How many in school

[gcherke]

I have the following fish listed below that I've read need to be
schooled. I was wondering what the minimum of each species was that I
should get to school them so they will be happy. Not sure if there is
kind of a standard amount for schooling fish, or if the size of the
school can be different for each species.

Also, was wondering if schools should be in odd numbers. I have 3 neon
tetras and 3 glow light tetras. The tetras school together. If I
should have odd number, should I get one more of either since they
school together for a total of 6?

I have a 55 gallon tank and also have one pictus catfish and one
plecostomus catfish along with the 6 tetras and fish listed below.

Filtering the aquarium, I have one Marineland Penguin 280 and one Top
Fin 30 (that came with 20 gallon I upgraded from/170 GPH). I will be
replacing the Top Fin with a larger filter later.

Schooling fish in question (along with odd number tetra question):
Upside Down Clownfish - currently have one
Red Wag High Fin Platy - currently have one
Clown Loach - currently have two
Zebra Danio - currently have three

Thanks, and have a great day!

 

[colesea]

Hmm, with schooling fish the only rule usually is "the more the merrier" and with a 55 gallon tank you can have lots of different schools and still have room!

Usually though, most people would recommend a minimum number of 6 individuals of the same species to make up a school. So in a 55 gallon tank, you can definately do that.

With livebearers such as molly, swordtails, platties, and guppies, females of the school should outnumber males of the school 2 to 1. Trios of two females and one male have also been found acceptible and compatible in most tanks.

There are different opinions regarding odds and evens.  Some people say evens because then every fish of the school will have a fish to buddy-system with. Some people say odd because it leaves "the odd one out" to remain at the bottom of the pecking order and thus reduce aggression.  Some fish will define their own schooling numbers.  I once had five green tiger barbs, and the most dominate one killed off the other four with constant bickering, so now I keep him as a loner. I've seen it happen where the fish themselves will decide their own happy medium. There might be several deaths before the dominate fish decides how many schoolmates it is comfortable with.
~~Colesea

 

[mpg]

i can tell you about my danios.  when i had 5, the large bully female was always chasing everyone around and the smallest male was always hiding.   there was a huge difference when i added a 6th.  when there are 6, everyone chases everyone else.  the little male even chases the large female. so 6 seemd to be the magic number.

the term "schooling" is a bit of a stretch.  it's more like high-speed tag.

 

[NickM]

For information on clown loaches...go to www.loaches.com  great site.  They recomend 5 or 6 for Clowns.  The more of them you have, and the bigger the tank you have...the more noticable your clowns will be, i.e. swimming around and such.  I can attest to this because I only had 2 like you, and I added a third and noticed a HUGE difference in their attitude.  THey got more bold, and deffinately more active.  Boldness in numbers.  

If I were you though, I would check out www.loaches.com and post on their forums....alot more qualified people than I am.  

 

[fishboy]

Just my two cents: For neons they all seemed to do better in schools of eight or more

 

[luvfishies]

Technically 3 is a school, leader, middle and tailer. I prefer 5 fish minimum for a school, even with discus.

 

[blueconvict2]

with your tetras you should have atleast five or more of each.......with the loaches i would get one more and have atleast three.