll just stick together

What sort of fish would you recommend then (that wouldn't have a problem living with my blue gourami)? I might be open to getting one or two large fish if it would help them to school.

i mean if tetras in the amazon got stressed every time a larger fish swam by, they'd all of committed suicide

Point taken. But, isn't there a difference when they're in an aquarium and there's only ten of them compared to being in a ginormous school in a huge body of water? I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just wondering.