Schooling Fish Suggestions Please

[lil_pendejo]

I have a school of ten Red Minor's with my HRP's and Firemouths in my 125. Way back when in 96 when I had a Motoro, I had a school of 30 Red Eye Tetra's in with him.

Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is powerful

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Have you considered something toothy? Like needlefish (aka needle nose "gar"), hujeta gar (aquascape has 2 inchers for ten ea), or some other kind of FW pike characin? They wouldn't be too easily eaten as long as the sizes are right, they can take care of themselves.. it seems most of the things you'd like will all be eaten eventually

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[castro1212]

Giant danios are great. Mine are ignored by the other fish I've had with them except for feeding time. They also have really nice color especially with darker substrates. Their fun to watch also and lastly their really fast.


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[MyGiants]

Well if Congo tetras are too expensive at $8.99ea on average depending on size then Roseline's are definitely out too. Rummy nose is a great schooling tetra at $2.49ea so are different Danio's. If you plan on keeping Bichir's Ctenopoma and a Ghost knife they will eat small schooling tetras. Maybe larger tetras like the Head & Tail light tetra or Columbian Tetra Bleeding Heart's. Australian Rainbows are nice too not schooling but nice in a planted tank.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Its gonna be hard to find a schooling group. For a 125 or 75. That will do well with those Bichirs. I believe they will all get over a foot long. Silver Dollars might be a better chose. They are tough fish an their shape is not easily swallowed
I've got 2 Albino Bichirs in my 125 the largest is about 8". The Ctenopoma is 6", an all my Roselines are 4" no problems.

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Yes I know it's hard is why I'm trying to help ^^' They should get over a foot long, yeah. I think two of them get 13" and the other 14"?

I can't do silver dollars as they eat plants like there's no tomorrow from what I've heard and I want this tank to be planted.
I have them on that list to show what has been suggested thus far to save others from suggesting something and me going nope already thought of that

Am glad to hear about your roselines being alright so far. They are very pretty fish! Will definitely be keeping them in mind.

I dont have experience with all them but I have had great success with giant danios. They rarely leave the surface and a group of them means lots of eyes to alert the group if a birchir swims to the surface. I kept giant danios with a 12" black piranha successfully (until I went on vacation and he was very very hungry)

Wow, imagine they were much too fast for the piranha? Sorry he ate them :c

Personally, I like a school of glass cats. They stay near the surface and away from the bichirs, but will eventually become bite sized.

Hatchet fish are edible sized, but will stay near the surface.
Tiger barbs, if kept in large groups. In large groups aggression is dealt out to establish dominance and social order. interspecies aggression occurs when tiger barbs are kept in too small of groups(in most cases)

Bala sharks?
large mollies can be attractive and fairly peaceful. Fry only become nutritious snacks
Emperor tetras can be a decent size and peaceful, but will eventually be snacks

Ideally, if you are only going to only go to a 125, you cant have too large of schooling fish, since you will ideally want at least 3-5. Given all of this, I would go with something cheap, since predation is not going to be eliminated easily. IMO your best bet will be the faster giant danios. They can spook fish with speed, but are quite peaceful and generally avoid predation.

Glass cats are interesting but aren't they very timid or something? I've never had them just things I've heard and am wondering abut.
What are the biggest hatchetfish? I've thought of them but didn't bother to put them on the list as I was very sure they'd just get eaten due to their size.

I know the larger groups of tigers the more they should keep the aggression within their own group but I'd rather not chance them hurting the other tankmates. That being said I know that the fish I already have planned could possibly bother each other but I'm just trying to be as careful as possible with the schooling fish. I absolutely adore the green ones. Are they deep bodied enough a bichir couldn't eat it?

Bala sharks are way too big and would need a much larger tank that I can't provide unfortunately.. neat fish though.
Mollies aren't schooling but could do the same with them as I would with gourami, keep a male and lots of females and it'd sort of be like having schooling fish. I imagine I'd need sailfins to have the best chance of them not getting eaten?
I love emperor tetras but agree they'd eventually be eaten, so they're a no go.

