# Top 5 Best Schooling Fish



## raven_wilde

I've always enjoyed Harlequin Rasboras and Tiger Barbs


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## OverStocked

harlequins are one of the better and school very well. I don't particularly care for rummy nose tetras.


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## Jethro Tall

Rummies and cardinals and harlequins will get the most votes, but in my experience, tetras from the genus Aphyocharax are the tightest schoolers; Green fire tetras, Bloodfins, paraguayensis (sp?). Your mileage may vary. 40 breeder will be just fine.


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## psidriven

You get tighter schools if you have predator around, ie discus or angels. Otherwise my vote is for harlequins.


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## Storm

Bloodfin tetras are probably the tightest schooling fish. Check this out if you don't believe me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYKninDqW2o


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## Axelrodi202

I'm rather fond of cardinal tetras. Not exactly tight schoolers but they sure do look nice.


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## touch of sky

My harlequins and bloodfins school together. I think it is because they share a tank with a couple of angelfish. Safety in numbers, I guess.


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## nalu86

lemon tetras + H Rasboras

They will school in a 40, get yourself a predator, like mentioned before and they will school just like you want.\
Get a nice big school, like 30-40 or so.

I have 45 H rasboras in a 75, and they always hang out together, when the light goes off, its like a ball of H rasboras swimming together.


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## Erik N

Otocinclus. They school almost as if they are playing. Very social little fish, and cute too.


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## garfieldnfish

Glolight tetras and galaxy rasboras. Just pretty fish.


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## wetworks

+1 for Glowlight Tetras. They are great fish and completely underrated. I am also a big fan of the Zebra Loach- these not only school with each other if you have enough of them, they will also school with Tetras, Rasboras, and almost any other schooling fish. Oh, I also am a fan of the Rummynose. Just sayin'.


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## PaulG

Most of the above are shoaling fish, not schooling fish. Shoaling fish will sort of mooch around close to each other, but not as tightly as genuine schooling fish.


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## nalu86

PaulG said:


> Most of the above are shoaling fish, not schooling fish. Shoaling fish will sort of mooch around close to each other, but not as tightly as genuine schooling fish.


So what are the schooling fish?


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## PaulG

nalu86 said:


> So what are the schooling fish?


Any fish that groups together in a co-ordinated manner e.g all facing the same way. I don't think there's any widely available aquarium fish that could be accurately described as a schooling fish.


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## OverStocked

PaulG said:


> Most of the above are shoaling fish, not schooling fish. Shoaling fish will sort of mooch around close to each other, but not as tightly as genuine schooling fish.


Shoaling doesn't necessarily mean "close to each other". The thing with shoaling is that the school can often change shape and formation with little apparent cause. 

Some interesting reading here:
http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-7760.html


