Schooling Fish

[thirty5]

I have been searching now for like an hour (since there are no new posts since 6am when i got on here).

I am looking for new fish to add to my tank. 175 bow reef.

Are there any reef safe schooling fish that are cool looking?

I currently have
Hippo Tang
Tomato Clown
3 Domino Damsels
Royal Garamma
Mandarin
Goby


Any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[NYreefNoob]

school

there are a bunch of fish that are god for schooling, chromis, some wrasse's, anthias, cardinal's

 

[marrone]

Do yourself a favor and remove the 3 Domino Damsels, they're only going to cause problems as they get bigger.

 

[TUGBOATBRUCE]

THose Domino Dasels -- the domino brothers is what I used to call mine -- TROUBLE when they get big -- he is right GET"EM OUT.....and than you can have 3 more schooling fish !!!

 

[crox99]

Definately get those 3 little bastards out and get a bunch of green chromises.

 

[tripstank]

Definately get those 3 little bastards out and get a bunch of green chromises.

And sell them to someone on RC!!!

 

[crox99]

I don't think anyone on Reef Central wants damsels.

 

[thirty5]

And sell them to someone on RC!!!

LOL!!! Well have to say that they dont bother anything in my tank at all, but yes i will be getting rid of them. I might just drop them at LFS and let them keep them.

But what everyone did was to tell me to get rid of the Damsels and only one person told me what i should get.

Lets Say that i dont have the damsels anymore... WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

 

[tripstank]

Chromis!

 

[ScottK]

Chromises are great schooling fish. Anthias are beautiful, but it can be difficult to get some of them to eat. If you're a noob, I'd stick with Chromises.

 

[thirty5]

Chromises are great schooling fish. Anthias are beautiful, but it can be difficult to get some of them to eat. If you're a noob, I'd stick with Chromises.

Sounds good and they are not expensive. How many would be too many? If i get say 6 or 7 is that too much, too little?

 

[steveo32]

The Chromis's are nice but in my experience they tend to kill each other'off until theres only one. Many have had great success with them I am just giving you my experience and the same went for the cardinals. It has happened to me and my friend. Antihas are nice but can get expensive and they are kinda hard. I picked up seven last wensday from Mike Stern. They were cheap and are doing great. If you could wait out a little bit I would and get them. But you could always try the blue/green reef chromis's.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

chromises are one of the few fish who will actually school up in a small tank. Most fish school in the wild, it's a defense mechanism. Our tanks either can't hold enough of them to cause them to school or they're too small to house a proper schooling population. Green chromis will school in just about anything though. As far as the anthias go, some may school in a 175 but I think most will will just hang out in the water column by themselves.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Cardinals are also great schoolers for small tanks, maybe even more than the chromis. Chromis are pretty susceptible to disease (such as the "green chromis disease") and may be hard to keep in some tanks. Cardinals are great and hardy and have a few really good ones you can pick from.

 

[TUGBOATBRUCE]

I say go with the cardinals there both great -- but get about 7 cardinals and they will look great!

 

[thirty5]

sweet. i will see what i can find.
Thanks Guys

 

[Wes]

cardinals are kind of boring imo

 

[thirty5]

cardinals are kind of boring imo

LOL,

:fish::fish::fish::fish:
:fish: :fish::fish::fish:
:fish: :fish::fish::fish::fish::fish:
:fish::fish::fish:

That what i want.
What you reccommend then??

 

[BlueSi4]

Cardinals are pretty cool fish to keep in schools to, such as the Pajama Cardinal or even the Blue Streak Cardinal. I have 2 Blue Streak Cardinals and they're always in the front waiting to be fed. They swim together all the time, they eat well, i think they are great fish to keep in schools!!

 

[meschaefer]

I have been doing alot of research for a schooling fish for my 220. There is a big thread on RC about long term success with a school of chromis. There are very, very very few people who have more than two left after a year. The reports are that they tend to slowly kill each other off until there is one or two. This is my experinece as well.

After alot of research I am planning on putting a fairly large school (10-15) of threadfin cardinals in my tank. After hourrs of research they appear to be one of, if not the only fish that will consistently school in an aquarium and one that people have long term success with. They are small, getting to only about two inches. The hard part is finding them.