Are the schooling fish I'm looking at already too large for these size tanks? I've heard of people putting congos and roselines in a 55g so I thought they'd be alright with this one?
Any schooling fish I get will be kept in a minimum group of 6, and I am only looking at getting one type so no worries on me having lots of groups of different schoolers.

Cheap is what I'm looking for but would like it to not bother the other tankmates. I will check the price of giant danios at my LFS, was looking at them the other day. They're pretty. Do you think they'd spook the ctenopoma?

I was so happy to see all your responses when I got up today. Thank you so very much and please do keep commenting.
I hope my response didn't come off rude or anything like that, I am not trying to be rude or disagree, just giving my thoughts on the fish.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Woah, even more responses while I was responding! ;-; I'm so happy.

I have a school of ten Red Minor's with my HRP's and Firemouths in my 125. Way back when in 96 when I had a Motoro, I had a school of 30 Red Eye Tetra's in with him.

Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is powerful

I think either of those fish would definitely be eaten, but am not sure..they are definitely really pretty!

Have you considered something toothy? Like needlefish (aka needle nose "gar"), hujeta gar (aquascape has 2 inchers for ten ea), or some other kind of FW pike characin? They wouldn't be too easily eaten as long as the sizes are right, they can take care of themselves.. it seems most of the things you'd like will all be eaten eventually

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Toothy could possibly end up hurting the angel, knife, and ctenopoma, couldn't it? Are needlefish & gars & pikes schooling fish..? And don't they get too big for this size tank?
The fish I have listed are not necessarily ones that I like but ones I've found are of a decent size. My favorites are still the congos, torpedo barbs, tiger barbs, and upside-down catfish.

Thank you

Giant danios are great. Mine are ignored by the other fish I've had with them except for feeding time. They also have really nice color especially with darker substrates. Their fun to watch also and lastly their really fast.


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That's great that their colors are good on darker substrate as I do plan on black sand. Thank you so much for putting another tick on there for the danios!

Well if Congo tetras are too expensive at $8.99ea on average depending on size then Roseline's are definitely out too. Rummy nose is a great schooling tetra at $2.49ea so are different Danio's. If you plan on keeping Bichir's Ctenopoma and a Ghost knife they will eat small schooling tetras. Maybe larger tetras like the Head & Tail light tetra or Columbian Tetra Bleeding Heart's. Australian Rainbows are nice too not schooling but nice in a planted tank.

I know, I'm imagining most fish around these sizes are going to cost more than I'd like. I thought the congos were 10$ each and yes the roselines are about the same price, that's why I have them both listed as expensive.
Rummynoses would definitely get eaten so I can't do them..I do have 11 in my 55g though and 5 more in QT to add to that. Gorgeous fellows!
Columbian tetra crossed my mind, I forgot to put it on the list >< Rainbowfish are on my list but from what I've read they will spook the ctenopoma. They're also expensive.

Thank you all again for the responses. They are very much appreciated.
And again, I am not trying to argue or be rude. I am telling you my concerns with all these fish in the hopes that we can find one that will work. I know it's a long shot.

 

[castro1212]

Go with one of the cheaper nicer looking ones and replace as they are eaten. I've read some where's that danios will easily breed and in a heavily planted tank some of the babies will live to become adults.


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[Ninjouzata]

I can see this..BAD BICHIRS! -mentally hits with newspaper- No eating the schoolers! :c
I think that may well be what we'll have to do as they still could possibly eat the more expensive congo or roselines and replacing those would just be ugh.

Keep comments coming though please, I found two other fish that are of decent size but not sure if they'd work either and imagine they are quite expensive/uncommon.

Filament Barb
Arulius Barb

Thank you again for the responses

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

If you get the 125 you could do some of the smaller specie pike characin or needlefish. I only put gar in there just in case you didnt know them by needlefish, they arent actually gar and max out at 10-12 inch. I do not reccomend actual american gar lol.

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[Ninjouzata]

10-12" schooling fish..so I'd need at least 6..that's a lot of bioload .___. I think those are out ><

We are going to look at a tank tomorrow that the guy said is 72.5" long, 18.5" wide, and he didn't answer me about height though in the pic it looks about the same height as a 55g.