Hardy schooling fish

My main display tank was looking a little boring so I decided to spend a bit and get 15 neons, 10 rummy noses, 4 rams, and 10 black neons (all of their current stock). I went to my LFS and asked for them to hold the fish for me from friday to sunday as I was going away for the weekend. When I returned 8 of the 10 rummy noses had died (luckily hadn't paid yet) 2 of the neons had died as well. I know the store and the staff are good at keeping the stock healthy so I took the remaining neons, black neons, and rams, left the rummy noses.
I quarantined my neons with three of my medium sized discus who have been living happily in the tank for a month and now two days later I have 5 neons left. Unimpressed to say the least.

Now to the point:
Are there any colourful schooling fish that I can buy that WON'T die on day 1? Previously I bought two glowlight tetras and they also both died on day one... I have no trouble with any other fish and no trouble keeping clown loaches, discus, rams, and plecos happy.

 

Neons are notorious for dying, as a rule I never buy them during winter time.

The others I have never had problems with.

 

I quite like my silvertip tetras. I see people say they are aggressive etc etc. I only have 4 and they are doing great. They only chase each other around. Not relentlessly its just healthy competition. Completely ignores the other fish in my tank. When they hover in the water they quiver their fins. It look really impressive with the white tips.
I also have tetras. Much more colourful than silvertips. They are Black phantom tetras, but they are very red. They look more like a mix between Serpae tetras and black phantoms. I have found Serpae tetras to be aggressive and fin nibblers. I have 4 of the Red black phantom tetras and they school together nicely. Very beautiful and peaceful.
You can try Lemon tetras or Columbian tetras as well. (Do not have personal experience on the temperament or hardiness of these 2, but I am definitely going to get some in the near future.)
I have also found Neons to be panzies. They die too easily.
Having 3 or 4 of the Big Orange Platies also brightens up a tank really good.
White clouds are also nice. I like those that have the more yellowish bodies.

 

My 2 cents worth - "I quarantined my neons with three of my medium sized discus" is inviting trouble. They were already dying in the shop and then you put them with your Discus ???

 

Harlequin Rasboras are almost bullet-proof in my opinion.
They are great in a community tank, and having the shoal rapidly change direction, and all swimming together is something to behold.

 

Black widow tetras are also very hardy in my experience but they grow a bit bigger and not that colourfull but still a nice fish. +1 on the white clouds awesome fish

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Xray tetras are great cheap and hardy.

 

Hi Josh

Im with eros on this one and also a tad confused how you can quarantine your new stock with existing fishes no matter what they are, this defeats the process of quarantining?

Perhaps you can elaborate.

Then what temp are you running your discus tank at? you will need to research which tetras are able to tolerate higher temps. Neons for a start cannot.

hope to help.

Andrew

 

Here's a pic of my phantoms. They always stick together.

 

Also try Red Eye Tetra, I had a school of 15 and they looked great. Definitely more hardy than Neons...Not as colorful but if you have nice lighting, their silver bodies look beautiful.

 

Zebra danios

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Cardinals, Harlequin Rasboras, Black Neon Tetras, Rummynose and Rams are your best bet with Discus. Just always quarantine for at least a month in a separate tank. (some Clown Loaches too, but not too many as they are very active, maybe too much for Discus)

 

Thanks for the replies guys, definitely having a look at some of those mentioned. love the look of the lemon tetra especially.
About the quarantining: I got the discus from someone and they are in a quarantine tank which happens to be the ONLY other tank available, so naturally the neons having no where else to go would go in with the fish already in quarantine.

 

Dorys have nice healthy neons for R10 each

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if your discus were in quarantine for a month already, you should have just added them to the display tank before adding new fish from a known unhealthy bunch. Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but there are beginners reading these threads.

 

Sure thing but what do you do when your display tank discus (15cm-20cm) try and kill your discus when added? weell you put them back in the spare tank and let them live.

 

Danios are also very hardy

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@Josh111 - what temperature is the water that your Discus are in ?