Which shools the most: Cardinal, Neon, Black Neon or Harlequin Rasbora?

[Zodiac007]

I want a schooling fish that will school closely together. Not scattered. I have a 90 gallon that heavily planted.

Which one, out of these, schools the most and closely always? Cardinal tetras, neon tetras, black neon tetras, or harlequin rasboras? which ever one I choose, I'll buy 8 - 12 of them.

I've had 6 neons before but i remember they tend to scatter off a bit. I want one that will always school together and very closely. This is cause i think it looks better and looks more cool.

If you can think of other types that shools closely together, please tell me.

other fish in the 90 g include tiger barbs, blue gouramis, siamese algae eaters, bristlenose pleco, oto cat, kuhli loach and 1 redtail shark.

Thank you.

[Wiggs]

I cant speak for the other 3 out of experience, but I can say that my 11 Neons do tend to scatter away from the school. There is usually a group of 5-6 of them that DO school, but its never the same ones.

[Jellygirl]

Hi Zodiac007,

I would go with the cardinals myself. I think they school the closets of the ones listed. Maybe someone else may feel differently, but from my experience its the Cardinals.

[mac]

For me I say all of them school. But for a tight school the Black Neons.

mac

[invadertoast]

My harlequins school more closely than my neons do... I kind of thought all schooling fish would "scatter" if they feel safe in their environment, I'm not 100% sure tho

[Cameron]

i've seen pictures of large groops of rasboras they look awesome, also sorry to be off topic but make sure to have enough barbs otherwise they'll tear your new school apart..

[Demi ^_^]

Black Neons - at my LFS, they have a 100g+ with hundreds of these fellas and they school wonderfully!

[Zodiac007]

i've seen pictures of large groops of rasboras they look awesome, also sorry to be off topic but make sure to have enough barbs otherwise they'll tear your new school apart..

Yup, I'll be having 8 to 10 tiger bars, that's why I don't think there'll be any trouble with them and the gouramis or others.

[mac]

It is true upto a point that fish don't always stay in a tight school 100% of the time. But IMO and IMe they tend to stick in a school about 40% of the time, while IME the Black Neons tend to stick together more often.

mac

[Dave66]

The answer is that the species mentioned will school, but only if there are sufficient numbers of their kind. The neon-type fish travel in schools numbering in the millions of fish, so a dozen or two may only school part of the time. If you had twelve dozen, they'd school most of the time, traveling in the school waiting for foods, only foraging when food passes beneath them.
In a 90 gallon, you could easily do 48 of a school with the fish you have currently. I'd go with the Rasboras, since the goramies may try to eat the torpedo-shaped fish in your list.

Dave

[chuckbob34]

In my tank black neons out school the cards and almost never hide in the plants. nice to have schooling fish you can actually see.

[bushwhacker]

put a preditor in there they'll school tighter.. but you may lose a few

[escamosa]

I think out of all the fish you have mentioned and all the fish i've seen in fish stores that the scissortail rasbora schools the best.
They would suit your tank perfectly in my opinion.thumbs2:

[bluebluecow]

The key is numbers deffinatly, when slowly stocking up my school, at 5 no neons schooled, at 10 you got the odd group, with 20 they school more

at one of our LFS they have a big corner tank with 150+ they lost count of neons in it and they school wonderfully. My dream is to someday buy a big 6ft tank and have 200neons to school

liz

[Z 2 L8ter]

My harlequins school closer than both my neon and glow light tetras. I would say that my Rummynose tetras school closer than the rest in my tank though.

[Jaster]

I would say that my Rummynose tetras school closer than the rest in my tank though.

I was just going to say the same thing. I have 9 rummies and they stay very close together. They love my 80g tank. They are very active and they look great moving in a group like that across the front of the tank and through my caves.
Hope you'll consider them! thumbs2:

[DrNic]

I've never had harlequins. Up until recently I would have said black neons were the best schoolers. My newest school of neons is awesome though. Nice tight school, almost never hiding in the plants. I bet it will depend on the environment and setup of the tank really.

[Ashley]

I just got 6 black neons today and they school together very well! there's only one that seems to wonder a bit, but stays quite close.

[Cameron]

Congrats, btw, when you say this tank is in the cycling process(signature) tetras aren't the first thing that you want to add in your tank.

[Anomaly]

Agreed on the Rummynose Tetras . . . they are the best schooling fish I've ever seen!