Best Schooling Fish for Planted Tanks - Page 5 - Fish for the Planted Aquarium

bharada · 06-02-2005, 09:02 PM

Here are my Triginostigma (Rasbora) hengliis schooling in my 125g tank.

csfish · 06-02-2005, 09:27 PM

Looking at Amano's tanks and seeing what he stocks in his tanks is quite informative about schooling fish, which also prompted me to try different combinations of fish. Each of the fish I mention below are great schoolers on their own, but I also have found them to look (and interact) great together.

Combo #1
Rummies and Bloodfin tetras- Complementary coloring and body shape, look nice as a large group.

Combo #2
Pristella tetras, Bloodfin tetras and Harlequin Rasboras- Each have their own distinct body shapes and coloring, stay in their own groups, but look quite nice when they swim with and around each other.

Combo #3
Fancy goldfish (hard on plants!) and large Siamese algae eaters- Unusual combination that seems to work for me. Nice contrast in body shapes, coloring and behavior.

A combination that doesn't seem to work too well is a group of Penguin tetras, Neons and Red Phantom tetras. The Penguins and Red Phantoms are scattered in the upper and mid levels of this tank, while the Neons are huddled in a group in the lower level. Perhaps its the way this tank is planted, fairly thick with not much open swimming space, or just this combination of fish.

Fosty · 06-05-2005, 09:32 AM

Personally my favorite that I have owned is Lemon Tetras. I definatly think they schoold better than both Harlequin Rasboras and Cardinal Tetras. My favorite that I have ever seen are Kerri Tetras (sometimes called Purple Emperor tetras) (Impaichthys kerri). These fish can have some amazing colors, but usually don't show their colors in LFS tanks.

I also just got some Penguin Tetras. They look slightly plain, but they are very beautiful with a light silver body and a black stripe all the way down their body.

cmax916 · 06-06-2005, 11:54 PM

I like the Redline Shark for schooling fish. They swim very closely to each others and I love watching them eat because they really eat like sharks. As they get older, the red line will go from their eyes to almost to their tail. I have 5 Redline Sharks, 6 Electric Blue Jack Dempseys, 1 Redtail Shark, 3 SAE and 5 Congo Tertas. I enjoy watching swim across the tank. They all get along fine.

Lydia · 06-20-2005, 01:11 PM

long-finned zebra danios are my personal favorite...in my tank they school very well but some people seem to have trouble with them schooling

rti1000 · 06-22-2005, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neonfish3

I agree about the green neon's, I do like their color alot. I can't believe the price HOLY MACKEREL. Here they are just a little more expensive ($1.29)than reg. neon's.($0.79) My local fish store owner told me green neon's were seasonal and he only gets them this time of year. Anyone ever hear of that before. I don't see them in stores very often, but two that I visited this past week had them.
Steve

Where is that store at steve? My LFS gave me a break at 4/11.99 so i bought a school of 32 green neons and they stay really tight during the day but seperate at night loking for food. Really neat fish, I love the way their color is more subtle than the cardinal tetra. Mine stay really close like a 6x6 inch box all day

Andy

Andrew-amano-wannabe · 07-02-2005, 10:34 AM

well i am a big fan of the cardinal the only problem is its price, so i went on a search for alternative fish, so have experieced a number of shoaling fish.
It all depends on your set up if you have shrimp some fish are out of the questions, such as tiger barb which is a striking fish in large numbers especially the way it reacts to human interaction.
I have also kept glowlight tetras not a striking fish but pleasant enough, however once they had reached maturity they polished off all of my amano shrimp before spawning.
Tetras are popular becasue they are peaceful calm fish, however the larger the speciec of genus then the more powerful it jaws so shrimp lovers beware. the emperor tetra is a beautiful sight in large numbers, as is the white cloud minnow, tho this fish is aggressive towards other tankmates when reaches maturity, if you have bright lights in your tank however the colours do appear more impressive.
Finally the lemon tetra if you feed it good quality food live or frozen then the colours become stronger, they are a pleasant fish that is not easily intimidated by people approaching the tank, and whats more they are cheap enough 79pence each to have a large starting shoal, they are also quite tolerant of poor water conditions.
I my self have lemons in one tank and cardinals in the other, i think the king and queen on any planted tank is the discus and the cardinal tetra, the rich colours look so striking against the green background of a planted tank. But as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if you have an excellent planted tank, with crytal clear water, any fish would look good in it.

apisto · 07-02-2005, 03:10 PM

MMM,
My Personal top 3 (actually 4):

1) Hyphessobrycon amandea
2) nannostomus (beckfordi/marginatus)
3) Boraras brigitta

Jane in Upton · 08-10-2005, 09:53 AM

I've actually been a little disappointed by my Congo Tetras lack of schooling. After a lot of reading, I was expecting schooling behavior and got 12 small juveniles from my LFS. They really only schooled until they settled into my planted tank. Now, they're scattered throughout the open areas, and only "get together" as a school when one gets a notion to dash the length of the tank, and the others fall into formation and follow. This only lasts a few seconds, and then they disband. There has also been a lot of spawning behavior, with males purposely segragating a heavy female away from the others.

My pygmy cory cats are WAY better schoolers, LOL!

I also have red-line rasboras that stay in a group, and I would rate them as moderate in schooling behavior. They don't stray far from the group, but they don't do a lot of swimming in unison which seems to be the desire of this thread.

And in yet another tank, a group of Gold Ring Danios (have not been able to identify them, I've tried) is so constantly in a busy cluster that I can't tell if there is much schooling behavior or not. I swear they know if I even look towards their tank, and group at the customary feeding area in a mad rush. I would have to say they don't have any real schooling tendency, except on occasion if they're startled.

-Jane

spreerider · 08-10-2005, 12:09 PM

my favorite are serpae tetra, i have 6 in my 5g and they keep a tight school and look great, goes very well with lots of green and a couple red plants, like sunset hygro or red tiger lotus, i love the red colours.
only problem is that only 5 of them school and one sits at the back and only comes out to eat, after he has had his fill he disappears,
they are also the easiest tetra to breed mine are always laying eggs but the rest of them always eat them before they hatch, the shrimp dont help with that either.