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Thread: Need recommendation on schooling fish

  1. #1
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    Need recommendation on schooling fish

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    I need recommendation on schooling fish. The requirements are
    1) Must be friendly to adult shrimp, I don't mind for them to eat shrimplet
    2) Size less than 3cm
    3) Tightly school
    4) Maximum fish I get is 20, my tank is 2ft

    I've been looking on old thread on schooling fish and come up with following list:

    Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi
    Hyphessobrycon roseus
    Hyphessobrycon amapaensis
    Hyphessobrycon vilmae
    rummy nose
    rasbora espei
    rasbora harlequin
    Danio choprae

    I have no idea which one friendly to adult shrimp and schooling tightly in small number (20 fishes).

    Please recommend other fish if it is not in the list.
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

  2. #2
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    i highly recommend Trigonostigma espei, beautiful fish! however, if i'm not mistaken their maximum size is over 3cm.

    alternatively, you can consider Boraras brigittae or any others of the Boraras. My personal experience is that they tightly school as well.

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    I have T. espei in my 1ft tank. They are beautiful and active schooling fish. In addition, they are good jumper.

    I witnessed shrimplet (~5mm) swallowed up by T. espei when it swim to the "hunter" zone (above mid level). On the other hand, I do saw shrimplets <5mm "jalan jalan" on the substrate or leave, they are safe. Btw, my T. espei ~3cm max.

    For Boraras spp, I found that B. uropthalmodies school better than B. brigittae as well as B. merah and B. maculatus.
    Last edited by nys; 7th Oct 2007 at 11:58.

  4. #4
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    thanks bro illumnae and nys, I can leave with 3cm

    I have Boraras brigittae but they don't school that well, only school when I do tank cleaning. I probably won't choose boraras
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    I second H. espei. I have 19 of them in my 422. They are active and enjoys swimming against the current. I've found that sometimes they will scatter around the tank for awhile but will eventually group up and then swim in a tightly pack school. Very active shoal. Cardinal tetras are also great schooling fish they pack together tightly but are far less active of course.

    NA and Biotope has espei in stock at the moment. The ones are Biotope are nicely settled in and healthy.

    Good luck

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadow View Post
    thanks bro illumnae and nys, I can leave with 3cm

    I have Boraras brigittae but they don't school that well, only school when I do tank cleaning. I probably won't choose boraras
    Bro Magnum observation was correct. Sometimes T. espei will scatter around the tank for awhile but eventually group up. Strong current make them more active. Swim against current? I have no idea.

    I would recommend to get T. espei from WuHu @Tiong Bahru.

    Agreed that B. brigittae don't school well. B. uropthalmodies school better from my observation.
    Last edited by nys; 7th Oct 2007 at 16:23.

  7. #7
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    rummy nose is a good choice. my rummies always school together. always very active. if you have fishes that like to hide the rummies also will lead them out. i would say rummy. but do becareful, dont know if they will attack your shrimps.
    Last edited by Quixotic; 7th Oct 2007 at 18:37. Reason: SMS lingo: 'u', 'yr'

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    Quote Originally Posted by nys View Post
    Bro Magnum observation was correct. Sometimes T. espei will scatter around the tank for awhile but eventually group up. Strong current make them more active. Swim against current? I have no idea.

    I would recommend to get T. espei from WuHu @Tiong Bahru.

    Agreed that B. brigittae don't school well. B. uropthalmodies school better from my observation.
    Any idea if WuHu currently have it in stock?

    Quote Originally Posted by equidorz View Post
    rummy nose is a good choice. my rummies always school together. always very active. if u have fishes that like to hide the rummies also will lead them out. i would say rummy. but do becareful, dont know if they will attack yr shrimps.
    I check on the net, rummy nose can grow up to 5cm, so that one is out
    Last edited by Quixotic; 7th Oct 2007 at 18:31. Reason: Merge posts
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    Both Trigonostigma espei and Harlequin rasbora school very well. But Trigonostigma espei are smaller then Harlequin rasbora so will be a better choice. Also, they have a deeper orange hue. Alternatiively, you can try Rasbora dorsiocellata.
    Eugene (^_^)
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    Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas

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    Since there are no predators in your tank, you may not always get them to school. Small fishes are thought to school so that there is safety in numbers as protection from predation. Fishes do learn and will quickly discover that as there are no predators, they will feel adequately safe to scatter. So there are no guarantees they will school all the time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadow View Post
    Hyphessobrycon roseus
    rasbora espei (scientific name is Trigonostigma espei)
    Danio choprae (is actually a synonym of Danio choprai)
    Robert, I assume the size you mentioned is 3cm TL (total length). There are literatures that quote SL (standard length) as the size. TL and SL measurements are different. There is no guarantee that those over 3cm TL will be shrimp safe. Plus, I doubt you will find some of the above as they are either very rarely/never seen in our LFS.

