Ha, no, cichlids are the opposite of shoaling neons I'd say.
Cichlids usually move about the tank rather freely and often rather independently of others of their own species, except that they have a very complex behavior with the other cichlids - there's very special territorial and mating behaviors to learn about and take into account. These vary by individual species of cichlids and then, just to add to the complexity, they are among the few types of fish (gouramis are another) which can have very different personalities on an individual fish basis, even within species type. They often (usually?) have an important relationship with the bottom of the tank, particularly caves and territories they consider home, but they still move about.
Very different from this are many tetra species. This fish are often found in huge shoals in the wild and depend on the communication of danger from their shoal-mates. They can disperse and be at ease apart from each other at times perceived as low danger, but they will tighten up into a group (how tightly depends on species) when they perceive something being wrong.
This is contrasted again if you look at various livebearer species, like platies, swordtails and guppies for instance. These fish mill all about the tank, top to bottom and pick at things, not having much of any shoaling behavior at all but also not having the complex mating behaviors or territorial behaviors of cichlids.
There are various other generalized behaviors of different groups of species you could describe, but one principle you can count on is that the longer you observe these different things for yourself the more you will come to recognize differences in the different species. So, for instance, even though you can usually count on the generalization that tetra species will shoal, as you get to know the different species you see interesting differences in the individual species and its quite fascinating, so enjoy!
~~waterdrop~~
