Any ideas for a school of fish to fit my setup?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Steveo McNello

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2010
2,009
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SW Burbs of Chicago
Hey guys. In my 125 I have a 10 inch silver aro and two 10 inch florida gars.

[yes i know how big they get. yes i know they cant stay there for life. yes I have a future home for them]

With that aside, I feel like my tank needs some more fish. I was hoping to get 3 or 4 of the same species for a mini school, the problem is I don't know what to get or where to find them at a size where they wont get eaten. Any ideas?

Just a forewarning I don't want silver dollars.
 
Maybe some Uaru. Although they are Cichlids, they schooled pretty well when I had a group of them.
 
Maybe some plecos. Certain species like the company of their own like L75's. They get about 10", but the biggest problem would be finding them big enough. Most for sale are juvis .....

Clown loaches would work too
 
maybe some large (8 inch) rainbowfish that are very tall laterally if you can find them, but tinfoils and pink tails are much more available.
 
How about some filamnet barbs (mascara barbs). They grow fast and the males when breeding are stunning with the filament dorsal and green sheen to them. I had one get to 8 inches a few years ago. Also they are fast as hell so they keep the tank moving sort of speak.
 
Wow, do you realize how big your aro and gars are going to get? You can't keep them in a 125 for life, so I hope you have another home ready for them in the future. As far as a school of fish, what about some silver dollars?







Ok on a more serious note, here are some ideas:
Bala sharks - You can purchase them fairly large, and they school well.
Giant danios - May be eaten every so often, but are active schooling fish that you could test out.
Roseline sharks/Denison barbs - If you can find some that are fully grown this may work and add a lot of color and character to the tank. I've never heard of anyone keeping these with larger predatory fish, and it would be a shame (and expensive) to have some nice large roseline sharks eaten, but just a thought.
Lemon barbs
 
After considering the last few comments I'm going to say so far its between tinfoil barbs, clown loaches which i completely forgot about, and bala sharks. Do balas need any salt?
 
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