# Looking for a good schooling fish



## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

So i recently upgraded from a 10g to a 50g acrylic tank. really nice setup.  only cost me 99 bucks. Anywho my girl always wanted schooling fish, but I told her no for the 10g because there just wasnt enough room. Now i have moved the fish around a little bit and have a 50g with many cherry shrimp, 2 ADF, 3 endlers (1 female), 3 guppies (2 female) and one female betta. I was thinking of taking the female guppies and endler to my LFS and giving them a different home away from non stop breeding. But what would be some good schooling fish for my tank. I kinda want some corys, but my shrimp run the floor of the tank and I dont want anyone fighting for food. So she kinda wants some tetras or I pointed out to her some Pearl Danio's. she also liked the long finned danios. so please give advise. what are some peacefull schooling fish. I am sure my female betta will make them school. I dont know much about schooling fish as i have never kept them before


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

alot.. of different fish.. tetras... and barbs... no tinfoil.... 

just google tetra.. or barb see what they got.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

rainbow fish! or is it rainbowfish?


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

I would go with any type of barb; I prefer Tiger Barbs and Rosy Barbs myself. You also might want to consider any type of Cory as another option.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I'm not sure peaceful and schooling go together. Schools are like street gangs, they stick together, but still fight amongst themselves. 

I've heard good things about harlequin rasboras.

Cyps are schooling cichlids.


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## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

she has seen tiger barbs and kinda likes those. also I have heard good things about Har. Rosboras. I will be going home in a week for spring break. i will have to take her around to see if she likes anything new. Anyone here have any experience with Celestrial Pearl Danios?


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2009)

Go in for Glofish.....they are awesome in schools and mix them with your regular danios....and neon tetra's.....

cheers!


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Chrispy said:


> Anyone here have any experience with Celestrial Pearl Danios?


I haven't had experience with those, but I do keep Giant Danios, which are basicly the same thing, but bigger. Just like the people before me have said, they can be a bit of a bully at times (even though alone they are fine).


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## Merf (Feb 24, 2009)

I wouldn't get tiger barbs, they get mean when they get older. I've heard good things about cherry or golden barbs. Just be careful and research the fish you want before you get them. I know a lot of tetras will get quite fin nippy as they get older as well. 
I would definitely stick with some kind of danio, though I haven't heard much about rasboras.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

'Peaceful' and 'barb' don't really work in the same sentence. Lots of websites and books reference Cherry Barbs as peaceful, but I have not found this to be accurate.

If you don't want the shrimp to be lunch, avoid corys. Stick to some small variety of tetra, like Cardinal, Black Neon, Gold Pristella, or a small variety of Rasbora. And get a nice big school, like 15-20. That will be awesome.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

piranha are nice schooling fish....
if i had a 50 tank that i wanted to stand out; here is what i would do,,,
dark natural fine gravel.. a few pieces of nice gnarly looking driftwood.. 
a few rocks........... 
lots of plants...... 
6 corydoras sterbai......... 
6 otocinclus.................. 
40-50 cardinal tetras........


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

Wow, i love that setup (the way it sounds) loha. that would be sweet!, even though i might get an eel and sub in there.


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## Againsthecurent (Jan 22, 2009)

I would also recommend the Harlequin Rasbora. They are peaceful and I believe a bit hardier than the Neons and Cardinals. A nice school of 8 or 10 would be very nice. I have not had Celestrial Pearl Danios, but know a couple people that do. They are not difficult from what I have been told and 8 or so make a nice school. Also being that you already have shrimp I believe I would not get the Cory Cats (this is just my opinion I have not had shrimp in my tanks).


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Haha, cories don't eat shrimp. Baby shrimplets, maybe, but a cory can't take on a regular-size, full-grown shrimp. They'd mix fine.

CPDs are expensive, and will generally hide a lot in big tanks. At $8/fish, getting enough to make an impact in a 50 gallon would be pretty damn expensive.


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## Mike Joe-bob Ch (Mar 8, 2009)

i wouldnt get tiger barbs for they can be agressive to other fish but cherry barbs are schooling fish infact i have them myself mine are only like1.5in and the get up to 2in they are hardy fish so i recomend them gold barbs can be agressive every now and then but they would be ok and cherry babrbs do breed then selves and they do eat there eggs tho so you would want to have java moss in the tank becasue then you will defeinintaly get some more i recomend starting with 6 because thats how i started and they do breed after water changes im just not able to keep the fry alive tho but all is well

sunny


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## Mike Joe-bob Ch (Mar 8, 2009)

hey does anyone no how long to wait b4 adding fish in the tank after i change the subsatrate from gravel to sand im currently got all the fish in a hospital tank and the sand is in the tank and all setup im fish cycleing it with gold fish and i have all the same decorations as b4 in there and its the same filter heater and everything i didnt bother cleaning the walls or the decorations i also have 3 nets full of gravel placed in the tank evenly spread out to help transfer the backteria colinies so thats waht ive done so far just wondering how long i should wait loland im sorry if this is totally off topic or w.e


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Mike Joe-bob Ch....post a new thread and you'll get more answers.


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

I've seen cories pick in shrimp at my LFS.


