shoaling fish

[Andrew G]

Can anyone recommend a good hardy shoaling fish. Something colorful, small and active. (I've had zebra danios but then seem too drab).

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I highly recommend Black Neon Tetra's. They're very active and seem to "play" alot. Keep them with smaller fish or bottom dwellers and they will be fine.

Great fish! I have a school of 6 and 3 regular neons. (which I will be adding too)

 

[Andrew G]

I already have 4 but they don't shoal, Guess I should add some more

 

[fish_keeper2]

what size tank is it......for ones for a smaller tank how about:
neon]
black neon
glo lite
harliquins
wcmn

for a larger tank maybe some tiger barbs

ill think of more later

 

[sylvia]

Harlequin rasboras are by far the most likely to actualy shoal of all the commonly available shoaling species.

Having said that, no fish will school if kept in a small tank where they can see each other from any point and where they feel no nervous need to stay close together.

If you want a fish to school you need to put them in a relatively large environment with tall objects to break up their line of sight and a few larger fish thrown in to encourage this instinctive behaviour.

The only fish you'll find schooling regardless are cory catfish

If what you want is just a long list of shoaling species then tell us what size tank you have and what other fish are in it and I'm sure you'll get plenty more compatible suggestions.

 

[zephyr]

adding to sylvia's reply, SHOALING IS A DEFENSIVE MECHANISM IN NATURE.

but yeh, i recommend harlequin rasboras as they are easy to take care of average tetra size and hardy fish

 

[toadie]

Adding to what's already been said -
I agree that Harlequin Rasboras are loads of fun to watch as are the black skirt tetras. Have you thought about cardinal tetras? I don't have any myself so I don't know how hardy they are, but the one's I've seen at my LFS seem to school more readily than any other fish and they are quite brilliant - like a neon tetra on color steroids.

 

[RedShark]

Yea the cardinals are a very beatiful fish. In order to succesfuly maintain them though you need soft water and an acidic pH. Also some shaded area in the tank for them. Imo, one of the most non hardiest fish out there.

Cherry barbs (fancy tailed) is what Andrew should consider. They make an excellent display of a deep yet bright red to your aquarium. They are also very hardy fish, i just finished cycling my tank with 6 of them.

 

[andywg]

I'd just like to point out that the defensive nature of shoaling is only one of four main reasons identified for shoaling.

The others are ease of reproduction, better food searching ability, and increased swimming efficiency (especially in the polarised mass known as schools).

However, if you want to see a shoal then the more the better. I know it's harder for us to do but at the lfs in one of their display tanks (I'd guess it's around 200 gallons) they have bumped the cardinal tetra shoal up from 20 to over 50 and as a result, while there are always a few spread out, they do tend to shoal a lot better.

Andy

 

[greyko]

Poor zebras! I like their shimmery silver and deep blue. But, the gold variety is quite stunning. So that might be an option with danios.

is about the best photo i could get of mine, too fast.

 

[Barracuda518]

I dont understand why your Danios arent schooling and very active. How many do you have? Do they go crazy when you feed them? I have 7 of them and they are very active all the time..

 

[rdd1952]

The aquarium environment sometimes doesn't produce the "need" to school/shoal. Most fish school in the wild for protection. The old "safetly in numbers" thing. In most aquariums, we pick fish that are compatible with each other so after a while the fish realize that they aren't apt to be eaten so they begin to swim alone freely. That's not necessarily a bad thing. A fish that isn't scared or stressed is generally a much healthier fish.

 

[Weaver]

My rummy nosed tetras are the tightest shoaling fish I have.They are colourful and extremely active but are really fussy about water conditions

 

[GSD]

fish mostly only shoal when threatened,if they feel safe they will often break up.but they do come back together usually when feeding or when a change of environment occours.
some fish though do shoal all the time(cories as sylvia said)

as the tank (im guessing the 1 in your sig?)is only 15 gallons you cant really get many more fish.as neons do need quite abit of space even though they are small in size.

 

[Andrew G]

Thanks to everyone for your comments and recommendations.