harlequins aren't schooling
 

hello there i have a fifty five gallon community tank. i recently purchased 10 harla rasboras (about a month ago)to have a nice school but they simply are not doing so! is there any way to incourage them to school more, because they are just spread out throuout the tank and will occasionally school in a grouop of four but then break up...........

any advice?

yeah that is probably true but then my tank is pretty densley planted so there might no be room to swim is what i would think.

Rasbora are generally the most tightly-grouped of the shoaling fish. I have found every species of rasbora--and I'm using this name in the generic sense, referring to those many species within different genera that are now moved into the subfamily Rasborinae--tend to remain in groups much more than other shoaling fish such as characins. However, fish will explore on their own, or in pairs, now and then. The main thing is they are together and know it, which gives them a sense of security rather than stress. It is difficult to say if they will tighten the shoal or not as they settle in to their new environment.

They are not active swimmers as for instance Danio or barbs are, so a well-planted aquarium suits them. The do swim though, they need their exercise too.;-)

By the way, rasbora are not characins, they're Cyprinids [even though stores sometimes call them "Harlequin tetra"] so when I've posted I will move this thread to the Cyprinids section.

Byron.

As far as I'm aware fish that commonly schoal will still swim on their own sometimes...

We have some in our 55 gallon community tank and they don't always stay together, I do notice that at night when the day lights go off and just the moon lights are on, they do stay in a group in the same spot every night. I agree with the understand that they are still individuals just like we are in our group of friends, as long as they know they are there they are happy. If you have an aggressive moment from another house mate, you will notice that they will group back up together as well.