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I have been studying the swimming formations of my two Silver Dollars and would like to know does anyone know the reason why they swim in such a way? The best way to describe this is as they swim side by side the bottom fins and tails make contact as if one and both shake/vibrate the tail and fin at the same time. Could they be like doing it!!? I have had these two for years and as some of you might understand my fish have all been through some lucky escapes with some unfortunate power cuts to name a few so I don’t want to make sure they are healthy in doing the above, Many Thanks Warwick

Just two Silver Dollars are not going to exhibit natural behavior in an aquarium (as in behavior you'd see in nature), so if you are really serious about studying this, it would be necessary to purchase a school of the fish. At least six, more if you can. When schooling fish are kept in pairs, weird behaviors that might not be spread throughout the species can show up and "distort" what we think of them.

If they are both mature, it could be possible breeding behavior, especially if they are dashing in and out of the plants. It is also possibly a behavior called "shimmying", which is an indication that something is bothering the fish. You say you just had power outages, so maybe the flucutations in temperature are having a negative affect on them. If this is the case, keep your eyes peeled for diseases like ich or velvet.

If you want to build up a real school of Silver Dollars (which are really awesome to see in a school), I highly recommend that if you have the room. These fish are seriously tn times more interesting when kept in a school than they are alone or in pairs. They are large fish with hearty diets, however, so a lightly-stocked tank of at least 55 gallons would be needed to house a school of Silver Dollars.

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