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What's your favorite red schooling fish?

5K views 28 replies 23 participants last post by  Shana 
#1 ·
I'm thinking of getting a school of yellow/orange/red fish for my 30 gallon aquarium. What do you like? Tank mates are bristlenose plecos, corys, and a Bolivian Ram.
 
#12 ·
You know what's funny? I had never heard of "red phantom tetras", but today I was in Petsmart and they had some of the palest, most washed out "serpae tetras" that I have ever seen. Now that I've done an image search for "red phantom tetras" I think that might have been what I was looking at.

I've had serpae tetras before but now I have a school of corydoras hastatus and I'm not sure about how well the serpaes would share the middle of the tank.

How about African Banded Barbs?
 
#19 ·
I guess I would look at this were you want this school to be in your tank.

Red serpa are great if you want fish for the bottom of your tank. I have the long fin red serpa and love them when they spread there fins there just beautiful.

The pencils are more middle to upper level. They are great to watch the males fight but know one gets hurt.

You could have both in your tank.
 
#20 ·
I have 5 serpae in one of my tanks. They pick on newcomers for the first day, then go back to bickering amongst themselves. Occasionally one will go rogue and harrass other fish but it's not an everyday thing. They're really fun to watch eat frozen blood worms. It's like a school of piranha
 
#26 ·
I originally had a school of five serpae tetras in this tank. The first few weeks, they harassed the old pepper corys that I had and I thought they were terrible, I tried to get rid of them. Then they settled down and were perfectly peaceful. At no point did they ever try to harass the two Bolivian Rams. I still have one left, but since he is over five years old I don't know how much longer he'll live and I was thinking of getting a new school of fish when he passed. That's why I was asking. I thought of getting more serpaes but honestly, from what I've read it seems like a coin toss whether they are going to be obnoxious or not. I would also like to get something that would swim in the middle and top of the tank. I had serpaes in a tank with corys, plecos, and Rams, and NO ONE ever went above the mid-level.
 
#29 ·
I think my tank would be too warm for White Clouds. It would be fine in the winter, but in the summer keeping my tanks cool enough for the tropical fish that I already have is a problem. I don't have AC, just window units, and the window units don't cool my apartment very well. I also hate using them unless it is an emergency.

I think the pencil fish are beautiful but might not be the best choice for a community tank of my size and stocking level. I really like those cherry barbs and chili rasboras.
 
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