Little question about schooling fish

[HEADIN]

ok so as we know schooling fish prefer to be with groups of their own.
the more the merrier usually..

heres my query..

will types of schooling fish be happy with diff variations of their species?

ie. you have zebra danios and long finned zebra danios.. will they school together?

OR

red platys, red wag platys, blue, sunset etc.. will they all school together is 1 group of mixed platys?

guppies.. you have diff variations in guppies aswell.. would a mixed group all wizz about together etc.??

neons/gold neons/ black neons..

your diff harlequin's etc..

everyone see what im getting at?

sometimes you go into a store and are maybe wanting to bigger 1 of your schools of fish and they dont have exactly what you want so you think
"maybe some long finned danios here will be fine with my current danios"
OR
"these fancy platys will be grand with the red ones in my tank".

curiosity folks..

whats everyones opinions and experience?

 

[OrangeCones]

Variations in color and fin length do not make a difference. Danio rerio (Zebra danio), whether the 'normal' ones, long-finned zebra, blue danio, long-finned blue danio, leopard danio, etc, they are all Danio rerio and will all shoal (school) together.


Paracheirodon innesi (neon tetra, gold neon tetra) will shoal together.

Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi (black neon tetra) is a different fish with a common name of 'neon tetra,' it may or may not shoal with other 'neons'

Rasbora heteromorpha (harliquins), no matter the color variation, will shoal together.

Platies and guppies do not shoal but do enjoy each other's company. Color, tail size/shape makes no difference to them either.

 

[Thyra]

From my experience: I don't think platys are schooling fish. In both tanks, mine are all over the place. I have 6 neons and they apparently have no intention of going to school lol and the 6 Red Minor Tetras are not doing a very good job of closing ranks either.

 

[OrangeCones]

From my experience: I don't think platys are schooling fish. In both tanks, mine are all over the place. I have 6 neons and they apparently have no intention of going to school lol and the 6 Red Minor Tetras are not doing a very good job of closing ranks either.

Some 'schooling' fish do not school unless they are in sufficient numbers or if there is something bigger/meaner in the tank to cause them to want to be in a group for safety.

I have a group of 15 Boraras brigittae (Chili Rasbora), and they are all over the tank. When someone walks by, or if I'm feeding them, they regroup right away and flick back and forth together as one.

 

[bassbonediva]

+1 on what OC said. My glowlight tetras and harlequin rasbora don't school unless the harlequins are chasing each other across the tank, and they're in with a half-grown angelfish. Same thing goes for my tiger barbs in the 29gal and my black neons in the 20gL (and the black neons are in with a male GBR who thinks he's tough cookies, but he's not). None of the schooling fish in my 46gal really school either.

 

[OrangeCones]

Even if the fish do not often actively 'school' together, they should still be kept in a minimum of 5-8 to be as stressfree as possible. They want to be ABLE to school for safety and if its not a possiblity, it stresses them out, leaving them susceptible to disease and with a shorter lifespan.

 

[phin]

My 1 black neon tetra fits in just fine and seems plenty happy hanging out with my 5 cherry spot rasboras. However they dont do much schooling or shoaling as they are pretty relaxed in the tank.

 

[aakaakaak]

My platinum molly juveniles used to swim with my glofish (of three different colors) before I moved them to the bigger tank. Now the two juveniles and a single albino danio hang out in a little pack. They do it a lot more now that I put the gourami in the tank.

 

[nellykast1219]

my glowlights dont really school at all they have little packs instead

 

[HEADIN]

Cool folks. Thats super info. Have bn thinkin about maybe reducing some stock in order to up my danios but it wud end up mixed with long fins in there to.

Hence the question came into my head wen checkin out diff tanks at my local.
That has defo answered my question. Appreciated.

 

[littletankbigworld]

Cool folks. Thats super info. Have bn thinkin about maybe reducing some stock in order to up my danios but it wud end up mixed with long fins in there to.

Short-finned serpaes will school with long-finned ones. I have a mix in my tank.

As I and a few other people have told you on many other threads, you are massively overstocked and adding fish is not going to help you at all. Common plecos require 75-100 or more gallons of water and you have one in a teeny 30 gallon tank. The rainbow shark will grow too big as well, and would likely show aggression with other species in the tank. I keep telling you this, but you get the picture. There are more species that have issues, so it would do you well to do some research on the animals that depend on you to live healthily and happily.

 

[HEADIN]

I appreciate the advice and have bn taking it on board from I started on the forum.
I am still in the process of fine tuning what I have.
My levels and wc are done on a weekly basis in order to keep my tank in as best a stable condition as I can until others are rehomed.

The advice given is not falling on deaf ears! Its bein used and taken on board.

 

[littletankbigworld]

Okay. I would re-home the fish as soon as possible. Even if the levels are fine, the fish will still become cramped and experience stunted growth and/or aggression. Craigslist is a great site for posting ads, but make sure the people you are selling the fish to have a large-enough tank.

 

[Daxster]

Great info! This was just the question I had. We got some bad advice from our lfs and now are looking to do it right. I'm not sure that I want six zebra danio though, so I'm glad to hear that you can mix colors!