Schooling Fish

[flipnshi]

I would like to have some colorful schooling fish top to mid levels. Any suggestions?

 

[phoenixgsd]

what about harlequin rasboras, nice peaceful fish

 

[flipnshi]

Googled them....they look cool. I was thinking more active colors without going the goldfish or koi route. A good variety of different colors.

 

[fluttermoth]

Which of your tanks are you intending to put these fish into?

 

[Fish Guy]

Tiger Barbs are colorful and very active. Are you putting these schooling fish in one of the tanks in your sig?

 

[flipnshi]

I was thinking about adding 6 to 8 for school in the 60 gallon tank. Already have a school of Tiger barbs in the 55 gallon. Ive had danios before and thought they would be a decent add. Do they come in a variety of colors, or just the zebra and leopard ones? Something small that wont add a lot to the bioload.

 

[SteM]

How about espei rasboras?

 

[sadguppy]

Rainbows colour up nicely given the chance and are pretty and a bit more unusual than most tetra?

 

[fluttermoth]

I wouldn't put any small, schooling fish in with Malawis, or jewel ciclids, they'll just be expensive snacks for the big fish

 

[flipnshi]

haha yeah that's the other thing they gotta be cichlid friendly. The "African tribe" stay pretty close to the bottom. Only coming up for pellets. Its a 60 gallon deep approx. 22 inches tall so Im thinking I can get away with a very small but formidable school towards the upper middle and top. Id like to find a species that has a lot of variations get like 2 of these and 2 of these and 2 of these. To have the multicolor thing going on.

Im limited to choices as well.. Petco, Petsmart and Pet Supermarket. No LFS around here at all, just 2 salt water ones.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

haha yeah that's the other thing they gotta be cichlid friendly. The "African tribe" stay pretty close to the bottom. Only coming up for pellets. Its a 60 gallon deep approx. 22 inches tall so Im thinking I can get away with a very small but formidable school towards the upper middle and top. Id like to find a species that has a lot of variations get like 2 of these and 2 of these and 2 of these. To have the multicolor thing going on.

Im limited to choices as well.. Petco, Petsmart and Pet Supermarket. No LFS around here at all, just 2 salt water ones.

Malawis mostly feed by looking up...they wont differentiate between pellets and schooling fish, it's nature.
"2 of these" and "2 of these" wont bring out the more vibrant, natural colours of your fish either...hence why the vast majority of smaller fish we keep always do better in larger number, 10+ being a good guide.

Terry.

 

[flipnshi]

So...I think that will add to much to the bioload, having 10+ of a new introduction. I don't want to mix the feeders with anything and the 55 gallon is very close to being too crowded for me. I decided to think about it more and just get some new backgrounds and change up the lighting specs. The 60 is the only one with plants, just a lot grass nothing spectacular. After doing a lil research I decided to go with the coral life, 10000 k for 29 and 55. The color specs really stand out nicely. Am a lil concerned that this will be too much stress on the fish tho. Might have to cut some of the on time for these. Have the lighting on timers so Ill get some pics up tomorrow if I can. I was going to get the 50/50 for the planted tank, but still debating it. Straight 10000k will decay the plants rather fast and 6700 is the recommended for better plant growth. The 50/50 is supposed to bring out the reds and blues nicely. But like I said it is deeper than than the others so it might work out better with better intensity.