Schooling fish

[Alin10123]

Hey guys,
Just stocked up on some fish since my big tank is finished cycling. The new ones are in the 29 gallon getting treated and in quarantine. Anyways...
I have at least 5-6 of each type of tropical community fish in there.

the 8 neons are schooling together like crazy. They are almost glued together. The platy's however, are sort of everywhere. There are 2 of them that always swim together. But the one in the tank originally is sort of just alone there not wanting to interact with the other fish.

Then i've got 2 tequila sunrise guppies, and 5 fancy guppies. These are sort of all over the place too. Aren't these supposed to school? Can the fancy and the tequila guppies breed together?

[Damon]

Livebearers are not schooling fish. Yes your guppies can breed.

[Cichlid Man]

No livebearers naturually school. Your guppies will interbreed quite redily.

[Alisha]

I have about 25 guppies and they school. And yes, it is quite easy to breed guppies.

[DUSTIN323]

I don't think they're actually considered a schooling fish like tetras, but they will school and stay in a group most of the time but they'll also spread out sometimes.

[Alin10123]

Tetras meaning all types of tetras? hehehe nice
Just went out to get some more tetras today. hehehe need to fill up that 55.

[maxpayne_lhp]

I rarely saw my guppies schooling up together... and most of the tetras I've kept did school, though for some species, the 'tightness' can be small (my black widows, ie)

[Damon]

Live bearers do not school. Males will chase females around trying to mate but they do not school.

[Alin10123]

As for schooling fish like in my 55 gallon, my tetras will only school if i run up to the tank all of the sudden. I'm assuming that this is natural instinct for them. I'm assuming they usually dont school becuase they dont feel that there's a natural threat to them.

Anyways... i was thinking about getting 2 pearl gouramis. Since these fish will be a bit larger than the tetras. I was wondering if their presence would help my tetras want to school? They sort of just look scattered out and not very pretty when they aren't schooling.

[DavidDoyle]

Schooling is a defensive behavior. Unless they feel threatened, most schooling fish tend to meander rather than school. If they feel extremely threatened they may go befond schooling and just hide.

[micstarz]

if they are really provoked, guppies might just school. as weel as black skirts, blind cave tetras dont school well, but like to be social.

[Alin10123]

Originally Posted by DavidDoyle

Schooling is a defensive behavior. Unless they feel threatened, most schooling fish tend to meander rather than school. If they feel extremely threatened they may go befond schooling and just hide.

So... will a fish like a pearl gourami that's quite a bit bigger than they are make them feel threatened?

[Damon]

Maybe. Depends on the agressive nature of the gourami. As you can see in the ocean, sharks swim through schools of fish all the time. What it boils down to is do they think the shark going to eat them? Probably not as it would take too much energy for the shark to catch enough food. Not worth the sharks time. Say theory applies in a tank. Is a gourami going to spend time trying to catch a fish that may not fit in his mouth? probably not. Gouramis are not fast fish and other fish aren't in a gouramis diet. The eat bugs and other critters of the sort in the wild. You have to balance the cost/gain for fish preying on anything.

[Cichlid Man]

For example, you wouldn't keep a discus with a snakehead, which may or may not over time take a chunk out of the discus fish, because of the expense you'll be risking. However, people wouldn't mind keeping zebra danios with pirahnas even though the zebras will probably disapear.

[Alin10123]

Darn... so i guess there's not a real harmless way to trick the fish into schooling. lol

Would a bunch of plants help? They are on the way once i get a replacement tank.

[Damon]

Won't help them school but will bring out more color and make them feel more comfortable.

[DavidDoyle]

I have a school of about 40 cardinal tetras in a planted 75 gal- it holds 5 clown loaches 4.5 to about 6.5 inches, 5 saes 5+ inch and fat and a few sterbai cory. The cards are leery of the SAEs and clowns, which never bother the cards at all. But the shear size of the fish is enough to make em school at times. The cards amost never hide in this tank.

I used to keep a school of cards in a well planted 45 gal with angels and some 3-4 inch denisonii barbs (somewhat similar to sae in appearance and body shape, but not as great an algae eater). The denisonii then to swim in a group more so than outright schooling and they are extremely active, can move very fast and they dont eat cards. However, the combination of the constant rapid movement combined with their larger than card size forced the cards into hiding in the plants all day, except at feeding time.

The moral of the story is to choose a fish noticably larger than a card but which is not overly active, not normally fast moving and unlikely to eat a card and see what happens. If it works, great, if not, then try something else.

The pearl might work if alone. However a pair or 2 males is probably asking for trouble. If you can find 3 SAEs that would work, esp in a planted tank

[Alin10123]

Originally Posted by DavidDoyle

I have a school of about 40 cardinal tetras in a planted 75 gal- it holds 5 clown loaches 4.5 to about 6.5 inches, 5 saes 5+ inch and fat and a few sterbai cory. The cards are leery of the SAEs and clowns, which never bother the cards at all. But the shear size of the fish is enough to make em school at times. The cards amost never hide in this tank.

I used to keep a school of cards in a well planted 45 gal with angels and some 3-4 inch denisonii barbs (somewhat similar to sae in appearance and body shape, but not as great an algae eater). The denisonii then to swim in a group more so than outright schooling and they are extremely active, can move very fast and they dont eat cards. However, the combination of the constant rapid movement combined with their larger than card size forced the cards into hiding in the plants all day, except at feeding time.

The moral of the story is to choose a fish noticably larger than a card but which is not overly active, not normally fast moving and unlikely to eat a card and see what happens. If it works, great, if not, then try something else.

The pearl might work if alone. However a pair or 2 males is probably asking for trouble. If you can find 3 SAEs that would work, esp in a planted tank

You mean trouble as in fighting? But i should be ok if i get one male and one female right?

[DavidDoyle]

No. A male and female gourami will naturally try to spawn. They are very similar to bettas in spawning and the female can not be left in the tank as the male will not allow her near the eggs. He will similarly protect the egg from all other fish in sight. A single male or a single female would likely be OK. Two males would be a disaster as well.