Schooling fish don't school

[Tony Volk]

Do the following fish school or not (in my 55g planted)?

Lemon tetras - I have 7, and they are all over the tank
Danios- I have 8, they bunch together in groups of up to 4 sometimes, but
are often alone
Scissortail Rasborras - I have 5, and they sometimes group together, other
times are scattered separately (about 50/50)
Pictus Cats- I have 4 who loosely congregate, but are also very aggressive
with each other

So what are other folks' experiences with these species? Do I have too few
in my tank for schooling? Are the fish simply too relaxed in my tank? Too
stressed?

Tony

[dfreas]

My guess is they're too relaxed - I've noticed this with my school of
cardinal tetras as well. I have 9 of them and for most of the day they
are scattered all over the tank exploring plants and chasing eachother
around in nothing that looks even remotely like a school. But when I
open the lid for feeding time or if I stick my hand in the water to
pull out a dead leaf etc. then they all jump together in a school
almost instantly and stay that way for a while.

The same seems to be true of rasboras and danios. I don't have any
experience with pictus cats though.

-Daniel

[Wm Hopkins]

"Tony Volk" > wrote in message
...
> Do the following fish school or not (in my 55g planted)?
>
> Lemon tetras - I have 7, and they are all over the tank
> Danios- I have 8, they bunch together in groups of up to 4 sometimes, but
> are often alone
> Scissortail Rasborras - I have 5, and they sometimes group together, other
> times are scattered separately (about 50/50)
> Pictus Cats- I have 4 who loosely congregate, but are also very aggressive
> with each other
>
> So what are other folks' experiences with these species? Do I have too
> few
> in my tank for schooling? Are the fish simply too relaxed in my tank?
> Too
> stressed?
>
> Tony
>
>

Usually there needs to be a "predator" of some sort to cause schooling. It
doesn't need to be an actual predatory fish but rather something your fish
perceive as such. Just my experience.

Bill

[[email protected]]

Maybe you should send them to school? Dan

[blank]

There are several groups of schooling fish in my 75gal tank. They school
until they become comfortable in the tank, then once they realise there is
no danger they hang out together, but dont school in the same way. They
behave like groups of people in a mixed environment--they associate with
each other far more than they they do with others not in their own group,
but also interact with non-group members.

[Ozdude]

"Tony Volk" > wrote in message
...
> Do the following fish school or not (in my 55g planted)?
>
> Lemon tetras - I have 7, and they are all over the tank
> Danios- I have 8, they bunch together in groups of up to 4 sometimes, but
> are often alone
> Scissortail Rasborras - I have 5, and they sometimes group together, other
> times are scattered separately (about 50/50)
> Pictus Cats- I have 4 who loosely congregate, but are also very aggressive
> with each other
>
> So what are other folks' experiences with these species? Do I have too
> few
> in my tank for schooling? Are the fish simply too relaxed in my tank?
> Too
> stressed?

They are happy! and feeling secure.

I have 10 Serpae, 4 Hockey Sticks, 10 Black Phantoms, 2 Neons and 6 Black
Neons and none of them shoal unless they are threatened - they are all over
the tank too. It doesn't bother me - just makes it hard to count them on a
stock check in the morning.

Mine hide in the plants and pounce on each other ;)

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith