Rummynose And Burmese Rummynose Tetra's

[RetSys]

Hi All,

As the title says I am wondering if I was to get these two types of fish will they act together in a school or will they school separately?

Also I was advised by my LFS that rummynose and cardinal tetras would school together? is that true?

Cheers

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Hi All,

As the title says I am wondering if I was to get these two types of fish will they act together in a school or will they school separately?

Also I was advised by my LFS that rummynose and cardinal tetras would school together? is that true?

Cheers

Seperate schools are more likely, there are very easy colouration clues like the tail fin between Rummynose and Asian Rummynose, even more comparing the tetras. Each of these three species will do better in 10+ rather than the minimum sixes.

Be aware that male Sawbwa Barbs ("Asian Rummynose") are quite hard on each other (so you need a good sized group to spread aggression) and females are not often found for sale, in fact when this species was discovered they originally thought the drab brown females were another species. If you find somewhere selling the drab females and colourful males, try and gets at least two females per male.

 

[RetSys]

Hi All,

As the title says I am wondering if I was to get these two types of fish will they act together in a school or will they school separately?

Also I was advised by my LFS that rummynose and cardinal tetras would school together? is that true?

Cheers

Seperate schools are more likely, there are very easy colouration clues like the tail fin between Rummynose and Asian Rummynose, even more comparing the tetras. Each of these three species will do better in 10+ rather than the minimum sixes.

Be aware that male Sawbwa Barbs ("Asian Rummynose") are quite hard on each other (so you need a good sized group to spread aggression) and females are not often found for sale, in fact when this species was discovered they originally thought the drab brown females were another species. If you find somewhere selling the drab females and colourful males, try and gets at least two females per male.

OK so if I want one big school then basically just get 1 type of tetra whether its a rummynose, burmese rummynose or cardinal.

Cheers

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Bigger schools look great and give fish numbers more like they would naturally do in the wild, making them feel more secure.

How big is your tank?

Depending on what you already have, you might be able to buy two species groups over the course of a few weeks, providing your filter bacteria keep up with the bioload. Rummynose tend to stay low and I think of Cardinals in mid to high water, so those two for example could work. Sawbwa I'm not too sure on, but a very quick google brings up youtube clips that look like they roam in very loose groups.

Final thing worth mentioning is pH and temperature. The Rummynose and Cardinals are more acidic tropical temp fish, while Sawbwa are alkaline sub-tropical (20-24C is suggested on the detailed profile at SeriouslyFish).

 

[RetSys]

Bigger schools look great and give fish numbers more like they would naturally do in the wild, making them feel more secure.

How big is your tank?

Depending on what you already have, you might be able to buy two species groups over the course of a few weeks, providing your filter bacteria keep up with the bioload. Rummynose tend to stay low and I think of Cardinals in mid to high water, so those two for example could work. Sawbwa I'm not too sure on, but a very quick google brings up youtube clips that look like they roam in very loose groups.

Final thing worth mentioning is pH and temperature. The Rummynose and Cardinals are more acidic tropical temp fish, while Sawbwa are alkaline sub-tropical (20-24C is suggested on the detailed profile at SeriouslyFish).

My tank is 3ft x 18 x 18 and currently i only have 7 guppies 1 male betta and some cherry shrimp, this is the reason i was looking at a schooling fish, I like the idea of a school about 16 strong, do you think I could have 2 different schools or would that overstock the tank?

Cheers for all your help and advice.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

One group of 16, perhaps bought in two batches of 8 over the course of 2-3 weeks (ideally quarantined), could definitely work and look superb. Presuming your Betta (guessing it is well behaved with current tankmates) and Guppies are staying more towards the top half of the tank, I'd go for either Rummynose or Sawbwa.

What is the pH of your water? Do you know the gH and kH too?

My hunch at this point is that one of the three "Rummynose" South American tetras would work better, simply as I'm presuming you are keeping the tank ~26C for the Betta, which is a bit too warm for Sawbwa resplendens.

 

[RetSys]

The betta is well behaved, he hasn't touch any of the guppies so far.

Yes I am keeping the water at a steady 26 degrees, my Ph is 7.4 but don't know my gh or kh but I have emailed the local water board so waiting to here back on that.

The guppies actually tend to play more in the plants which are med to low level, and they play in and around half a ship I have on its side.