Schooling Fish

[monkeywobbler]

Hi guys!

I have a Juwel Rio 180,

Currently it contains;

1 Red Dwarf Gourami
1 Female Dwarf Gourami (plan on one more)
4 Platy's (2 more planned)
2 Albino Cory's (3 more planned)
3 Zebra Danio's (4 WCMM planned)

Hubby and I are planning on getting a shoal of 8 or so fish - we can't decide between Harlequin Rasbora or Neons, or a suggestion of another fish would be welcome!
Tank is planted on one side in a triangle shape (sloping from left to right) with Amazon Swords, Anubis, Java Fern and a couple of plants that I really don't have any idea about. A triangular shaped piece of bogwood draws the eye down from the top left to the bottom right, so there aren't really any caves or hiding places apart from inbetween the plants.

Look forward to your ideas!

Monkey

 

[OldMan47]

Hi Monkeywobbler. Welcome to the forum. I think I would start by filling in the missing corydoras and zebras. Take a look at the tank after that. You will probably find that the lower half of your tank is quite busy. The added platies will add activity to the mid levels and you have a large pair of top dwelling fish. Neons and rasboras both hang in the middle regions of a tank so they may not be filling in the area that will need it the most. You may want to look into black neons or gold barbs. Both fish tend to hang out a little higher in the tank than the rasboras and neons. Another option is rummy nose. They have very bright coloring and will navigate in a tight school just above your planting. They are reputed to be one of the tightest schooling fish of any and I like the looks of them. They are a little bigger than the zebras and have a very bright red nose on a basically white fish.

 

[monkeywobbler]

Hi OldMan,

Thanks very much! And thanks for your advice. We will definitely consider the fish you've suggested, in particular the black neons and gold barbs. They're both lovely. Is there a difference between gold barbs and the other barbs - I'm very fond of tiger and green barbs. The cherry ones are lovely too.

Monkey

 

[Nick16]

Yes there is a difference. The tiger barbs tend to be fin nippers. However in a large enough group they will disperce their 'anger' withing their own shoal. The gouramis may not want fin nippers in with them! Gold barbs would be a good choice as they are hardy a good size and colourful. They are peaceful and do tend to shoal. i have 6 of them in a 120ltr tank and they are great and stick together. First i would replace the missing fish.

 

[monkeywobbler]

Yep, we're replacing the fish, don't worry. They were going to be replaced before we decided on a shoal.

So it sounds like Gold Barbs, H. Rasboras, or tetras (or perhaps another barb -apart from tiger).

Guys, you've been really helpful, thanks very much!

Monkey

 

[johno]

What about x-ray tetras? i have some and love them!

 

[Nick16]

i have gold barbs, black neons, normal red/blue neons and h. rasboras so monkey if there is anything you want to know pm me! hope we can help

 

[monkeywobbler]

Ok guys I made a judgement call - I left the platy's, female gourami and WCMM and instead I got 3 more albino corys (they are FANTASTIC) and a school of 8 H. rasboras. I think I made the right call.
Red dwarf male and female look happy - platy's look happy too, cory's look great and are shoaling together, rasboras are gorgeous and are taking advantage of the amount of swimming room available and the danios are schooling with them with no trouble. I didn't know the would do that but they all look really good zipping around the tank.

Thanks for all your advice. I have a Juwel Rekord 70 that I emptied yesterday and half a bag of sand and now I want to fill it up and get something unusual in it =S

Monkey

Johno, that's a great pic of your red dwarf there, he's gorgeous!

 

[johno]

Johno, that's a great pic of your red dwarf there, he's gorgeous!

Thanks

Glad you got sorted

 

[kuruptedseed]

I have a 55 gal with 3 shoals 18 cardinal tetras, 21 black neon tetras and 11 golden pristella tetras... All 3 are very striking.. I also have a 30 gal with 15 von rio tetras aka flame tetras... they school more loosley then the others... If your just choosing one group of fish I would go with the cardinals... Colors are phenominal against a black/dark substrate....Good luck