Are there any wide body tetra that are active school like rummies?

[anewbie]

Most of the wide body tetras i've owned like serpae, white fin rosy, ... are similar to cardinals in that they mostly sit still all day and look pretty. Are there any that are active schoolers like rummies and are comfortable in 82-84 temp range ?

 

[GaryE]

In my experience, wide bodies signal habitat, and the habitat they tend to prefer leads to the lifestyle you describe. They act more like a herd - keeping in touch and staying low where there's cover.
Shoaling is an open water defense, as is reflective silvery colouring. The only shoaling wide bodied Characin I can think of are hatchet fish, which also happen to like your really high temperatures,

 

[Oblio]

My 9 Black Skirts are pretty active and tend to school. When I had a single Black Skirt, he would rarely move at all. The 6 Buenos Aries Tetras even more so, though not as wide bodied. They all cohabitate nicely.

Edit: Never mind, just saw the temp range.

 

[robmcd]

Lamp eye tetras (Poropanchax normani) school well, as do Columbian tetras (Hyphessobrycon columbianus).

 

[anewbie]

In my experience, wide bodies signal habitat, and the habitat they tend to prefer leads to the lifestyle you describe. They act more like a herd - keeping in touch and staying low where there's cover.
Shoaling is an open water defense, as is reflective silvery colouring. The only shoaling wide bodied Characin I can think of are hatchet fish, which also happen to like your really high temperatures,

Which species of hatchet fish do well at 83-84 ? The reason for the larger fish size is fear the geo will eat them.

 

[GaryE]

Geos ate my rummy nose...

All hatchets get out into the sunlit warmer water. The danger is they are almost flying fish - they will take off and can travel 2 metres. Plus they never leave the surface, and are a bit 'wasted' in low tanks. You have to look up at them.

I had a variety of Geophagus and Satanoperca for years, but the tetras I had them with aren't often found in stores, unfortunately.

 

[anewbie]

Geos ate my rummy nose...

All hatchets get out into the sunlit warmer water. The danger is they are almost flying fish - they will take off and can travel 2 metres. Plus they never leave the surface, and are a bit 'wasted' in low tanks. You have to look up at them.

I had a variety of Geophagus and Satanoperca for years, but the tetras I had them with aren't often found in stores, unfortunately.

Can you suggest some species of tetra - there are other hard to find fishes i have to order so i might be able to find them. The geo i will keep will most likely be wineilleri though i might fallback on sveni if i must.

 

[GaryE]

With winemilleri, I committed the ultimate sin of mixing continents, and had some African tetras, relatives of the usually available Congo tetra in there. For other, similar Geo species, I had Hemiodus gracilis tetras - geographically right but very uncommon.

You could look for Congo tetras, or yellow Congos, Alestopetersius caudalis, one of my favourites.
Rainbowfish don't really shoal and are really geographic misses if you want a regional tank, but they work well with larger geos even if the water is a bit warmer than they like. I never went as warm as you with my Geo tanks. I stayed at 26c, 79f.

 

[GaryE]

Lamp eye tetras (Poropanchax normani) school well, as do Columbian tetras (Hyphessobrycon columbianus).

I had normani (sold as tetras, but they are killifish, not even close to tetras) with Geos. It was beautiful, but the Geos ate them all one day when I was at work. For about 6 months, I thought I had made a great choice. Then I guess the Geos agreed....
Colombians would work, but nip sometimes unless you have a lot and a good flow.

 

[anewbie]

With winemilleri, I committed the ultimate sin of mixing continents, and had some African tetras, relatives of the usually available Congo tetra in there. For other, similar Geo species, I had Hemiodus gracilis tetras - geographically right but very uncommon.

You could look for Congo tetras, or yellow Congos, Alestopetersius caudalis, one of my favourites.
Rainbowfish don't really shoal and are really geographic misses if you want a regional tank, but they work well with larger geos even if the water is a bit warmer than they like. I never went as warm as you with my Geo tanks. I stayed at 26c, 79f.

I want to have a few GBR hence warmer temps and geo that prefer warmer temp. Hemiodus gracilis might be the ticket. They are kind of large but maybe that is ok - i guess 15 or 20 would be a good number ?

 

[robmcd]

I had normani (sold as tetras, but they are killifish, not even close to tetras) with Geos. It was beautiful, but the Geos ate them all one day when I was at work. For about 6 months, I thought I had made a great choice. Then I guess the Geos agreed....
Colombians would work, but nip sometimes unless you have a lot and a good flow.

I'm sorry, I posted the wrong name. I meant red eye tetras (Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae).

 

[anewbie]

I'm sorry, I posted the wrong name. I meant red eye tetras (Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae).

They don't much like temps in lower mid 80s.

 

[robmcd]

They don't much like temps in lower mid 80s.

I kept a school of 50 for 3 years at 82F and they thrived.

 

[anewbie]

I kept a school of 50 for 3 years at 82F and they thrived.

Ok that is good to know. Do they school much or mostly just sit still ?

 

[robmcd]

Ok that is good to know. Do they school much or mostly just sit still ?

They were in a 100 gallon, 5' tank with Tapajos geos, so they were very active and would shoal together.