Schooling Fish For My Tank

[Mako Man111]

My 105 gallon seems a bit empty. I have, as some of you know, an oscar, convict, and senegar bichir in there. Is there a school fish that would be good for my tank? Like bala's, tinfoils, silver dolars?

EDIT: I think 5 Balas would be nice don't ya think?

 

[mr.dark-saint]

Anything that wouldn't fit in to the Oscar's mouth . You should have a school of Convits if you have a boy and a girl. I personally wouldn't pay to add dither fish for the Oscar to eat.

 

[Mako Man111]

Anything that wouldn't fit in to the Oscar's mouth . You should have a school of Convits if you have a boy and a girl. I personally wouldn't pay to add dither fish for the Oscar to eat.

All my fish are babies, thats why I want to add them all now.


Would bala sharks get too big? And what's a good number for them?

 

[jayjay]

Bala sharks grow too big but IMO they need a tank with a footprint of 8'x3', they are very active, fast swimming fish and need room to swim in shoals.

 

[Mako Man111]

Bala sharks grow too big but IMO they need a tank with a footprint of 8'x3', they are very active, fast swimming fish and need room to swim in shoals.

Haha 8 foot well forget that.

 

[jayjay]

Well 6 or 7 could sufice but I personally wouldn't.

 

[Mako Man111]

Well 6 or 7 could sufice but I personally wouldn't.

No, I mean't I'm not gona get them as my tank is not 8 foot.

My sev is going back to the store for picking on my oscar, so I'm just decided what to fill his place with.

I may try clown loaches, or a common plec.

 

[jayjay]

Common plec would get too big aswel

 

[fishwatcher]

i vote for clown loaches, or the spotted silver dollars.

 

[xJake]

Clown loaches would be ok as long as they have places to hide themselves completely at adult size (6 inches in the aquarium; can get larger). If they don't have ample hiding room then they could get hurt or even hurt one of your other fish with their spines in self defense.

 

[Rocky32189]

I would go with a bunch of silver dollars if I were you. They don't get too big and are very nice to look at.

 

[jayjay]

xJake I had a shoal of 8" clown loaches and they were still growing, they get over 6" easy if given a good environment whicg most people don't

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Tinfoils also get too large to keep in a school or schoaling situation in your tank. I think with an aggresive type fish like a convict, your loaches would simply be bullied into becoming reclusive, which they tend to be anyways. I do love loaches though and if it was my tank, I might still try to keep some.

How big are your fish? I ask because I am keeping some tiger barbs in my cichlid tank, which is working out well. Tiger barbs get larger than most might think (about three inches, and very 'roundish' type fish, like a tinfoil barb) and would most likely be too big for your other fish to eat if you place them all in the tank while they are still young.

They are also good because they are constantly active and their 'nipping' habit is usually nipped in the butt when they are in a tank full of fish that will fight back! I have 8 in my tank and until recently, I had three kennyi and a johanni in the tank with them. Never had a problem with fins and my cichlids couldnt catch the tiger barbs. It kept my tank very active and relatively aggressionless (although attempts at aggression do happen, but are never very successful.

 

[Mako Man111]

Tinfoils also get too large to keep in a school or schoaling situation in your tank. I think with an aggresive type fish like a convict, your loaches would simply be bullied into becoming reclusive, which they tend to be anyways. I do love loaches though and if it was my tank, I might still try to keep some.

How big are your fish? I ask because I am keeping some tiger barbs in my cichlid tank, which is working out well. Tiger barbs get larger than most might think (about three inches, and very 'roundish' type fish, like a tinfoil barb) and would most likely be too big for your other fish to eat if you place them all in the tank while they are still young.

They are also good because they are constantly active and their 'nipping' habit is usually nipped in the butt when they are in a tank full of fish that will fight back! I have 8 in my tank and until recently, I had three kennyi and a johanni in the tank with them. Never had a problem with fins and my cichlids couldnt catch the tiger barbs. It kept my tank very active and relatively aggressionless (although attempts at aggression do happen, but are never very successful.

Its very interesting that you say that. I have 6 Tiger Barbs who are around 2 inches in my 20 Gallon. I bet they would live to have a nice 105 gallon tank. BUT, my cichlids are all babies now, and same with my bichir and plec, but wouldn't the oscar or maby even the bichir eat them when they get big enough to??

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Mako,

The reason that I bring up the tiger barbs is because if you are able to get larger tigers, you might be ok with keeping them in your 105 gallon tank. I do this right now with my cichlids, which up until a couple weeks ago, I had some very aggressive fish in with them.

I wouldnt want to mislead you on if an oscar could eat a tiger barb or not because I simply do not know. I have seen some pretty large oscars here and there, and would think a tiger barb, full grown, would be too big and too fast for your oscar to catch, but this is just my speculation and not fact based at all. I would also think that as your oscar and bichir grow, your tank needs and wants will change. Oscars get really big and are super messy, so you may want only those two fish in the tank just for water quality purposes. Again, just speculation. Not to mention that I know nothing of bichir, but thought I could add some info to help you out. sorry if I didnt.