# Best schooling tetras



## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

Just curious to see what people have to say.

List your top schooling tetras. Choose based on how well they school, not as much on color, looks, size etc.

I will start and say Cardinals have been the best schoolers I have kept.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Lemon tetras and Marbled hatchetfish.


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## Similis (Feb 14, 2007)

Lemons are great..


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## Similis (Feb 14, 2007)

Lemons are great Shoalers..

I have a shoal in my Geo tank.
I also have gold and blue Tetras but they dont shoal.


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## iLuvAngels (May 14, 2008)

HONDO....How many Cardinals do you have? I have 10 in my tank and they don't really school at all. They pretty much hang behind my plants. I don't have any fish that they are afraid of in my tank and my lighting isn't too bright.

I know that I am supposed to answer your question and not ask one but I just couldn't help it when you said that your Cardinals are the best schoolers you have kept.

Just curious.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

no worries. i dont have them anymore, but i used to have a school of 15 or so with a big adult male angel. they schooled fantastic. cant explain why, they just stayed together. guess the angel had a few tries at them when the lights were out!


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## ebjdftw (Aug 24, 2010)

I think they school better in bigger numbers. I have 17 (i think?) in a 29 gallon and they school terrifically.


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## jeaninel (Nov 1, 2009)

Rummynose are great schoolers.


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## iLuvAngels (May 14, 2008)

hmmmm, maybe I'll add some more Cardinals to my tank to see if that will bring them out more. Not now, but eventually. Thanks for the info


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

HONDO said:


> no worries. i dont have them anymore, but i used to have a school of 15 or so with *a big adult male angel*. they schooled fantastic. cant explain why, they just stayed together. guess the angel had a few tries at them when the lights were out!


My guess is that's more the reason why they schooled so well.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Rummynose have been my tightest schools, even in the absence of larger cichlids. Lemons were tight as well, though I did have them in with larger cichlids.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

how do lemons compare to xrays as far as size? im looking for a good schooling tetra to go with my chocolate.

i ask because i added a school of 15 pristella and he ate them in a day and a half...

are they high bodied enough to make it? also, in a large tank (180) with a large cichlid who does eat tetras, would a large school help them avoid predation or would it just give him an easier/larger target?

lastly, if lemons will be a snack, any suggestions for a really good schooler that get large enough to not get eaten by a choco?


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## phorty (Oct 30, 2009)

I have 18 Harlequin Rasboras and they don't school particularly well and there are 3 large angels in there. So I guess I would not recommend them. But occasionally they'll get spooked and be super tight together and it is quick interesting to see.


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

rummynose and bloodfins are probably the best shoaling tetras.


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

HONDO said:


> how do lemons compare to xrays as far as size? im looking for a good schooling tetra to go with my chocolate.
> 
> i ask because i added a school of 15 pristella and he ate them in a day and a half...
> 
> are they high bodied enough to make it? also, in a large tank (180) with a large cichlid who does eat tetras, would a large school help them avoid predation or would it just give him an easier/larger target?


I have 8 Xray tetras (aka pristella) in my 20 long with my male HRP, they school generally well, usually in a school of 6 though, with one on either end of the tank and the main school in the middle. They would certainly be eaten by the adult chocolate, and I don't really think them being in larger numbers changes the fact that at night, the chocolate will more than likely hunt them down.

I'd have to say that maybe columbian tetras are a better idea, as they are still tetras, are high bodied (almost impossible to eat), and are very colorful... If you're willing to leave the "tetra" family, I think tiger barbs are the most active schooling fish that are too big to be eaten (I have 6 in my 55 and will be upping it to at least 10).

Just my .02


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## summerboy1958 (Dec 23, 2011)

Anyone tried silver tipped tetras? The LFS said they would school, but they rarely do. The mosltly stay in the plants. I have a dozen in my 30 as dithers while waiting to get my apistos.


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## aggriffin3 (Aug 15, 2009)

I have 6 Buenos Aires Tetras that do a better job at 6 than at 8. See, the GT was good for thinning out the population. Now they all stay together and are constantly schoaling/schooling.
I think they call that fear...

Art


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

IME, tetras school best when their is a perceived threat.

I had black skirts in a 5ft tank with dwarfs and they did not school. Moved them to a six foot tank with large severums and a pike and they schooled. Moved them into a 29g alone and now they dont school lol.


