Neon Tetras Won't School?

I recently set up a 34 gallon tank. My plan was to have:

• 15 Neon Tetras
• 5 - 8 Coryanda Catfish
• 1 Flame Tail Gourami

and have now decided to add a rubber lip pleco

Tank is in the process of cycling (Week 5) I added my first batch of neon tetras (5) in week 3 and they didn't school much often they would be at opposite sides of the tank. After another 2 weeks with no parameter complications I bought another (5) neon tetras (from a different store). They still won't school much although I have noticed an increase in the amount of schooling. I really want the schooling affect in my tank! Any advice appreciated. Thanks

 

In my experience neons only tend to school when they feel there's a threat/danger in the aquarium. I find they school most when they're first added to the tank, when new fish are added and during water changes. Otherwise mine have always been all over the place. The only time I worry is if there's fish that are obviously staying out the way - hiding up, not joining the others at all. The more you have the safer they feel but I honestly found mine rarely schooled.

 

I have 24 Neons and they only school when i'm cleaning, or turning the lights off or on(when they feel they are under threat). Once they are relaxed they spread out a bit, sometimes forming there own sub groups of 3-8.

If you want great schoolers, Rummynose are your best bet. I'm getting a school of 20 myself soon for this reason.

 

If the parameters are okay and there is no sign of disease then if they don't school it doesn't matter
Fishes usually school to protect themselves from bigger fish since there are no other fish in the tank they stay apart I think when you add the gourami they will school more often
If you want a real schooling fish I suggest rummy nose tetra they always hang with each other(but they aren't temp compatible with neons)

 

I'm with everyone else here. I keep a tank with 30 cardinal tetras, and I have kept neons off and on since I was a kid. When they are are happy, they spread out and forage, keeping an eye on each other. If they see danger, they will temporarily shoal before going back to normal foraging. The longer they are in your tank, the more comfortable they become.
If you have a bare, unplanted, inhospitable tank, neons will "clump" - my word for sitting still and scared in non moving groups. Sometimes in a complex, planted tank, they will form sub-shoals of 5-6 fish and swim in unison through the shadowy parts.
Corydoras will shoal. My rummy noses shoal more than my cardinals or other non-silvery tetras, but even that is intermittent. Shoaling is a defense mechanism, and our tanks are safe places. I was at an Importer a while ago, and he had thousands of cardinals in a tank across a three foot aisle from a large pike cichlid, one of their natural predators. They could see the pike. They were shoaling like you wouldn't believe.

 

In my opinion there is a enormous difference in neons and cardinals shoalwise Neons at ease won't shoal (small groups). Cardinals do shoal. Even tighter when afraid

 

Fish that are often pictured in photographs schooling don't actually school unless threatened. While it's beautiful to observe, I read that in order to take perfect schooling pictures like in aquarium magazines, photographers have to swing a piece of cardboard over the tank to simulate a bird hunting for fish prior to taking the shot

 

Thanks all for the info

 

Fish that are often pictured in photographs schooling don't actually school unless threatened. While it's beautiful to observe, I read that in order to take perfect schooling pictures like in aquarium magazines, photographers have to swing a piece of cardboard over the tank to simulate a bird hunting for fish prior to taking the shot

That definitely doesn't count for.all species.

 

That definitely doesn't count for.all species.

Wild fish are always a different story, and the video doesn't apply to the discussion. Sure, these are shoaling fish, but that beautiful video shows cardinals in nature, with predators and threats. Of course those fish are shoaling. No one here has said cardinals or neons don't shoal in the wild.
I have even seen video of one of their predators, foot to 2 foot long Crenicichla shoaling. In the great space of nature, things happen we can't reproduce in aquaria.
We are discussing in tank behavior, where a poster has discovered he/she can't get shoaling behaviour in the tank set up. The triggers that create the behaviour in that video just aren't present.
You can make small aquarium fish shoal short term by creating shadows on the surface or accidentally frightening them with your actions outside the tank. Other than that, not much works. Photographers do it for in tank shots, but to to do it for any other purpose would be cruel.
A good friend has told me of standing in water in Brazil while a shoal of cardinals he estimated to be in the millions swam by and around his legs. He said in the leaf broken, dappled sunlight, it was astonishing. It's an anecdote that adds yet another proof to the fact these are shoaling fish, but it doesn't give us anything to work with in the aquarium...

 

Wild fish are always a different story, and the video doesn't apply to the discussion. Sure, these are shoaling fish, but that beautiful video shows cardinals in nature, with predators and threats. Of course those fish are shoaling. No one here has said cardinals or neons don't shoal in the wild.
I have even seen video of one of their predators, foot to 2 foot long Crenicichla shoaling. In the great space of nature, things happen we can't reproduce in aquaria.
We are discussing in tank behavior, where a poster has discovered he/she can't get shoaling behaviour in the tank set up. The triggers that create the behaviour in that video just aren't present.
You can make small aquarium fish shoal short term by creating shadows on the surface or accidentally frightening them with your actions outside the tank. Other than that, not much works. Photographers do it for in tank shots, but to to do it for any other purpose would be cruel.
A good friend has told me of standing in water in Brazil while a shoal of cardinals he estimated to be in the millions swam by and around his legs. He said in the leaf broken, dappled sunlight, it was astonishing. It's an anecdote that adds yet another proof to the fact these are shoaling fish, but it doesn't give us anything to work with in the aquarium...

Don't understand why, but I removed it.

 

In my experience neons only tend to school when they feel there's a threat/danger in the aquarium. I find they school most when they're first added to the tank, when new fish are added and during water changes. Otherwise mine have always been all over the place. The only time I worry is if there's fish that are obviously staying out the way - hiding up, not joining the others at all. The more you have the safer they feel but I honestly found mine rarely schooled.

Ya I had the same problem with my baby Danios so I added 4 black mollies and you cannot separate the Danios any more so my advice is add a friendly but larger fish so the neons want to be together

 

il throw in another thing, the tank is too small.
not for neons, don't misunderstand!
but for schooling. understocking gives them more to explore plus more room to do it and they will school more often.

 

Now I understand my Neon Tetras' behavior better after reading through this thread. I have a dozen in my tank, they didn't school for days until I introduced a few Buenos Aires Tetras that grew big in a few months. The BAs turned a bit aggressive and nipping recently and since then I see my Neon Tetras mostly together, schooling.

 

I have a school of 4, introduced a week ago. They are schooling, but one sometimes leaves for a while but eventually joins back in.

 

I have a school of 4, introduced a week ago. They are schooling, but one sometimes leaves for a while but eventually joins back in.

I've since learnt that Neon Tetras are actually shoaling fish meaning they don't follow each other but stay in close proximity.
Thanks for sharing

 

I've since learnt that Neon Tetras are actually shoaling fish meaning they don't follow each other but stay in close proximity.
Thanks for sharing

Using the wrong words but tried to say the same in post 6.