> Shoaling is perhaps the most fascinating social behaviour possessed by fish, although most attention has been focused on the most spectacular aspect of shoaling: schooling. A School of fish often seems to have a mind of its own, moving in co-ordinated fashion through complicated manoeuvres with the members precisely spaced within it. A shoal is any group of fishes that remains together for social reasons, whereas a school is a polarised, synchronised shoal (Pitcher and Parish 1993)
> 
> The distinction is necessary because experiments have shown that schooling is just an extreme example of many shoaling behaviours. It is important also to note that fish shift in and out of schools on a regular basis.
> 
> A shoal can go from the classic grouping of fish into an amorphous mass in a matter of seconds. The stimulus for this is a change of activity from travelling, feeding, resting, or avoiding predators. The shape of a shoal can vary widely depending on activity and type of fish; fast moving shoals typically assume a wedge shape whereas feeding shoals are more or less circular.
> 
> Shaw (1978) estimated that 25% of fish shoal throughout their lives and that approximately half of all fishes spend at least part of their lives shoaling. In many commercial species the largest shoals are formed when a number of smaller shoals merge. Radakov (1972) mentions “chains” of shoals of migrating mullet (Mugil)in the Caspian Sea that were 100km long! Radakov further noted that in the North Atlantic, herring shoals can occupy 279 million to 4,850 million cubic metres with a fish density of 0.5 to 1.0 fish/cubic metre. That's almost 3 billion fish in one group
> 
> How do fish school?
> 
> Schooling requires precise sensory contacts among individuals within the schools. The fact that most schools (but not shoals) disperse after dark indicates that vision plays an important part in schooling. Laboratory experiments with temporarily blinded fish support this, but also show that other senses are used. It is believed that the lateral-line system (seeing as it is so sensitive to the movement of water) also plays an important part in ensuring the fish in a school maintain their spacing. It is also believed possible that sound or pheromones play a part but at this time there is no evidence to support this.
> 
> Why do fish shoal?
> 
> Landa (1998) argues that the combined effects of the below benefits of shoaling provide strong selective incentives for fish to join shoals.
> 
> 1) Increased Hydrodynamic Efficiency
> This applies mainly to schooling fish and is appealing both because of the regular spacing of fish in schools and because shoals tend to be uniform in size (Hoare et al. 2000). However, laboratory experiments have not shown the positioning of fish in schools to gain any advantage from the hydrodynamic lift created by their neighbours (Pitcher and Parish 1993) though it is still believed that this is the case in the wild. Landa (1998) argues that the leadership of a school is always changing, because while being immersed in a school incurs hydrodynamic advantages to individuals, being the leader of a school means you are the first to food.
> 
> 2) Increased Efficiency of Food Finding
> The reason for this is the presence of many eyes searching for the food. Fish in shoals “share” information by monitoring each other’s behaviour closely. Feeding behaviour in one fish quickly stimulates food-searching behaviour in others (Pitcher and Parish 1993)
> 
> 3) Increased Reproductive Success
> Little energy has to be expended to find a mate within a shoal. Also, for migrating spawners that travel long distances it is more likely that the average direction taken by a shoal is better than one taken by a single migrating fish.
> 
> 4) Reduced Risk of Predation
> This comes in two main interacting ways: dilution, and confusion (Pitcher and Parish 1993). The dilution effect relies simply on safety in numbers (Pitcher and Parish 1993). In any given attack, a smaller percentage of a large shoal will be eaten compared to a small shoal (Major 1978).
> 
> The confusion effect is based in the common observation that shoaling fish tend to get eaten mostly when they have been separated from the shoal. Shoaling fish are the same size and silvery, so it is difficult for a visually oriented predator to pick an individual out of a mass of twisting, flashing fish and then have enough time to grab its prey before it disappears into the shoal.
> 
> There is plenty more in the book on this subject (begins on page 192) and also in Biology of Fishes by Carl E. Bond (Second Edition).


Shoaling fish very often school. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaling_and_schooling


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## PaulG

Yes you're correct. I think it's best to describe schooling as a subset of shoaling perhaps.


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## MitchellLawson

Black widow tetras


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## sampster5000

I've seen it the best with harlequin rasboras. You will for sure see the most schooling with predators in the tank as well. Having a larger tank helps a lot. 

Clown loaches are my favorite bottom dwelling schoolers next to corydoras.


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## newplant

Great read and great idea guys. The look I am looking for is the one in the bloodfin tetra video.

My observation from keeping african cichlids is that a lot of shoaling fish will school when feeling unsecure. For example, if a group of fish is moved to a new tank. However that the schooling stops after a few hours of in the tank.


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## fishykid1

I'l have to bump in and say my Congo Tetras school like mad 24/7.


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## knuggs

Glass Cats and Bleeding Heart Tetras are some of my favorite schoolers as well as bloodfins.


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## fishykid1

knuggs said:


> Glass Cats and Bleeding Heart Tetras are some of my favorite schoolers as well as bloodfins.


I need to get some more glass cats, they were my favorite fish... i just have a bad feeling about them being shy like they used to be


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## newplant

fishykid1 said:


> I'l have to bump in and say my Congo Tetras school like mad 24/7.


fishykid - really like congo tetras. how many do you have and in what size tank? BTW these fish are not cheap as far as tetra goes.


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## newplant

anyone have experience with white cloud mountain minnows?


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## msharper

White clouds are really nice looking, and dirt cheap! However they prefer cold water.


