# Schooling fish recommendation



## tiger15 (19 Sep 2018)

I am looking for plant friendly schooling fish in my cichlid planted tank.  Since the tankmates are semi aggressive, fish too small or skittish won't fit. 

I have narrowed down to the following and want your opinion on which I should avoid. 
Congo Tetra
Yellow Congo Tetra
Green, Platinum or regular tiger barb
Bleeding Heart Tetra
Diamond Tetra
Emperor Tetra
Columbia Tetra
Pencil fish.


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## Edvet (19 Sep 2018)

Columbia tetra
Also rummynose and cardinal tetra.


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## john10001 (19 Sep 2018)

I don't think there are any tropical freshwater fish that exhibit schooling behaviour only marine fish. There are some good shoalers though.

I only have Congo tetras at the moment. They often shoal up together at different times throughout the day. Sometimes though they will do their own thing. They can be quite timid but other times not so much especially when they are hungry or sleeping when nothing seems to spook them much. They are territorial. They will only occasionally eat at plants if you don't give them enough in the way of plant products for their diet. They are incredibly fast fish and often take a deep position in the tank even though the shape of their mouths would seem to indicate they would be surface feeders. They love to be in good water current at least some of the time. The Congos prefer soft more acidic water though so I'm not sure how well they would do in a Cichlid tank?


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## azawaza (19 Sep 2018)

How big are your cichlids?


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## tiger15 (20 Sep 2018)

My cichlid are between 2 to 6 inch (Kribensis, EBA and Aulonocara).  Cardinal Tetra and Rummynose are too small and need something bigger and bolder.


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## Aqua360 (20 Sep 2018)

I wouldn't recommend mixing Africans with other types of fish, pretty much two diametrically opposed water conditions for the aulonoacara and rummy, cardinals.


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## foxfish (20 Sep 2018)

I have never had much luck getting fish to shoal, I think it is because of the very reasons fish like to shoal!
If you remove the danger, remove the stress, add plenty of food and keep the water healthy then the fish seem to relax and don’t feel the need to shoal up.


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## mort (20 Sep 2018)

As above, I think a loose grouping of fish is all we can normally achieve.

I'd also suggest either moving your Africans cichlids on or going full African. Mixed tanks don't normally wrk out for long with the differences in water chemistry the fish need and the eventual territoriality of the cichlids. If you rehomed the Africans it would open up all of the options on your initial list.


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## tiger15 (20 Sep 2018)

The water I am keeping the fish is mildly alkaline, kH4 and pH7.6.  I have been mixing African with hard water SA/CA for  a long time with no problems.  But I stay away from black water fish such as discus, most geophagus, rams and apis. Rummy and cardinal tetra are black water fish to avoid, besides being too small and skittish.  IN my decades of keeping cichlid, African and CA/SA of comparable size can achieve better harmony than pure bio type species as they are so different to see each other as threat.


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## Aqua360 (21 Sep 2018)

tiger15 said:


> The water I am keeping the fish is mildly alkaline, kH4 and pH7.6.  I have been mixing African with hard water SA/CA for  a long time with no problems.  But I stay away from black water fish such as discus, most geophagus, rams and apis. Rummy and cardinal tetra are black water fish to avoid, besides being too small and skittish.  IN my decades of keeping cichlid, African and CA/SA of comparable size can achieve better harmony than pure bio type species as they are so different to see each other as threat.



lol seeing fish from dramatically different habitats, in this case entire continents, would drive my ocd crazy, but the hobby comes in all forms...


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## tiger15 (21 Sep 2018)

If you are a purist, you will find my mixed cichlid tank disturbing as they come from three different continents.



 I used to keep an all Malawian cichlid tank and I found it boring.  They are all blue fish with similar body shape, all mouthbrooders, and all talk with the same body language.  They are so closely related that males see and fight one another as threat and cross breed with wrong females.  Then I got into central American cichlid.  Same with Rift Lake cichlid,  they are too closely related that they fight and cross breed like crazy.  IME, mix and match fish from different continents actually reduce aggressionac, achieve greater harmony and reduce cross breeding that purists hate .

