Recommendation of schooling fishes for a 3 feet tank

[catohcat]

I'm planning to upgrade into a 3ft tank... I'm looking for small to very small fish which always stick & swimming toghether. Any recommendation?

Thanks

[Shadow]

Amber tetra (Hyphessobrycon amandae)
Ruby tetra (Axelrodia riesei)
Rasbora espei (Trigonostigma espei)

I think, they are all about 3cm max

[torque6]

If you like red fishes, you can try Ruby/ember tetra are quite hot right now, seems LFS is bringing them in.

Other normal schooling fish includes cardinal/tetras; various types/rasbora.

[genes]

You can also try those crystal red tetras that biotope is currently selling. They school and look really nice in a planted tank. Sorry, i do not know their actual names.

[Wackytpt]

The Crystal Red tetra are known as hyphessobrycon haraldschultzi. Beautiful fishes

[genes]

Very red tetras they are and in my opinion, not as skittish as the ruby tetras which usually hides in a densely planted tank. Only appearing during feeding time.

[Hermes]

Cardinals are an interesting option, even though I've heard they don't school as tightly as other tetras. A little common, but I've always found them quite beautiful. =) Good luck.

[Freshman]

Rummy nose tetra

[Jaws]

Rummy nose school much better than C. Tetras. I have more than 100 in my 3 ft tank and they school really well.

[catohcat]

Hyphessobrycon haraldschultzi & Rummy Noise is a bit big i guess. How about crown killies? Anyone has experience with these tiny guys?

[valice]

How about crown killies? Anyone has experience with these tiny guys?

Clown (not crown. ) killies are too small.
Unless you are looking at putting 100 pieces of the fishes into your tank. Else you wouldn't really see them once they go into hiding mode.
And also, they don't school like what you requested in your first post.

[ranmasatome]

Rabora kalachroma....but those are HUGE!! compared to what you're looking for..haha... sorry. but i learnt the hard way not to put small fishes into a 3ft tank.

[Shadow]

isn't that the idea? put small fishes but lots of them

[ranmasatome]

well.. that could work if your fishes co-operate.....
but i once dumped about 100 Axelrodia riesei into a 3 ft and it looked like i had 5 fishes in there..it was so retarded of me. Moreover, when i took pictures of the tank, it looked like i had no fishes in there...only specks of colourful dirt.
If you're looking at common schooling fishes then probably its okay (once they feel safe in the tank they will start to scatter anyway)...but don't go tooooo small or you'll end up forking a lot more cash for them and they won't even probably show on your tank and you can't seem to just catch them all out to do a redo.
Small fishes use for small tank.... for a 3ft..i'd try to limit my personal choice of fish to 4cm or so minimum..so that means probably the size of those red crystals tetras or a red phantom is the smallest i would go...but that is personal opinion la...
Why spend so much time and effort to do up a nice tank then dump crappy fish in there?? its weird...

[Aquaculture]

Rummy nose Tetra, Hemigrammus rhodostomus is nice, cohesive. They always school together like a pack of wolves in my rojak community tank.

[valice]

isn't that the idea? put small fishes but lots of them

Small but not too small.
From an aquascaping point of view, the type of fish chosen is dependent on the scape and the size of the leaves of the plants and hardscape used.

For iwagumi scapes, best combination is a single species and tight schooling, to give the impressive of vastness. For scapes which are most elaborate, you can have a mixture of fishes which occupies different strata of the tank. But too big a fish will make the tank look small even if you choose the plants size carefully. Too small a fish, you wouldn't be able to see it in the tank. And a very good example is what Ranmasatome pointed out.

I believe he posted it before, and you can't see his red rubies!
Another few examples are those tanks which uses Rasbora briggitae or similarly sized fishes. Tendency is for them to hide, and as a result, we can't see them!

Rabora kalachroma....but those are HUGE!! compared to what you're looking for..haha... sorry. but i learnt the hard way not to put small fishes into a 3ft tank.

hey, that fish will need a 4ft or even 5ft scape lar.
But they are very majestic when they school together. Another one of those see to believe fish.

[Fei Miao]

My choice:
1. Ruby tetra (Axelrodia riesei)
2. Rasbora espei (Trigonostigma espei)

[illumnae]

i agree with too small fish disappearing. even in my nano 25cm cube, i find that my boraras uropholmoides (spelling?) tend to disappear at times. i can't imagine ever seeing them in any tank bigger than 2ft. I would go with ember tetras over rubies as i find rubies are too transparent and if your background is black, they tend to disappear as well

[doppelbanddwarf]

The crystal red tetras, Hyphessobrycon haraldschultzi, do school well for me even though I've only got 8 of them in a 2ft. A much larger no. would be needed in a 3ft though.

[WaterH2O]

My best choice
Rasbora espei (Trigonostigma espei)

Have 11 of them in my 3 feet and they even school with my puntius denisonii (Torpedoes) Nice!