hey guys i have 72g bow and im looking to add a small schooling fish to finish off my stocking. i want something that will only get to about 2 - 2.5 inches in length as i want 5 or so. right now i have a yellow tail damsel, a tomini tang, a pair of misbar perculas and a bullet goby. any suggestions are welcome.
Small schooling fish
- Thread starter therich84
- Start date
Tangs Rule
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Staten Island
You can do some blue/green chromi's.
- Location
- East Meadow, LI
Chromis' are much hardier than Threadfin Cardinals. Chromis' may not school without a threat, instead they will disperse throughout the tank. Your Damselfish however, may chase them causing them to school, now you just have to think about whether this would be humane. :scratchch
- Location
- Southampton UK
Whatever you go for, you may find that both the Tomini and the yellow tail cause you problems if they are already well established, but my money would be on the damsel as the likely bully out of the two.
You are fairly limited for space at 72g for schooling species that stay as schoolers permanantly. A common problem with alot of species to be honest, quite often with at least two fish splitting away from the group to form a pair at breeding times as they get older when they will become quite territorial which in a big system isnt such a problem, but in a smaller volume it may cause issues becouse the rest of the group cant escape the agression of the dominant pair.
Cardinals like the Bangaii, and yellow stripe (Apogon cyanosoma)
will initially group, but they commonly spread apart over time into random individuals with a single male dodging about taking a female at breeding times or they split apart into pairs with the males constantly chasing each other about. There are a few smaller species of cardinals like the red spot and black spot that group permanantly, but by and large you need quite a large group and the right type of surrounding as these are mostly found hanging around under large coral heads as small swarms, plus they have a high mortality rate as well...
Green chromis are a good general choice as juvaniles, but yet again when spawning they can get agressive with each other and other similar sized fish, whares the smaller 'but less often seen' blue reef chromis tend to be a little more laid back, with the black bar chromis the easyest going ime (and a very underated fish imo), but even then splitting of the group and seperate territory formation is quite likely without the influence of preditors etc to force them to group.
Out of the Anthia's id say that Pseudoanthias squamipinnis is probably the easyest and most adaptable to captive life and does school permanantly (if not tightly). Although size wise they can get to about 3.5" on average they do take a while to get there ime which is a good thing, but also need a good feeding routine of at least two feeds a day if they are to remain in good condition (preferably more). This needs baring in mind though as the bioload can put a strain on small to medium sized systems unless they have good filtration etc.
If this was a direction you wanted to go in, I would suggest getting 6 small females which will naturally group together, with the most dominant turning male within a few months once settled and feeding well.
I think your volume could take it, but you would be maxed out imo as far as fish load goes from that point forwards and you would need to keep an eagle eye on water quality.
regards
Simon.
You are fairly limited for space at 72g for schooling species that stay as schoolers permanantly. A common problem with alot of species to be honest, quite often with at least two fish splitting away from the group to form a pair at breeding times as they get older when they will become quite territorial which in a big system isnt such a problem, but in a smaller volume it may cause issues becouse the rest of the group cant escape the agression of the dominant pair.
Cardinals like the Bangaii, and yellow stripe (Apogon cyanosoma)
will initially group, but they commonly spread apart over time into random individuals with a single male dodging about taking a female at breeding times or they split apart into pairs with the males constantly chasing each other about. There are a few smaller species of cardinals like the red spot and black spot that group permanantly, but by and large you need quite a large group and the right type of surrounding as these are mostly found hanging around under large coral heads as small swarms, plus they have a high mortality rate as well...
Green chromis are a good general choice as juvaniles, but yet again when spawning they can get agressive with each other and other similar sized fish, whares the smaller 'but less often seen' blue reef chromis tend to be a little more laid back, with the black bar chromis the easyest going ime (and a very underated fish imo), but even then splitting of the group and seperate territory formation is quite likely without the influence of preditors etc to force them to group.
Out of the Anthia's id say that Pseudoanthias squamipinnis is probably the easyest and most adaptable to captive life and does school permanantly (if not tightly). Although size wise they can get to about 3.5" on average they do take a while to get there ime which is a good thing, but also need a good feeding routine of at least two feeds a day if they are to remain in good condition (preferably more). This needs baring in mind though as the bioload can put a strain on small to medium sized systems unless they have good filtration etc.
If this was a direction you wanted to go in, I would suggest getting 6 small females which will naturally group together, with the most dominant turning male within a few months once settled and feeding well.
I think your volume could take it, but you would be maxed out imo as far as fish load goes from that point forwards and you would need to keep an eagle eye on water quality.
regards
Simon.
Last edited:
Try Apogon leptacanthus. Very peaceful and show the most amount of 'schooling' behaviors. Expect a 40% death rate when purchasing a school at first, but once settled, they will be very hardy. ORA also aquacultures these so it's good for the hobby as well.
The 'cardinals' mentioned above are Apogon parvulus but I wouldn't recommend them for most hobbyists. They have a higher death rate in captivity and require about 7 ~ 10times of small feeding per day. Also not really suitable for a large reef...maybe in a small nano dedicated system.
The 'cardinals' mentioned above are Apogon parvulus but I wouldn't recommend them for most hobbyists. They have a higher death rate in captivity and require about 7 ~ 10times of small feeding per day. Also not really suitable for a large reef...maybe in a small nano dedicated system.
- Location
- Southampton UK
Hey, thats a good one Kigs, Id completely forgotten about the ghost cardinals. Very attractive fish, and from what ive seen of them over here in a few tanks, they are quite happy to stay together, but like you say the mortality rate on introduction can be a bit of a downer if you are unlucky.
regards
Si.
regards
Si.
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