What Is A Fish That Can Be Happy W/o School?

[fshinggrl]

Forgive me for asking so many questions. I've been pouring over some books I picked up yesterday and am not finding answers. I am also looking up information on the internet about specific kinds of tropical fish. I find some information to be contradictive like one source tells me that Rasboras can be in groups starting as low at 3 but another site said 8 is a minimum number of them together.

BUT... I think I'll be getting a school of something (sorry, don't know what the pet store sells as of right now) peaceful like Tetras or golden cloud mtn minnows but I would like to have a few fish in there that don't have to school. BUT are still peaceful fish and would get along with the others. Understand?

Any suggestions?

Is it wrong that I'm trying for possibly top feeders and trying to find the exact opposite... bottom feeders?

Thanks. .. I hope you're not sick of me yet. I'm so excited to get fish but man.. there is a lot of stuff to know before getting fish and I am just trying to get all my t's crossed and i's dotted.

Please help a newbie!

 

[JMatthew]

No, getting some bottom feeding to go with schooling top feeders is great. You won't have fish trying to swim through the school constantly and disrupting it.

The majority of bottom feeders should work for what you are looking at!

Forgive me for asking so many questions. I've been pouring over some books I picked up yesterday and am not finding answers. I am also looking up information on the internet about specific kinds of tropical fish. I find some information to be contradictive like one source tells me that Rasboras can be in groups starting as low at 3 but another site said 8 is a minimum number of them together.

BUT... I think I'll be getting a school of something (sorry, don't know what the pet store sells as of right now) peaceful like Tetras or golden cloud mtn minnows but I would like to have a few fish in there that don't have to school. BUT are still peaceful fish and would get along with the others. Understand?

Any suggestions?

Is it wrong that I'm trying for possibly top feeders and trying to find the exact opposite... bottom feeders?

Thanks. .. I hope you're not sick of me yet. I'm so excited to get fish but man.. there is a lot of stuff to know before getting fish and I am just trying to get all my t's crossed and i's dotted.

Please help a newbie!

 

[fshinggrl]

No, getting some bottom feeding to go with schooling top feeders is great. You won't have fish trying to swim through the school constantly and disrupting it.

The majority of bottom feeders should work for what you are looking at!

A small catfish, (sorry don't have the exact name) in my books say that they need at least 6 fish in a tank. Is that not the case?

 

[JustFrozen]

i've read a few times that corys can be okay with 3 min, but dont quote me on that. maybe someone can confirm?

 

[kelly528]

No, getting some bottom feeding to go with schooling top feeders is great. You won't have fish trying to swim through the school constantly and disrupting it.

The majority of bottom feeders should work for what you are looking at!

A small catfish, (sorry don't have the exact name) in my books say that they need at least 6 fish in a tank. Is that not the case?

i've read a few times that corys can be okay with 3 min, but dont quote me on that. maybe someone can confirm?

You guys are thinking of 2 different types of corydoras catfish (aka cories).

The small ones fshingrrl mentioned from the book, Pygmy Cories (as well as their cousin te Dwarf Cory) get about an inch in length and do prefer larger schools (a minimum of 6). I have a shoal and they are so cute it makes me sick, but even my group of 7 ducks and covers whenever I come near the tank, just to give you an idea of how skittish they are in smaller schools. You could easily put about 10 in charge of cleanup in a 13g (US, that is!)

The ones JustFrozen is talking about are all your regular size cories. Go figure, but they will do just fine in a school of 3. This goes for pretty much any species that isn't a Dwarf Cory or a Pygmy Cory.



As for contradictory info on school size, yeah, it's pretty confusing. Your best bet is to go with the most popular answer in most cases. Also, go with legit sources (eg NOT corporate websites like aqualandpetsplus!). If all else fails, ask the question on a forum and let everyone else hash it out for you


Non-schooling fish include smaller gouramis (eg Dwarf, Sunset, Honey, Sparkling), bettas, hmm I am braindead at the moment! I'll post more when I think of them.
Hope that cleared things up!