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## Eldachleich

I personally do not have a large enough tank for schooling fish like tetra's..
But I have seen many tanks with them and lemon tetra's and glowlights always seem to stay tight and school well. And they are really pretty to boot.
Other than that I like my corydoras habrosus. They school really well. But are super tiny...


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## fishykid1

newplant said:


> fishykid - really like congo tetras. how many do you have and in what size tank? BTW these fish are not cheap as far as tetra goes.


No they sure aren't! For a good quality stock your looking at anywhere from 5-9$ each. Mine were 6.99 each, 8 of them and they are like dang pihrannas when they eat.


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## knuggs

fishykid1 said:


> I need to get some more glass cats, they were my favorite fish... i just have a bad feeling about them being shy like they used to be


Yeah they are kinda shy but like schooling with my bleeding hearts The tank I have them in is kinda open. If you put riccia in your tank it will bring them out too cuz they have something to hide under.

Congos are cool too but I never made room for them since they can get fairly big especially for a tetra.



newplant said:


> anyone have experience with white cloud mountain minnows?


Whiteclouds are neat but can be nippers and are like danios. You can keep them in a wide range of temps not jus could water. My tanks stay at about 76 78 and they have done fine. They dont school real well though to spastic.


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## takadi

cardinals are decent schoolers when they have enough space.


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## Fish Ed

newplant said:


> anyone have experience with white cloud mountain minnows?


White clouds don't really school together after a while.:icon_frow



> White clouds are really nice looking, and dirt cheap! However they prefer cold water.


Not really cold water, they can thrive in tropical temperatures. I keep mine in tropical temperatures, 25°c to sometimes 30°c

The best schooling fish I had is Harlequin rasboras. Though I've never kept bloodfin tetra but they look like a better schooling fish.:flick:


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## spyke

i agree with many here...harlequin rasboras, bloodfin tetras, corydoras (pygmy are great) congo tetras, ember tetras, oto cats....there are more, but def are the rasboras and bloodfins


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## newplant

The glass bloodfin tetra (Prionobrama filigera) seems to be a different species from bloodfin tetra (Aphyocharax anisitsi). When we talking about bloodfin we are talking about A. Anisitsi, right? Just want to make sure. The glass bloodfin does look better in my LFS and they seems to be schooling in a 12 inch x 12 inch display tank. But maybe they're not.

Anyone know what a blue light tetra is? They're also in my LFS. They're small less than an inch with colorless body except the eyes are a shiny blue, very bright. You can easily spot them from the distance.


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## newplant

Based on this thread I bought 10 bloodfins last week, from Petsmarts out of all the places. They seem really healthy and only $1 a piece. Couldn't be happier. The stay as a group most of the time and the males display to females all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if they start breeding soon. Plus they seem to survive the heavily co2-injected tank well.


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## Aqualady

I have rummy nose tetras and harlequin rasboras in sepearate tanks.....my 8 RNT's schoolll no matter what, I see one I see all going the same way 24/7.....my 12 HR's schooled the first week and every BLUE moon....I vote for RNT


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## bzada

Rummy-nose tetras are by far the best schooling fish in my opinion. Harlequins school at first but will not maintain it over time.


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## Raymond S.

PaulG said:


> Any fish that groups together in a co-ordinated manner e.g all facing the same way. I don't think there's any widely available aquarium fish that could be accurately described as a schooling fish.


Glass catfish exactly fit that description.


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## Raymond S.

I used to have larger tanks and at that time I had room in the tank for schooling to happen. Especially as one was a 30L so 36" long was much better for schooling than
the 30T or smaller tanks. At that time I had a fence made of a dead bush with a few limbs trimmed off to not be anything but like a flat wall deviding one third of the tank off from the rest. That aria had floating Hortworth and the bush simply kept it in one end. I had various sub adult perch in there but also had some Least Killi fish which schooled very well with those predators in there. If the rest of your fish are fairly small and the tank is a 20L or bigger you will be happy with a few of the Least Killi fish.


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## Snowflake311

White cloud minnow school well and are fun to watch. 

Emperor tetras and Cory cats are the best small fish and the both will school but not all the time.


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