Looking to get a school of red cardinal tetras, but would it be okay to have them with my school of white minnows + harlequin rasboras?
BBradbury said:Hello Parris...
If your tank is large enough, I'd say 38 gallons + and well planted, then groups of small fish in the same tank would work well. The Rasboras are a little different than the other two. They aren't schooling fish, but are comfortable in a group of 6 or more like your schooling fish.
I'd have some floating plants in the tank for protection for your schooling fish. They don't often swim near the bottom of the tank. Anacharis is excellent. A fast grower and good nutrition too.
B
Parrisgg said:How are the rasboras different from schooling fish? I will look into getting the anacharis.
brunettebaby4571 said:My rasboras have never really schooled tightly except for when I first got them. Guess they got really comfortable. Same with my neon tetras
How are the rasboras different from schooling fish? I will look into getting the anacharis.
BBradbury said:Hello again Par...
OK. I understand I'm getting a little too technical here and the difference in these fish is likely very small, but Rasboras are shoaling fish, not schooling fish. Briefly, schooling fish stay in tight groups during the daylight hours for protection. When one moves, the others mimic that move. Watch any species of Tetras, these are all schooling fish.
Shoaling fish will stay in loose groups when they forage for food, but their movements are entirely individual. An example is species of Corydoras "the little cats".
Your Rasboras will be much less grouped and will move individually.
Just thought I'd better explain me statement.
B
aqua_chem said:My harlequin rasboras always schooled very well by the classical definition of schooling. WCMM are a good example of shoaling fish. Tetras are definitely in the middle, and it varies highly from species to species and from tank to tank. Almost all comfortable, stress free fish won't school particularly well.
brunettebaby4571 said:My rasboras have never really schooled tightly except for when I first got them. Guess they got really comfortable. Same with my neon tetras
Tetra1990 said:+1 both my neons and harlequin Rasboras don't really school or shoal. They are just in like a group. Although separate groups/tanks.
Well I guess that's good to know...I've been reading for two days looking for a better schooling group for the mid to high levels of our tank. We thought the cardinals would do it but I found out that shoal not school. Several people recommended danios and rasboras...but I guess as long as everyone is comfy none will really school. He will be bummed...
hpiguy said:Danios and rasboras would be great. Even though they shoal, it looks like a "school" to most people.
I have some zebra danios in with harlequin rasboras and they really look great and compliment each other as they move about.
They'll split up their groups, then come back together for a half hour, then split up. It's fun to watch. Sometimes the two species even intermingle and move about as one big group.
On the other hand, the cherry barbs and black skirt tetras, which were bought as a school of each and stuck together at first spend most of their time split up exploring and only rarely come together as a group.
In a 40B, a large group of each would be very pleasing to watch. Add in a school of cory cats on the bottom (6+ size group) and they also will putter about all over the bottom woven together.
Parrisgg said:Looking to get a school of red cardinal tetras, but would it be okay to have them with my school of white minnows + harlequin rasboras?