Hi guys,
I've had my betta Bob for almost 6 months now. He's living with neo shrimp and some snails. Last weekend I adopted a molly, which someone was giving away for free. The molly was alone in a tank for 3 years before I got him.
Bob is very chill, doesn't even chase the baby shrimp so I figured they would be ok together. So far, Bob sometimes gets a little upset at the molly when it's feeding time, but otherwise he's peaceful.
I want to upgrade to a bigger tank in a few months. I would like to add more fish, and I like them to be diverse. Will schooling fish be happy if I get several different species, but only one of each? Will they find comfort with the other species?
Thanks!
Posted by keepmedreaming
5 Comments
No they won’t. They school with their own species, not with others. That’s literally the point of it đ
Hey, so Iâd definitely recommend getting a seperate tank for the molly + some friends for it to school with. (Same species)
Your betta for now may seem âpeacefulâ and may only get upset at meal times but I guarantee his stress will continue to worsen.
Unlikely. Schooling fish will generally only school with their own species. Better to pick only one or two that you like, depending on tank size, that suit your parameters and vibe of your tank. Get minimum of 6 of them, 8-10 is often better. Some say odd numbers in a school are better, to prevent pairing.
Not gonna lie, but our two remaining neons school together with the neos in their tank and act pretty happy with the situation overall, but that is in no way normal. Schools want to school with their own kind.
I’d avoid that. But anecdotally, i have a school of danios, they are a bit crazy as a fish species, always chasing each other around and chasing other fish. Well i have one golden mountain minnow left from a school of 8, he has ingratiated himself to the danios and has become part of their group. They chase him but he chases them back. Pretty sure he thinks he is a danio at this point.
On a different note though, you could get a species of fish that has lots of different types/colours and they will often school together but have plenty of difference. My danios i have are golden, zebra and leopard and i used to have some long finned ones too. They will all become one school. You could look for a solitary species that would work well with a school as well, like gouramis etc.