The schooling behavior of the fish Parapristipoma trilineatum (chicken grunt) was examined for a range of school sizes in a water tank containing a central columnar structure using a mathematical model of fish schooling behavior that was modified from that of Sannomiya and Matuda. The two-dimensional motion of individuals was captured on digital video over about 10 min, and these time-series data were used to tune the model to the experimental conditions. The model parameters were then used to evaluate schooling behavior quantitatively. Comparing force magnitudes between experimental conditions revealed that propulsive force was less in a tank without the central structure than in a tank with the central structure, under all conditions tested. These results indicate that the school was less active under unobstructed conditions. Propulsive force also decreased with increasing school size. Attractive and repulsive forces of the walls were dominant for smaller school sizes; the attractive and repulsive forces of the structure were significant only for the largest school tested (25 individuals). Thus, changes in behavioral patterns caused by the number of individuals or the presence of structures can be expressed using the mathematical model.