School Time for Cardinals

[CoralNerd]

Yellowstriped Cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus cyanosoma) http://www.marinecompatibilityguide.com/media/cardinalfish/apogoncyanosoma.jpg
I recently stopped by a LFS and they had a nice group of 10+ Yellowstriped Cardinalfish (YSCF) swimming in a nice pack.

I know that some of the cardinalfish like pajamas don't really school. Let's not talk about them.

Regarding YSCF
1) I read somewhere that they school when they are juveniles but not really when they are adults.

2) Do they only school in large tanks?

3) Do they only school if there is aggressive fish?

Does anyone have experience with the YSCF?

I was thinking of getting 3 to 5 for my 85g. Any advice much appreciated.

[Dmorty217]

Schooling is a defense mechanism for small fish around larger fish (for the most part) like you mentioned so the larger and more active the tank is the better chance you have of them schooling. I have seen groups of 8-10 black cardinals in 150g tanks but they slowly die off much like chromis do. The larger the tank and bigger the group the better

[ca1ore]

Always seem to get myself in trouble when I state that fish do not school in our tanks. Would require a VERY large tank with requisite predators, and then maybe. They will 'shoal' as loose aggregations, but that's about it. Never kept the yellow stripe cardinal myself.

[AkoAung]

I have three red spot cardinals in my 66g cube. They school pretty well together, when the lights are on or off. there are a few times during the day the biggest one will exercise his dominance and chase one other cardinal (most likely the other male) around the tank for short bursts. He mostly leaves the third alone, except once in a while.

only other fish are 2 fathead anthias in there. These guys basically stay on the bottom half of the tank, or hide in caves or overhangs. The cardinals stay on the top half.

The yellow stripe cardinals can get pretty big. I saw 3" specimens in a local LFS.

Here's a pic of my red spots swimming together.:

http://i.imgur.com/ZISHh63.jpg

[LobsterOfJustice]

When I worked in a LFS, we had a group of 8-12 (I don't exactly remember) orange lined cardinals in a 180. Just as you said above, they stuck together when they were little but by the time they were full grown they spread out and hung around all over the place.