Planning to add Neons, how many to get?

[icefreeze57]

You should really up your schools, no reason to keep adding different kinds of fish when the other schools are kinda small.

[Lady Hobbs]

All schooling fish do better in the largest groups you can get. Their attention is focused on each other rather than other species in the tank. Black skirts do a lot of playing with one another....bumping, chasing and acting silly. I find them very hardy. Mine are in a 55 gallon with my angelfish and I would not put a nipper with my angelfish. It's in non-issue for me with these fish.

I think we become predisposed in our thinking sometimes in what we have read of others experiences with fish when each of us has a different situation. If someone writes a fish is nippy, we tend to get turned off a certain fish believing we will have the same issues.
Saepae's, for instance, are always described as a nippy tetra but we need to consider first how large the school is. People that stock in larger schools don't seem to have that problem. Same with Tiger Barbs. Toss 4 in a tank and there will be nipping but toss 20 in a tank and the problem will resolve itself.

Often, the problems we have with our fish is not the fish but it's the manner in which we stock them. You may move the B.S. to another tank and still have the same problem if they are not in a large enough group.

Fish will sometimes nip at another fish in the tank if they find that fish threatening to their group or simply do not want that fish in their "space". This is especially true in smaller tanks that offer less hiding area's. Schools are hundreds and hundreds of fish so when picking out a school of a fish, get the most that you can accommodate. A school for me is never less than a dozen.

My experience with a black skirt eating a neon was rare and only that one time in the 9 years of keeping the Black Skirts I saw that so I don't want you to now think they normally eat neon tetra's. I would actually expect it from the gourami more than the black skirt.

It's not that a fish is mean that it eats small fish. To a larger fish, it's just a source of food.

[funkman262]

I prefer to keep a single neon tetra in my 90g as the centerpiece.

[Honey Badger 1]

I prefer to keep a single neon tetra in my 90g as the centerpiece.

I would love to see pictures of this.

[serbusfish]

You should really up your schools, no reason to keep adding different kinds of fish when the other schools are kinda small.

Well I now have 5 Pentazona Barbs, 10 Neons, and 4 White Cloud Minnows (which I will soon make up to 6). The black skirts are gone

[icefreeze57]

Next you should do is try to get the Barbs to 10-12. Then the Neons up (because they are really small and scared, the more the merrier) and then the minnows to 10 if you could lol (but get them to 6 before doing the other stuff).

What else is in the tank? the Pearl and what else?

[serbusfish]

Next you should do is try to get the Barbs to 10-12. Then the Neons up (because they are really small and scared, the more the merrier) and then the minnows to 10 if you could lol (but get them to 6 before doing the other stuff).

What else is in the tank? the Pearl and what else?

In total I have the Pearl Gourami, 5 Pentazona Barbs, 4 White Clouds, 10 Neon Tetras, and 7 Amano Shrimp (I think I have 7, most of the time it looks like I dont have any!)

Well I was planning on adding a male Bolivian Ram and perhaps 2 or 3 male guppies (not to mention 2 dwarf frogs) so I dont think adding any more to my schools would be a good idea

[Goes to 11!]

Well I was planning on adding a male Bolivian Ram and perhaps 2 or 3 male guppies (not to mention 2 dwarf frogs) so I dont think adding any more to my schools would be a good idea

Your fish would be far better off if instead of adding additional species you increased your 'schools'. This would be the preferable route to go, Low numbers such as 4 or 5 don't even count as a school and will not result in the behaviour they exhibit in actual school.

Instead you will get hiding, shy, stressed fish - Especially in the presence of gourami and cichlids.

[phatchuck]

Your fish would be far better off if instead of adding additional species you increased your 'schools'. This would be the preferable route to go, Low numbers such as 4 or 5 don't even count as a school and will not result in the behaviour they exhibit in actual school.

Instead you will get hiding, shy, stressed fish - Especially in the presence of gourami and cichlids.

On this topic -------- I have 3 zebra danios and 3 gold zebras. I also have 4 cherry barbs and 3 gold barbs. The danios tend to all swim together, the cherry barbs are usually all over the place and the gold barbs tend to stick together. My question is - does a school need to be the exact species to be optimal? Are my danios considered a school of 6 or should I beef up each type to promote maximum schooling benefit? Same question for the barbs....

[Goes to 11!]

I don't keep any of those fish but I would consider the danios the same [Have kept those before & more is merrier always lol]. Someone else will have to answer about the barbs, They are both pretty mellow but I don't know that they will hang together.