Do Cichlids School

[Vitaliy]

Once in a while I will come across a picture of a public aquarium in which they will have a school of large Cichlids (same type), and in the Photo Lounge searcyb posted pictures of Shedd Aquarium that has one of those setups.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25053&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1145738264
If Cichlids do indeed school, what size tank would I need to have a school of say 25 Red Devils?

[dovii88]

yeah that is at the uhh i forgot the name i think its seatle aquarium

[thatonegirl]

Was that pic taken at Shedd? They have an amazing RD tank there.

I think that if you get enough of a certain cichlid in a large enough space, they will school, but not like more social fish. The oscars at Shedd seem to school, too. Truly amazing.

[thatonegirl]

And to answer your question on tank size, maybe you wanna seal off a bedroom, fill it with water and give it a try. :D

[repair]

I have some Placidochromis phenochilus that school in my 300 but for red devils I would say at least a 300.

I don't know if shooling is really the right word..... mabe they mull around or loiter.

[croc 2-3]

Yes lots of african cichlids school, I'm not sure if many C.A. & S.A. cichlids do though. They tend to have a given space that a group may defend. ie. 20 convicts may congregate in one corner of a 1000 gal. tank & defend it. I would suppose open water species may school but seeing as though most cichlids are sedentary in nature I would guess once they are older they just stay in a group & defend the territory. Of course as young they school with their siblings under the watchful eye of a parent. Barbs & tetras (ie. piranhas) school as they migrate from one area to another. There is a school of 3-4 inch tropheus Sp. in a 300 gal. display tank at a lfs. There are a low number of other species in the tank but the tropheus just swim from one end of the tank to the other.

[ewurm]

I think P-Bass do as well.

[Filthy Sanchez]

Some do, I know Uarus do. Not sure what other species do though. I know some harem, meaning their school is one male and a harem of females. Smart fish.

[Opiate]

africans school....dunno bout americans!! i've never seen em school...

[Honda12]

I believe that tank at the shedd aqarium is 1000gl, but it is like a square and that is pretty much the whole tank, a bit longer maybe, but they really have no choice.

[Taz2478]

25 rd would be like 1000G+ or some will def be killed off.

thats a tight pic too

[skinless]

im thinking lots of africans school in the wild, dunno about home setups.

[angeladay]

My 3 Oscars schooled in 210g.

[HarpoGarza]

im thinking lots of africans school in the wild, dunno about home setups.
My Africans school all the time. It's really fun to watch.

[Jason_S]

the only "true schooling cichlids" are the Cyprichromis and Paracyprichromis species from Lake Tanganyika. Many other cichlids may shoal (especially as juveniles) but they don't school. the difference between schooling and shoaling is that shoaling fish will stay together in a group in the same general area and "hang out" together. schooling fish move in tandem turning together and so forth. :)