Schooling/shoaling fish....

[FishNturt808]

Are there any schooling/shoaling fish that would be happy in a smaller school, say 3-5? Versus the standard 6-8 minimum.

 

[itiwhetu]

Most of them, Schooling/shoaling numbers are man made, ask the fish, I think as long as they feel safe and have a couple of mates they are happy. Pretty much like you.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

In my daughter's tank I have 5 glofish tetras. They are schooling fish and although they sometimes have a go at each other to establish a new pecking order from time to time, they are peaceful and seem happy. I have not had any problems with 5 of them in the tank. It is a 20 gallon and I have several silk plants to break up line of sight and give them places to hide if they need to. I will probably add 1 or 2 more soon but I have not seen any ill effects from just having 5.

 

[GobyMaster11276]

Perhaps guppies or endlers could be suitable? Just be wary of genders, as you’d want 1 male to several females.

 

[Wills]

Most of them, Schooling/shoaling numbers are man made, ask the fish, I think as long as they feel safe and have a couple of mates they are happy. Pretty much like you.

Some of this is true but... the concept of numbers for schooling fish is man made but that is because we are trying to replicate how they live in the wild and there is a good reason for this.

If you had a few neon tetras (as an example) like 1 or 2 in part of the amazon they would be looking round for their school and would assume that their current location is not safe because usually there are dozens if not hundred of them around which would mean everyone else has been eaten or killed by predators, pollution, end of the flood season etc. So when they are in low numbers like this in a tank (especially when they are first added to a tank) they are going to end up distressed and be thinking something is not right. Distressed fish are much more susceptible to disease and bad water quality.

To try and fix that we can try and keep them in groups big enough to mean that most of the time they can see and sense their own species in their line of sight and periphery most of the time meaning that the distress wont happen, the fish are happier and more likely to stay healthy.

Further to this a lot of schooling species have developed behaviour to establish a hierachy and dominance in a group which can be problematic in a tank setting if they are not kept in big enough numbers for a proper hierachy to be established. I'm thinking of fish like Tiger Barbs, Serpae Tetras, Blue Tetras etc who have a reputation for being nippy but to an extent this behavior is present in most schooling fish.

Keeping schooling fish in the suggested numbers is based on best practise in order to give you the best chance of good results, keeping them with 'a few mates' wont do the same but it is down to you and the decisions you want to make for your tank. Equally as suggested above there are other types of fish that do better in smaller numbers it just depends on what other fish you want to keep and what kind of tank you have.

Wills

 

[FishNturt808]

I got lucky at Petco, of all places, they had Buenos Aires tetras. Went with 5, so I still have space to add a couple more if they seem unhappy