11yancazosj

first of all il let you know how my tank is doing to help clarify my problem:
-I have a 70L tank
-I have 4 adult mollies, 8 baby mollies, 5 black neon tetra's, 5 neon tetra's, 5 cardinal tetra's, 2 moonlight gouramis, 1 bristle-nose catfish.
-Amonia=0
-nitrite=0
-nitrate=5-10 mg

My problem is that my mixture of tetra's are not schooling even thought i have 15. Is it because of the mixed breed of tetra's because ive heard many times, no matter what breed they will still school. The problem is that they wont stay in a defined school/shoal. does anyone know why

aquarist48

Good morning. I'm not sure what the answer is but I can tell you my experience with schooling fish. The more room the fish have to swim the more likely they are going to school. With a school that size there really isn't anywhere for them to go in a 70L/18g tank. Too, schooling is also a defense for the fish. If they were to feel threatened they would also school. I would guess that your fish are actually fine since your perimeters are good. If you have the means to get a larger tank I think you would see a big difference.

agabr123

well first off, you shouldn't have too much of a problem getting any kind of tetra to school as long as the body shape, relative size, and sometimes color are similar. having said that, tetras are fairly loose schoolers, and generally only tend to really school tightly if they've just been introduced into the tank, or if they feel threatened like aquarist48 said. IMO it's nothing to be too concerned about

11yancazosj

i know i shouldnt, but they tend to be in a widespread schooling community. oh well