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

ahud said:


> IME, tetras school best when their is a perceived threat.
> 
> I had black skirts in a 5ft tank with dwarfs and they did not school. Moved them to a six foot tank with large severums and a pike and they schooled. Moved them into a 29g alone and now they dont school lol.


Oh irony haha, I agree totally about when there is a perceived threat that they school tighter though


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## TrashmanNYC (Dec 10, 2007)

I have 12 Serpae tetras in a 55 with angels, Bolivian rams, and some corys. Sometimes they school, sometimes they don't.


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## mwomack (Oct 4, 2011)

Bloodfins for sure. I have had them, cardinals, rasboras, glowlights, zebra danios... unsuccessfully kept rummynose (got a bad batch from lfs). Bloodfins definitely are the best schoolers in my opinion!


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## little_b10 (Jan 29, 2008)

My best has been Rummynose, I have 8 in a 55 with 7 different dwarf cichlids. They look great.


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## benck8 (Aug 5, 2011)

I keep about 25 rio flame tetras in my 75, they can get fairly deep bodied and tend to stick in a good shoal most of the time plus i think they look pretty good. Might be worth looking into


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## jsmeesterr (Nov 28, 2011)

lemon tetras have been the great school for me, orange von rio tetras have been the worse for me as the are agresssive!


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

I have heard Lemon Tetras school very well, as many have already said...

I currently have 9x Buenos Aires Tetras in my 135gal CA community. They really do not school much at all unless they are spooked. My cichlids are all still pretty small though as well. Once they get some size on them, pair up and begin to spawn, I'm sure the BA Tetras will hold tighter together. "Schooling" is a defensive behavior, if they have nothing to fear, there is no reason for them to school...


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## Pizzle (May 24, 2011)

I have a school of 7 Green Neon tetras in a 20 gallon high. They ae the only fish in there but they school well. They are a small species though so would probably be eaten by most cichlids. I had some Silver Tip tetras a few years back and I liked them quite a bit but they did not school well.


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## Pizzle (May 24, 2011)

I have black neon tetras, not green neon tetras. Sorry for the mistake. See above post.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I have a dozen bleeding hearts in a 50L with angels, apistos, and rams; they don't school, but they do stay near each other.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Seems like lemons are the winners.


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## strat guy (Dec 5, 2011)

Try bleeding hearts. I have only 4, and they still school pretty tightly. I've heard that in larger groups (10-20) they school just as well. And to boot, they get big, like 3". I've had mine for only a little under 2 months and they've gone from being the same size as my Rosy Tetras (1"-1.5") to being about 3x their size. They compete with my Severum and 6 Geophagus and hold their own in a fight. Scrappy guys.

Another one to try is Red Eyed Tetras. They're cheap (here in Illinois they run between .99 and 1.50) and they school real tight. They act like mini piranhas. And surprisingly, they spend most of their time in the top 1/3 of the aquarium, sometimes schooling with my hatchetfish. For how plain they are, they're really a pleasure to watch and the red eye is really striking.


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## strat guy (Dec 5, 2011)

They act totally different in schools too. Their behavior is more natural, they don't seem like they're out of place. I remember being a kid and having a couple red eyes and some head and tail lights in a 10 gal. Like 4 fish total. They staked out territories, fought constantly, and were total loners. Being a tad older now and having a tank 12 times the size, its been fun watching how they interact differently. My school of 7 red eyes floats around the surface with my 3 hatchets and just swim back and forth as a big school. Very relaxing to watch. They feed like a school too, working together to steal food from my severum or festivum. Watching them attack feeder guppies is interesting too. So much for "community fish!" I put some guppies in there and the red eyes tore them apart like piranhas. One would hold the guppy and the other would dart in and take chomps out of them until there was nothing left. Real cool to watch, I've never seen anything like it out of a mere 2" tetra.


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## JoeE (Jun 11, 2012)

I have kept lemons and cardinals. Cardinals are incredibly boring if you don't have a wide footprint for them to school in - next to no social interaction with each other.

The lemons are great. Not really a fish that schools once it gets comfortable, but they do tend to stay close to each other. When they do school, usually after a water change, in my 5 foot tank it is quite a striking site. They get surprisingly big, as well - my biggest lemons are around 1.5 inches, with fairly deep bodies. In my opinion, they show a lot more social behaviors than the average characin - they form pecking orders, chase each other around, and when the larger males get into it it's really interesting to watch. Potentially voracious eaters, too, they go crazy for bloodworms.


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