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## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

Wait till it is done cycling of course 

anywho thank you so much for the input. Its nice to know barbs are out of the equation. I really dont care for anything can can grow aggressive. I will do some research on glowfish later, all the sites I have seen are more commercial then informative. The CP danio's are about $4 a pop so yeah it is kinda spendy. I am just yet to see a large group of them in my LFS. only ever has like 2 or 3 so I cant get a good idea of what they would look like. I did see a thread on here earlier about a danio and glowfish crossbread. unno, with a little research i will post back. I need to get picks of this tank. quoted as $991 brand new and i got it for 99. now back to studying for my accounting test  

BAH what can I say I do love fishes :fish:


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Try panda barbs or lemon tetras, rummynose tetras are good too, then again I love my albino tiger barbs!


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## Againsthecurent (Jan 22, 2009)

trashion said:


> Haha, cories don't eat shrimp. Baby shrimplets, maybe, but a cory can't take on a regular-size, full-grown shrimp. They'd mix fine.
> 
> CPDs are expensive, and will generally hide a lot in big tanks. At $8/fish, getting enough to make an impact in a 50 gallon would be pretty damn expensive.


I didn't mean that the cories would eat the shrimp, not sure where you read that in my post or maybe I missed something. Cories can be quite active that I have seen and sometimes disruptive to other bottom dwellers if you are looking at getting a group.


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## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

Does anyone know if Kilifish school. I dont know much about them, but I heard they get pretty nice looking. Yes/no Might have to look them up. Rasbora's look promising. my girl likes those.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Not you, Againsthecurent 

I was referring to COM's post.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Some corys, particularly the larger bottom dweller types, are shrimp eating machines. The more mid-tank types, like Habrosus, will generally ignore them.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Have you witnessed this? I've seen many species of cory in with shrimp, including Barbatus cories and non-cories Brochis splendens, and there was never an issue. Their mouths aren't really designed for eating shrimp either.


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## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

Chrispy said:


> Does anyone know if Kilifish school. I dont know much about them, but I heard they get pretty nice looking. Yes/no Might have to look them up. Rasbora's look promising. my girl likes those.


killifish will do fine together, im planning on starting a new tank 40-75 gallon and having 2 male, 2 female killifish, and 10 rainbow shiners as then main fishes


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

trashion said:


> Have you witnessed this? I've seen many species of cory in with shrimp, including Barbatus cories and non-cories Brochis splendens, and there was never an issue. Their mouths aren't really designed for eating shrimp either.


Yes - two dozen crystal reds devoured by two Paleatus.

Remember, corys are a scavenger type of fish. They'll eat what they can find. Plus they are built like little tanks and are much quicker than shrimp. (Again referring to the true bottom dwellers like Paleatus, not the mid-tankers like Habrosus)


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

trashion said:


> Have you witnessed this? I've seen many species of cory in with shrimp, including Barbatus cories and non-cories Brochis splendens, and there was never an issue. Their mouths aren't really designed for eating shrimp either.


Well, I said it before I have witnessed this. 


And alot of fish mouth are not build for some things they do.

But I think if there on the bigger size, not the Itty bitty ones it USUALLY doesn't happen.

but its best to tell the risks.


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## vintagetankgirl (Feb 25, 2009)

I recently bought a school of 8 Colombian Tetras and love them, they are beautifully colored and are tight schoolers. In a 50g I would go for 15+, here's some info on them. http://www.fishlore.com/profile-redcolombiantetra.htm here you can see me introducing my CTs to my 29g: http://vintagetankgirl.blogspot.com/2009/03/introducing-colombian-tetras.html

I also love Lemon Tetras they are great schoolers too, and are a nice yellow with bright yellow and black fins. Don't let pet store looks full you once you get them home they will relax and color up amazingly. http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile8.html

H. Rasboras are great fish. I don't have any but I am planning on getting some Espe's Rasboras they are smaller and I've read they school well, though they like really acidic water, so if you have too high pH you probably won't be able to keep them. http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cyprinids/EspesRasbora.php

Remember a larger number of one school is a much better and prettier impact than a bunch of smaller "schools" of 6 fish!

I hope my fave schooling fish help you! Happy tank stocking! 

Please keep us updated on what you decide to do, I have to live vicariously through bigger tank owners!


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

Your newts need their own tank with much, much lower temps than tropical ones.


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## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

i need to update my sig. tanks are not like that anymore


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

My killies (F. gardneri) don't school and they don't bother other fish. But the big ones from Florida are mean to each other like cichlids. Golden wonder or golden earred, i think. I haven't let mine have shrimp, but even the fry devour blackworms.


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## Chrispy (Oct 28, 2007)

been looking it over with my girl and think I am going to get some harlequin rasboras. maybe 6 at first and then maybe a couple more. they seem to look the best and i find them kinda cool. and most important that are passive


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## smark (Dec 2, 2008)

Ghost Knife said:


> I would go with any type of barb; I prefer Tiger Barbs and Rosy Barbs myself. You also might want to consider any type of Cory as another option.


+1 on the Barbs and Cory's. Some Tetra will work with them also.
Its just a big feeding frenzy when you dump in the Krill or Bloodworm.:mrgreen:


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