    That leaves you with the above which max at 3cm TL. On top of these, I would recommend these:

    Hyphessobrycon amandae (Ember tetra)
    Axelrodia riesei (Ruby tetra)
    Paracheirodon simulans (Green neon tetra)

    Quote Originally Posted by genes View Post
    Both Trigonostigma espei and Harlequin rasbora school very well. But Trigonostigma espei are smaller then Harlequin rasbora so will be a better choice. Also, they have a deeper orange hue. Alternatiively, you can try Rasbora dorsiocellata.
    Harlequin rasbora actually belong to the genus Trigonostigma, scientific name is T. heteromorpha. R. dorsiocellata grows too large at 6cm TL and IMO, not safe for shrimps.

  11. #11
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    Wu Hu had some in stock as of last week. Biotope, NA and Seaview all have them in stock too, but do note Seaview labels them wrongly as Hengel's Rasbora. Their hengeli were labelled as Neon Rasbora or something like that.

    edit: my boraras school tightly, but that's possibly because they're in a small tank with a pair of apistos inside and feel threatened
    Last edited by illumnae; 7th Oct 2007 at 20:13.

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    One of the true schooling fish I know is rummy nose tetra. They do grow to around 5cm.

    They are highly active fish, with or without predator around. Most of the time form in tight school. Never seen any eat shrimp, except by mistake during feeding time. The fish also eat like pigs, swarming in school during feeding session. If you have the tank size and ample swimming space, this is the fish for you.

    However the fish does stray a bit when the food is scattered and whenever they sleep, looking for individual plant/leaf to hide under.

    If I'm to score schooling point, I'd give rummy nose a 10 and harlequin 6 or 7.

  13. #13
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    an alternative you might want to look at is the green neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans). I just saw a school of 200 of them in Thio's 3ft display tank when his light switched on at about 6pm today. I was captivated!

    Max. size according to googled websites is 2.5-4cm depending on the site
    Last edited by illumnae; 7th Oct 2007 at 20:23.

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    There are actually 2 variants of R. dorsiocellata...one of them is bigger..the other quite substantially smaller i think..

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    Think mine are the small varients. 3cm biggest so far. Or that they are growing real slow...
    Last edited by genes; 7th Oct 2007 at 22:53.
    Eugene (^_^)
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    genes, if yours are the small variants, they would most likely be R. dorsiocellata macrophthalma (3cm is just about right).

    However, as I understand it, some work is still in need to sort out the taxonomy of R. dorsiocellata dorsiocellata and R. dorsiocellata macrophthalma? In any case, I am using Fishbase entry as the reference for R. dorsiocellata (which would be equivalent to R. dorsiocellata dorsiocellata).

    As there are no significant differences to tell them apart other than the size, someone uninitiated could be getting either of them at the first instance.

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    Thanks all, so many recomendation. Need to look one by one before decided which one suitable.

    Is there any web site that telling you the fish behaviour? Most web site telling you what is their max size but not their schooling behaviour.
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    Pygmy Corydoras!

  19. #19
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    after some picture search on the net, I manage to narrow my selection to 3 fishes:

    Ruby tetra (Axelrodia riesei) -> 1
    Green neon tetra (Paracheirodon simulans) -> 2
    Rasbora espei (Trigonostigma espei) -> 3

    Question: fishprofile website wrote that green neon tetra maximum size is 4cm but fishbase 2cm, which one is the correct one?
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

  20. #20
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    all very beautiful fish...good luck on your decision, i'm sure your tank will look beautiful with whatever you choose

    as for the length of the paracheirodon simulans, i think one measurement is with tail and one is without. SL vs TL or something like that

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