Even purists African tanks mix in plecos from SA or Clown Loach from Asia as cleaner or dither fish.  For planted tank folks, they probably mix in plants from all continents except Antartica.


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## alto (22 Sep 2018)

What are the tank dimensions?

Do you have alternate tanks to grow out new stock or sourcing mature fish?


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## tiger15 (22 Sep 2018)

The tank is 6 ft long 120 gal.  Additionally, I have one high tech planted 75 gal show,  two 75, one 30 and one 20 gal for grow out, and two 1 gal Walstad planted shrimp bowl.  I am a long time cichlid keeper, but only got into plants and shrimp recently, still learning in short 2 year time.


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## alto (22 Sep 2018)

I really liked the Congo tetras & Hyphessobrycon Ornatus white fin tetras that Pedro Rosa chose for his 

Going Dutch by the book scape 

I suspect the white fin tetras (note that a few species may be sold under this common name) may be too small given your bigger fish

Green Aqua added Bosemani Rainbows & Dennisoni to their 180cm scape - fish look amazing in this size of tank

Aqua Flora display tanks at Interzoo 2018 showcased some rather nice fish (again some bigger tanks) so you might look at those for inspiration as well - Filipe Oliveira Youtube channel


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## Millns84 (22 Sep 2018)

Have you considered rainbowfish? Dwarf neons top out around three inches but there are some truly stunning varieties in the 5-6 inch bracket.

I've got boesemani and lake kutubu rainbows in my 120 as well as some Congos. They're all fine with the plants and my mid size cichlids.


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## tiger15 (22 Sep 2018)

I really like Congo tetra for their majestic finnage and is my first choice, but don't they nip on new growth.  

Tiger barb is my second choice, but are they plant safe?

Rainbow look like cichlid in size and color to some degree, and don't school.   It's wonderful to have a rainbow planted tank, but not as schooling fish to accompany cichlid for my taste.


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (22 Sep 2018)

Pencilfish will group as you want but definately stay near the surface


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## alto (22 Sep 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> Pencilfish will group as you want but definately stay near the surface


You really think they won’t get eaten over time? 
by the much larger fish


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## tiger15 (22 Sep 2018)

alto said:


> You really think they won’t get eaten over time?
> by the much larger fish


To clarify.  The fish in Post #11 aren’t the planted tank tank I place the schooling fish. I just showed it for illustration that African and American cichlid  can be mixed.  

My planted tank intend for the schooling fish is 75 gal, no fish over 6 inch, none predator, and only mildly aggressive.  So Congo tetra size fish are fine.


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## alto (23 Sep 2018)

I didn’t think post #11 had anything to do with the schooling fish inquiry 



tiger15 said:


> cichlid are between 2 to 6 inch (Kribensis, EBA and Aulonocara


These are the fish I assumed already exist in the tank to which you want to add a shoal ...
I still wouldn’t put pencilfish into this group 

You’d likely never see any active hunting, just the slow disappearance of the pencilfish shoal

Congo tetras are a completely different sort &would be worth trying but add 15-20 not 5-10


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (23 Sep 2018)

Ahhh yes quite right!


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## tiger15 (23 Sep 2018)

alto said:


> I didn’t think post #11 had anything to do with the schooling fish inquiry
> 
> 
> These are the fish I assumed already exist in the tank to which you want to add a shoal ...
> ...



Congo Tetras are beautiful.  My tank is not big enough for 15-20, 5-10 should be OK.  Just want to make sure they won't nip on my plants.

Yes, pencil fish are too small and delicate to survive with my cichlid.  I have mistaken them as another larger schooling fish called cigar fish that stay in the bottom water column.  Pencil fish are nice and stay in the upper water column.  What other schooling fish like to stay near the surface.


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (23 Sep 2018)

Hatchetfish are the most common. Their body shape may mean they are off the menu?


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