Ideas For a Shoal Needed.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:14 pm

Hi Guys.

The time has come for me to liven up my 4ft x18"x18" Community Tank. For the past 2 years I have been letting the smaller fish naturally dissapear, (most of them being about 2 years older than they should), and sadly my last Harlequine Rasbora has finally gone.

I am now wanting to get a large shoal of .......whatever. I have a few ideas, and as my tank seems to be a bit of a cross between bio-types, I have a fair numebr of options, (so long as the water parameters are correct).

Basically I am looking for suggestions from people who have had good shoals.

Here is a basic description of the tank. 4ft x18"x18", sitting at 81 F, 6.3pH, Ehiem pro breather, and Fluval 4+ for clarity and aeriation.

3 Cobat Blue Discus
4 Medium Clown Loaches (4"+)
5 Corydoras Sterbai
The obligatory 5 Albino Cories
1 strange Brochi that thinks it is an Albino Cory
and a Black Lancer that is Mourning the loss of her best mate a 7" Clown Loach!

I have had a few Leopard Lace Danio's before, but I am not sure how well they shoal.

I love the idea of Cardinals, but at around £1.50 each, a little pricey and don't move much.

I have no idea whether I want to go for stunning, or lively. Just lots of, and a shoal!

Any Ideas, are GREATLY appreciated.

rob

Jenny · Post by **Jenny** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:02 pm

Rob,

The shoaling fish that I find the most active and interesting are the Tiger Barbs - the PH would be OK and I keep them at a similar temperature to you - although they might be a bit too 'busy' for the discus and they are known for 'fin nipping' although in my tank because I have 15 of them they don't cause any problems at all but then again I don't have discus.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:11 pm

Hi Jenny

I must admit I would be a little nervous about the aggressiveness of the Tiger Barbs, although those are excellent looking fish.

Cheers

rob

jacew · Post by **jacew** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 9:51 pm

just a thought for your tank youll only need 6 or so, yellow rainbows (melanotaenia axelrodi) almost goldie yellow in colour black strip down center with pink fins. a nice size. ive got 6 in my tank really active, very nice and dont scare the discus.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 11:07 pm

Hi Jacew,

got 8 in 2 zebra grow out tanks, and your right absolutely georgous fish.

Funnily enough I was going to try puttinga spawning mop in there out of curiosity to see if they would spawn.

I think I'm looking for something more on the schooling side though, 30 fish or so.

Cheers

rob

jacew · Post by **jacew** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:01 am

hi rob
no worries, yep a very nice fish and good luck with what ever you decide. let me know id be interested
cheers

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:23 am

Threadfish ! The shoaling is perfect, but they are somewhat delicate. If you plan to have Discus in the tank then I think they should do good though. Stunning fish! Lively but not stressed, and schoal beautifully.

Here's some of mine - or rather, the ones I used to have before cutting down, together with my LDA33

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 1:02 am

McEve,
How long have you had the Golden Nugget? My friends had problems keeping them alive. They were eatting and growing, but they died without signs within 2-3 months.

your have some nice fishes by the way and all your tanks look beautiful!!

Post by **Barbie** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 7:29 am

I'd have to vote for praecox rainbows. They stay smaller, so you can get a larger group, are reasonably priced and usually readily available, and tend to be hardy and non combative. I would be afraid discus would eventually snack on the threadfin rainbows, personally. I've seen them tackling some pretty good sized neons over the years

. My M. herbertaxelrodi rainbows are VERY rambunctious and lived successfully in a tropheus tank for 2 years until I had a tank opened up for a species tank for them. They have small mouths, so don't dish out as much damage as a fish their size necessarily COULD, but they are definitely not peaceful all the time!

Rosy barbs would also make a nice school, without giving you the fin nipping problems that you'd see with the tiger barb types. They also have the additional benefit of eating hair algae. If you really just want a good school, buy rummy nose. I have 24 cardinals in my 92 gallon planted tank, and 9 rummy nose. The cardinals just spread out, but those rummy nose are always within inches of each other as they cruise around.

Hope I haven't just confused the issue farther

.

Barbie

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:21 pm

ahhh.. you have just revived an old favorite. The rummynose, as spectacular fish, and as you say an excellent schooler!!!

I think we have a winner!!!!! ALthough,, the threadfins look amazing, I wonder if a few would be abel to hide amongst the foliage!!!

Thanks for the input everyone, greatly appreciated!

rob

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:30 pm

du ma wrote:McEve,
How long have you had the Golden Nugget? My friends had problems keeping them alive. They were eatting and growing, but they died without signs within 2-3 months.

your have some nice fishes by the way and all your tanks look beautiful!!

I knew there was something that had slipped my mind... sorry about that du ma!

My late reply is - I have never been able to keep a Golden Nugget for more than a year, fine one day, gone the next, and I have no idea why, as the other catfish were fine...

Thanks for the compliment,

I'm looking forward to getting back into it again, only have three tanks up and running now!

andyj · Post by **andyj** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:34 pm

Rob,

I've got a 2 shoals of Tetra's in my 4'6" river tank, a shoal of 10 Rummynose's and a shoal of 12 Lemon Tetra's

The two shoals tend to merge and swim as one, but then they seperate occationaly

The colours on the Lemon Tetra's are stunning when you get them home, compared to what they look like in the LFS !

http://www.fishprofiles.com/articles/fr ... /lemon.asp

Andy

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:27 pm

CHeers andyj

You are right they do look better than in the shops.

I will be keeping those in mid, and I must admit I am steered back to the rummynose.

Unfortunately the shoal will need to be put on the back-burner for ow as we are getting Double glazing put in!!!! Which I have been informed is higher priority!

jeroentje · Post by **jeroentje** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:10 am

I'm going too searche for nannostomus mortenthaleri.
maybe also something for you

There is little info about these fish.
but I work in one of the best aquastores of the nethetlands

, we also have verry rare L-numbers

so maybe i can get some

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 12:46 pm

I've kept nannostomus mortenthaleri, but found them very hard to keep alive for more than a year. maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I've heard others also having trouble keeping them alive. Stunning fish though!