Shoaling Advice Please

[cambspaul]

Can anyone give me some help . I want to add a shoal of mid swimmers to my tank . Cant be too small as my minnows were picked off by my redtailed shark . LFS suggested black angelfish as a shoal, but dont they grow pretty big ?

 

[Wills]

Hi what size is the tank? Black angelfish could work as a group rather than a school as such but there are better fish to have as schools rather than a group of cichlids.

Wills

 

[cambspaul]

Its a 294 litre tank

 

[Carlovel1]

Can anyone give me some help . I want to add a shoal of mid swimmers to my tank . Cant be too small as my minnows were picked off by my redtailed shark . LFS suggested black angelfish as a shoal, but dont they grow pretty big ?

Angelfish don't really need to be in shoals, they are perfectly OK single or in pairs. Would say 150 litre tank is minimum size, height is more important though, 18" should be around the minimum height.
If you want a larger shoaling fish, I would recommend either 6 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish or 6 Giant Danio. Both need around a 4 foot tank min as these are quite zippy and boisterous.

 

[Wills]

294 liters is a really nice size tank Since you mentioned both RBTS and minnows it would seem you are a fan of Asain fish? If so then the Giant Danios that Carl mentioned would be great as would any peaceful barb like black ruby or panda barbs you could even do a nice group of denison barbs in a tank that size

Wills

 

[cambspaul]

Can anyone give me some help . I want to add a shoal of mid swimmers to my tank . Cant be too small as my minnows were picked off by my redtailed shark . LFS suggested black angelfish as a shoal, but dont they grow pretty big ?

Angelfish don't really need to be in shoals, they are perfectly OK single or in pairs. Would say 150 litre tank is minimum size, height is more important though, 18" should be around the minimum height.
If you want a larger shoaling fish, I would recommend either 6 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish or 6 Giant Danio. Both need around a 4 foot tank min as these are quite zippy and boisterous.

How big can you go with a shoal ?
My tank is about 25 inches high , those black angels did look nice .

 

[cambspaul]

294 liters is a really nice size tank Since you mentioned both RBTS and minnows it would seem you are a fan of Asain fish? If so then the Giant Danios that Carl mentioned would be great as would any peaceful barb like black ruby or panda barbs you could even do a nice group of denison barbs in a tank that size

Wills

Hi wills , im not really a fan of any particular type of fish . The minnows were sold to me by lfs to kickstart my cycle . The shark was part of a group of fish i took in . I have 2 gold barbs and a spanner , would this be a problem with more barbs being added ?

 

[Carlovel1]

I wouldn't Angels in there. From experiance, the Red Tailed Black Shark will bully the angel, a lot of the time, it will be nipping their fins.
There is also lots of controversy on whether Denison Barb should be kept with RTBS/Rainbow Shark

 

[cambspaul]

I wouldn't Angels in there. From experiance, the Red Tailed Black Shark will bully the angel, a lot of the time, it will be nipping their fins.
There is also lots of controversy on whether Denison Barb should be kept with RTBS/Rainbow Shark

Ive got 1 angel now , but the shark leaves it alone . He stays with my plec all the time , seems to think he is a plec . He copys what the plec does , even trys to eat algae off the glass . Strange fish

 

[fshinggrl]

My shoal of Odessa Barbs look realy nice! Pretty much mid tank.

 

[Biulu]

I would go for a shoal of congo tetras or some larger rainbow fish. Lively and great colours~

 

[Wills]

I wouldn't Angels in there. From experiance, the Red Tailed Black Shark will bully the angel, a lot of the time, it will be nipping their fins.
There is also lots of controversy on whether Denison Barb should be kept with RTBS/Rainbow Shark

Carl that is a really bad example of a debate that guy just does not agree with anything that the rest of the hobby regards as a rule ie he says an 8 inch active schooling fish is fine in a 36 inch tank alone Also that tank is half the size of the one in question here.

Wills

 

[Carlovel1]

I wouldn't Angels in there. From experiance, the Red Tailed Black Shark will bully the angel, a lot of the time, it will be nipping their fins.
There is also lots of controversy on whether Denison Barb should be kept with RTBS/Rainbow Shark

Carl that is a really bad example of a debate that guy just does not agree with anything that the rest of the hobby regards as a rule ie he says an 8 inch active schooling fish is fine in a 36 inch tank alone Also that tank is half the size of the one in question here.

Wills

I know, but my point is that some people think that a RTBS/Rainbow Shark shouldn't be kept with other fish that have lots of red on them. Me myself, I don't know about this too well, but I thought it would be an interesting read for the OP so they could be aware of potential issues with combining those 2 fish species together.
Carl

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A group of one of the more boisterous Rainbowfish, like Lake Katubus, might work (depending on tank length).
Barilius species could also work eg. dogarsinghi, which reach ~9cm.
Pareutropius buffei (often missold as Debauwi Catfish) is another possibility, these guys school as tight as Rummynoses, but do need a 10+ group for security.
As said above, Giant Danios would work well, same goes for Denisons Barb.
Even Humphead Glassfish, providing you have no small torpedo-shaped fish in there (I discovered their nasty side months after buying mine, they will happily eat small danio species).
If you were happy to just stock semi-aggressive fish, things like Tiger Barbs are a reasonable option.

Sounds like you really need to see what is out there and then get back to the forum for confirmation of them being suitable... Have a look round web strores like http/shop.sweetknowleaquatics.co.uk/ and http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/ for ideas

 

[Twinklecaz]

Silver Dollars shoal don't they? They could be nice!

Or Diamond Tetras!