Good schooling fish for hard/highGH water?

[Bol]

My 46 US gallon tank is stable and cycled at 7.8 pH, 19 GH, and 10 KH. (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10-20 nitrates). Temp is 78-80 degrees F (25-27 C?). Moderately to heavily planted.

I have had zero luck with neon tetras. They die continuously for no apparent reason. Seems every day one will "leave the school" and hover near the bottom under a large plant leaf. Invariably, this fish is dead the next morning. I'm leaning towards thinking that the high pH/hardness is probably the reason. In any case, I'm tired of killing them.

So, I'm looking for another good shoaling fish. Zebra danios are not an option. The other tankmates are:

2 small (2") angels
1 dwarf gourami
4 platys
2 guppies, male
2 oto cats
3 spotted cories

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[aquarius]

How about cherry barbs? There are also white clouds and rainbowfish that do better if kept in a group. I'm pretty sure that these fish do well in your range of pH, not sure about hardness though

 

[Lateral Line]

Cherry Barbs aren't really a schooling fish, best kept as a pair, or a male and a couple of females.

 

[aquarius]

oh really? i thought they were like tiger barbs. learned something new

 

[guppymonkey]

A lot of the barbs (well basically all of them) are nippers. Some people have kept them in large groups and say that stops the nipping tendency. I personally have always had nippers, even when I had a bunch of barbs they had a tendency to harass all the other fish, even the corys!

 

[rsz]

why dont ya want zebra danios? they'd be my number one choice . then there are all the other tetras B) . i have glowlight tetras, but they aren't the strictest of the schoolers . i've heard that black neon tetras are hardier than plain neon tetras. how about them? i found you a page about glowlights, but i couldn't find the black neons on that website

info about glowlights

 

[Bol]

No danios because I've never seen any that weren't little punks , and I have a couple of guppies.

I got 6 lemon tetras, and they seem to be doing ok so far.

 

[Debo]

Get some Green Tiger Barbs. Mine are a riot to watch. They are pretty good about behaving themselves. They harass my red tailed shark occasionally when he is trying to eat, but he kicks their butts really good.
We love the tiger barbs and highly recommend them. We have 6 in a 60 gallon tank.
Deb