FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have a 92g or 350litre tank and i have 10 neons and 5 serpae tetras, i ve read in articles that they school but mine doesn't.
Can some one explain to me why this is so?

Last edited by friedrice at 28-Oct-2004 03:56

Secure schoolers don't need to school... Similar to loaches who have lots of caves don't need to hide. You've given them plenty of space and plenty of friends so they don't need to use their defense mode... Serpae tetra aren't very tight schoolers anyway.

If you tell me the rest of your stock maybe I could help you find a nice fish to scare the neons into a bit tighter school.

i have in the tank atm 10 neons, 5 serpaes, a 20cm pleco, 2 cories, 2 flying foxes, 3 platies

Well get some more of the same species corys, you need 6 of one type for them to be happy.

What are your plans for the rest of the tank?

err im going overseas soon for a months so ill be holding my fish craze until afterwards.
But im planning to move my platies, serpae, tetras, and flying fox to my 130litre tank.

Then from there im going to try get get this armano theme going with heaps of hairgrass and a few anubias.
The fish i will be intending to get are rainbow fish, rummy nose, sae(if i could find them), hatchet fish and get some MTS

Though im not sure on the numbers, could u advise me?


Last edited by friedrice at 28-Oct-2004 04:52

Hmm... It sounds like it's going to be a lovely tank... Being as large at it is, you could have lot's of those fish... I'm not exactly sure about how to stock with rainbows and SAEs but I'm sure someone will be able to help you with that, you might want to make a thread when you get back asking for help.

What I can recommend is that you get a simi-large active fish, having something with substantial size that swims a lot will keep your tetra on their toes and keep the in a tight school... I use a red tailed shark for this, but there are a few other fish that can do the same job, just make sure they are _very_ peaceful and won't eat your tetra.

I think key holes would work to try and scare your tetras into schooling. They get abnout 4 inches and are pretty active. But not super active. And they are one of the most peaceful cichlids i have come accross.

The thing is my neons are quite large ranging from just under 3cm to 4cm, are u sure this guy would make them school?

I'm 99% sure something like that would be fine for making them school. The only thing I worry about is the possibility of them eating them... Kind of a tricky thing to balance...

I have a much smaller tank, but my plec (due to size) and my black mollies (because of numbers and speed) seem to frighten my neons and glowlights into a close shoal, which looks really nice with the colours mixing. I only have four of each type of the two tetras, which is a bit small, but it makes them shoal together which is lovely!!

BTW>> I am selling most of the young black mollies, and getting more tetras so probably wont always shoal like this!!

Last edited by Irishguy at 28-Oct-2004 07:50

Once those flying foxes grow up, I'm sure you'll have all the aggression you'll need to keep them schooling. Then again, non schooling fish are happier, stress free fish, so I really don't see the problem in letting them scatter.

I know that theres a difference in schooling and shoaling-
but the article says that neons tend to school..but they don't, from what i have seen.

The reason for my post is to explain the non-schooling behaviour, rather than the non-shoaling behaviour(if that makes sense).

When I had my gold gourami in the tank, he would chase everyone else around the tank. That included 7 glo-lite tetras and they would always school pretty tightly. I recently returned the gourami to the lfs and ever since, the tetras don't school nearly as tightly as when there was more aggression in the tank. Schooling is a survival of the fittest technique used by fish when they're preyed upon. During an attack only the fastest and strongest would survive. If you take away the agression there is no "need" to school.

Just add a fish that the fish perceive to be a threat, and they will school. Snakeskin gouramis are perfect for your tank, as they get large [up to 8"] and resemble some of the large cichlids that are found in the tetras' native range. These gouramis, however, are completely peaceful and will usually leave even tiny fry alone.

Last edited by Cory Addict at 28-Oct-2004 19:56

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

do snake skins shed

---

''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''