Colorful, schooling fish

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sagar77

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
28
Location
texas
HI,

This is not only a great site but the forums are full of helpful people willing to share with rookies like me!

Background:
I have a 5-weeks-old 29 gallon fully-cycled tank. I already have in it 3 beautiful Platy, 1 blue dwarf gourami, 1 mystery snail (neutered) and 3 spotted corys. Now I have space for 11 inches of fish.

Here are my questions:
1) Can anyone suggest any really colorful and small schooling fish that are easy to care for? I want to get some cardinal tetras but they are too delicate for a beginner.

2) My tank is only 30 inches long. Do you think this will hamper the schooling behavior of fish? Earlier I had 4 rasboras and 2 zebra danios that did not school too well.

Any suggestions apart from these questions will be greatly apprecaited too. I could use some of your expertise.

Thanks a ton.
 
I personally love raspborras, but I have not had good luck w/ them, they're usually pretty delicate, at least in my experience. Zebra danios are great and they are schooling fish, but they don't tend to "school" like most schooling fish. I'd say your best bet is some kind of tetras. I don't remember what mine were, but they were whitish w/ orange tails... they were pretty cool to watch....
 
bunebop,

Wow! That was quick! Thanks!

I've had great luck with my brilliant rasboras. I can easily get a school of 6 to fill my tank. But, I want something more colorful!

I just saw the fish you a e stocking at the moment. One question- I really love male bettas. However, I heard that they don't do well in a community tank, so I bought a gourami instead. You are keeping a betta in a community tank. Have you afced any problems?
 
That male betta is only with plecos, which should not compete for space or food with the betta.

Getting fish to school in a small tank is hard (my tetras don't school in there 80 gal). For the most part, fish shoal, in which they are in the same area as each other, but not facing the same direction. If a predator was added, they would school (selfish herd behavior). I don't recommend adding a predator, I just want to you know that most fish will not show true schooling behavior in a home aquarium.
 
Well you could get a couple of female bettas which are as colorful as the males only with shorter fins, I am not sure whether they will school or not but they will establish a pecking order with one another and then settle down, and add nice color to any tank. Or you may want to try Mountain/White Cloud Minnows who don't come in a variety of color but are very pretty and school well.
 
female bettas which are as colorful as the males only with shorter fins, I am not sure whether they will school or not but they will establish a pecking order with one another and then settle down
Not only don't they school, but they may not get along with each other. I had two females in a 50 gal and they tried to tear each other apart.

White clouds are fun, but the 9 I have shoal :x
 
I have 5 bloodfin tetras in my 29. They are super active and pretty neat looking because they are silver with bright red fins and tails. They tend to school together for the most part, but also like to explore the tank on thier own. They seem pretty hardy (haven't lost any of them). I defintiely recommend them and am actually considering getting them for my 55 gallon when I upgrade!! Great fish!
 
Thanks a lot guys!

According to your suggestions- I will go to the LFS and make a choice between White clouds, bloodfin tetras, minnows and harlequins.
 
I myself love schooling fish and would highly recommend Tetras.

As mentioned above:
- Serpae tetras (beautiful redish/pink color!)
- Bloodfin tetras (silver bodies with red fins, very attractive!)

Also:
- Black Skirt tetras (black and silver)
- Gold barbs (passive for a barb)
- Danios (mine are blue striped on silver)

Flakes and bloodworms do them well.

HTH
Dan
 
You should probably have purchased more than 2 albino zebra danios to see how lively they can make your tank. I only have 4 (thinking of getting a couple more) but they tend to play tag and chase each other throughout the tank. Sometimes they do it in pairs, and sometimes they do it as a group. They're not really a schooling species, as they chase more than school! They brought a lot of life to my tank since I got them, so I highly recommend them for some fun fish to watch. The gold/whitish colour of my albino zebra danios adds some nice colour to the tank as well.

I also have 6 rasboras and they tend to shoal rather than school. They add some interesting colour and their mating dance is interesting to watch but mine don't do much other than swim back and forth. However, they are nice to have, in my tank setup at least.

You might have to consider quantity when considering your species as schooling fish probably do better in higher numbers.
 
OMG don't forget about the Neons(personal favorite) I admit they aren't the most hardy of schooling fish but once you establish a large school of them in your tank their very beautiful to watch. just my 2 cents :mrgreen:
 
I've kept both head and tail lights and pristella tetras and they look great in a well maintained tank.
 
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