Best schooling reef fish?

[HUNTER_0387]

I've read many bad experiences with blue/green chromis so they're probably out..

So what's a good schooling reef fish? I'm thinking 3 or 5 fish

Thanks for your feedback! :)


Currently, I have a pair of BW clownfish, a pair of false percula clownfish, and one orchid dottyback in the DT. Future fish stocking: 1 flame angel, 1 mystery wrasse, one purple tang and one or two yellow tangs.


Tank Info and water parameters:
180G acrylic tank (72 x 24 x 24)
60G sump, 40G refugium
3-175W MH, 2-72" VHO
SRO 3000 INT
1/4th HP chiller
~200lbs live rock, 2-3 inch sandbed
0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate
78 degrees temp.
1.025 salinity
8.2 pH

[Charley Diesing]

Yeah Chromis usually don't school, and just kill each other off...

You go two options really.

Cardinal Fish

Also in a 180G you could go with School Banner Butterfly fish 3-5 (there's a reef safe kind, and a non-reef safe kind) I think there really cool.

[snorvich]

Actually, no fish will school in your tank. Various anthias will interact in a social pattern although it will not be in a group as you are expecting. Cardinals will initially shoal but then pair off.

[Charley Diesing]

Actually, no fish will school in your tank. Various anthias will interact in a social pattern although it will not be in a group as you are expecting. Cardinals will initially shoal but then pair off.

hmm interesting... Whats the difference between schooling, and interacting in social patterns?

[bnumair]

i have 9 ignitus anthias and 9 Resplendent Anthias they both stay in tight group pretty much all day, ignitus stay towards the middle and top left half and resplendent also stay in middle and right half of the tank but always togather and swimming,playing,eating togather.

[SushiGirl]

hmm interesting... Whats the difference between schooling, and interacting in social patterns?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaling_and_schooling

What you usually see in home aquariums is interaction. Some are more social than others, but schooling and shoaling in a tank isn't seen because there's no reason for it in a home aquarium.

[WrongGenotype]

+1 to Antheas. I have 8 chromis and they school, but I guess it can depend on the size of your tank. It's true that they will often kill each other off if they don't have enough room.

[RG Rude]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaling_and_schooling

What you usually see in home aquariums is interaction. Some are more social than others, but schooling and shoaling in a tank isn't seen because there's no reason for it in a home aquarium.

I did not realize that. I was thinking of five Longspine Cardinals for the 75 I am setting up, once its ready to be stocked.

[Sk8r]

If your tank is over 100 gallons and has swimming room, various damsels will do this behavior: they at least defend their holes (each damsel has a predator-refuge and defends it tooth and nail)---they rarely hurt each other (in the daytime) and if you don't get an overload of one species, you can keep your whole tank moving: a had a blue velvet, blue devil, sergeant major and 5 chromis, with a domino, and that lot was always up and moving.

[TimeConsumer]

I would go with the Anthias. They like to sit in a spot of high flow and swim in place and it looks great. Bartlett's anthias are my favorite for their peaceful personality, small maximum size, and beautiful coloration.

[RyanSweatt2004]

I think the key to keeping schools of green chromis is lots of water current, and to feed small foods 2-3 times a day. I've had a nice group of 20 green chromis together in my 120 for about 4 months so far and they stay within about a 12 inch radius of each other. I've kept groups of 8-10 long term this way as well.

[albano]

I've had good luck with Bar Gobies (Zebra) always swimming together, and if startled, all hiding together

[MARINECRITTERS]

Bartlett anthias.... but fish don't exactly school in the average home aquarium.... unless it is 10000000000 gallons and filled with predators.


well actually all of my sergeant majors seem to swim in a sort of "schooling" pattern

[username in use]

Red Spot Glass Cardinals don't split off into pairs. They are small though, so in a 180 you may want a pack of 8-10, but they are cool and stay pretty tight together.

[snorvich]

hmm interesting... Whats the difference between schooling, and interacting in social patterns?

Since this issue comes up so frequently on Reef Central, some additional information might be useful. An aggregation of fish is the general term for any collection of fish that have gathered together in some locality. Fish aggregations can be structured or unstructured. An unstructured aggregation might be a group of mixed species and sizes that have gathered randomly near some local resource, such as food or nesting sites.

