Schooling fishes...

[Lunareclipse]

I was wondering if anybody knew of any reef safe schooling fishes that were active and stayed small. I don't want them to grow past 3 or 4 inches. We don't want any damsels either unless you guys know of any that aren't terrorists.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

schooling is a defense mechanism for the most part and even in a 6ft tank it's sometimes nonexistant. Green chromis would be your cheapest and best bet then cardinals. Cardinals might actually be better than the chromis in a smaller tank because they tend to just group up and hover.

 

[Lunareclipse]

Oh! I love cardinal fishes. They don't move much, but they sure are cute.

 

[Dre]

Fire Dartfish, add them all at once ,they are jumpers so you must have a cover on your tank .Anemones can sting and kill them as well.

 

[Dre]

Here is a pic of my Blue Green Chromis although you said you don't what any Damselfish when i had them in my 90 Gal.

 

[Lunareclipse]

schooling is a defense mechanism for the most part and even in a 6ft tank it's sometimes nonexistant. Green chromis would be your cheapest and best bet then cardinals. Cardinals might actually be better than the chromis in a smaller tank because they tend to just group up and hover.

I love cardinal fishes. I have a 150g. Will they do just as well in there as a small tank?

 

[Marcellina]

I may be wrong but I think anthias also school? Is it the Bartlett? Its like one male to many female to form a harem?

 

[Lunareclipse]

Anthias are cool. Would they be too big for my tank?

 

[Marcellina]

The bartletts only get up to 2.5 inches. Really pretty to watch and as they mature their colors intensify. If you are going to get a few of them get them as juvenilles so they can create their heirarchy early and have less tendency to fight for the heirarch (which they would if they were mature already)

 

[Lunareclipse]

bartletts sound cute too. I'll go look them up.

 

[Imbarrie]

What size tank do you have? Anthias require a lot of room. A school would be more than 4 fish that would require at least 120.
I have 4 blue green chromis in my 75 and they love it.


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[Marcellina]

He has a 150G thats enough for a small group of Anthias, just dont put like 10 in there

 

[reefs4life]

From my experience I've had these fish school:

http://www.nyaquatic.com/servlet/the-105/Bar-(zebra)-Goby/Detail

The bar zebra gobies are pretty cool but they jump so make sure you cover your tank. The cardinals are pretty cool, they move really slowly kinda just stay in the same spot, I had pajama cardinals as well still have one. Chromis are cheap but for some reason they're very delicate in my opinion. Hope this helps, good luck. Fortunato

 

[Imbarrie]

Go for the anthias i will be in my next upgrade.


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[emmanuel]

Anthias are cool but for me 3 always turn into 1 chromis are awesome they school don't bother anything and are cheap

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Anthias can be difficult and do best when fed several times a day. If you just want easy hardy fish, chromis and cardinals are your best bet. If you want a lot of color and movement and don't mind spending the money or time on them, than anthias should do fine in a 150.

 

[Master Shake]

chromis, firefish, cardinals, and all others are tangs and get big

 

[Reefs Creation]

From my observations, there are not too many real schooling fishes in aquarium. You may see a group of cardinals, firefish, anthias, clowns, chromis schooling in LFS looking all peaceful and like someone already mentioned, they school because of defense mechanism, once they gets established in your tank, the pecking order begins, and in most cases you ll end up with 1 or 2 that might be a pair. Not sure if it has to do with the size of your tank.

 

[jaa1456]

I have also always found chromis to be a little finicky and delicate as well.

 

[Imbarrie]

I have heard that about chromis but I've had 4 medium sized blue green chromis in my 75 for the last 6 months with no problems.


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