If, in addition, the aggregation comes together in an interactive, social way, they are said to be shoaling. Although shoaling fish can relate to each other in a loose way, with each fish swimming and foraging somewhat independently, they are nonetheless aware of the other members of the group as shown by the way they adjust behavior such as swimming, so as to remain close to the other fish in the group. Shoaling groups can include fish of disparate sizes and can including mixed-species subgroups. Many anthias will shoal as mentioned above.

If, as a further addition, the shoal becomes more tightly organized, with the fish synchronizing their swimming so they all move at the same speed and in the same direction, then the fish are said to be schooling. Schooling fish are usually of the same species and the same age/size. Fish schools move with the individual members precisely spaced from each other. The schools undertake complicated maneuvers, as though the schools as a whole have minds of their own. We do not see this in normally sized hobbyist tanks. In a very large tank, glassy sweepers will school.

Shoaling is a special case of aggregating, and schooling is a special case of shoaling. While schooling and shoaling mean different things within biology, they are often treated as synonyms by non-specialists, with speakers of British English tending to use "shoaling" to describe any grouping of fish, while speakers of American English tend to use "schooling" just as loosely.[1] The intricacies of schooling are far from fully understood, especially the swimming and feeding energetics. Many hypotheses to explain the function of schooling have been suggested, such as better orientation, synchronized hunting, predator confusion and reduced risk of being found. Schooling also has disadvantages, such as excretion buildup in the breathing media and oxygen and food depletion. The way the fish array in the school probably gives energy saving advantages, though this is controversial.

Fish can be obligate or facultative shoalers. Obligate shoalers, such as tunas, herrings and anchovy, spend all of their time shoaling or schooling, and become agitated if separated from the group. Facultative shoalers, such as Atlantic cod, saiths and some carangids, shoal only some of the time, perhaps for reproductive purposes.

Shoaling fish can shift into a disciplined and coordinated school, then shift back to an amorphous shoal within seconds. Such shifts are triggered by changes of activity from feeding, resting, traveling or avoiding predators.

Probably more than you really wanted to know. :sleep:

[snorvich]

Red Spot Glass Cardinals don't split off into pairs. They are small though, so in a 180 you may want a pack of 8-10, but they are cool and stay pretty tight together.

Yes, that is correct. A bit delicate and require frequent feeding with small frozen foods.

[Reef Bass]

Nice schoaling versus schooling explanation. Thanks.

[mattsilvester]

Interesting ...... I was gonna post a similar thread..... bartlett's anthias sound nice ..... anyone got some home-video's of then in the home aquarium ..... "interacting".

[trinidiver]

Bartlet Anthias are very nice to have. Just make sure and put them in at the same time.
I bought 5 of them (thats all the LFS had shipped in from the US) and put them in my tank. 3 males/2females, 1 female died about 1mth later and about 3mths later i added 1 small male and 3 small females..................... only the former male that had the female as his mate accepted another female. The other males are beating the crap out of the other 3 females and they are always hiding. they hardly get to eat properly and i cant catch them out (the males) cause my tank is loaded with rock and coral. So try to put them in all together. Dont know if its just me. Other than that, they are great fish

[dg3147]

Oddly enough, the Black Bar Chromis in my tank. 6 x1 year with no problem. Look Idenetical to the green chromis.

[Jcohen9999]

I have 3 scissor gobies in my 95 and the always remain in a tight group. This includes a group dart into their hole when the bigs guys coming swimming by too fast.

Not everyone's cup of tea but I like them for contrast to the rest of the inhabitants and I'll probably be adding 3 more when I find some healthy specimens.

Jeff


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[JackiB]

I agree with the long spine/threadfin cardinals. I have 5 in my 120 and they are together most of time with the exception of when the males are carrying eggs, they stay close to the rocks then.

[D-Nak]

I have both green chromis (6) and threadfin cardinals (5) in my 120. When I added a bluethroat trigger I noticed that they tend to stick together in closer "schools". It could be a coincidence but I also wonder if they view the trigger as a threat and therefore school closer together.