Great Tank Richard

[randy holmes-farley]

Richard:

Thanks for writing up your tank. I've been wanting to hear about it for a long time, and it sounds great.

I have a question for you that perhaps you can answer, though it doesn't relate directly to your aquarium. I was wondering if groups of yellow tangs will actually school in a largish tank. I'm planning on setting up something like a 540 gallon, maybe a 500 bowfront, and have always liked yellow tangs. If they actually schooled then I'd probably get several. If they didn't, then I'd probably only get one or 2 and get more fish variety.

I recall that Terry said that in his big tank the tangs acted more naturally, cruising the rocks, but don't think he had a group of yellow tangs.

Anyway, I wondered if in investigating large tanks you had run across any info on schooling of yellow tangs. Or terry, do you know?

TIA

 

[AF Founder]

Randy,

The person to ask is Joe Yaiullo. He has a school in a 20,000-gallon reef tank. His email address is Justjoe63@aol.com

Terry

 

[delbeek]

Randy: A short answer, not likely in your size tank, too small.

Long answer: yellow tangs school rather loosely during the day and don't really form schools until they are somewhat larger, say 2-3". When small they are solitary. I have about 15 in a 7000 gallon tank and they sort of hang together. What is seen on the reefs here in Hawaii are loose schools but at dusk they get together and then swim single file down to deeper waters where they sleep. It is also during this time when mating occurs. Tighter schools are formed by convict tangs.

Aloha!
Charles

 

[randy holmes-farley]

Great info. Thanks, guys!

 

[rharker]

Randy: A short answer, not likely in your size tank, too small.

Unfortunately true. In my experience, none of the Zebrasoma school. They tend to keep an eye on each other when they think there might be food involved, but otherwise they go their own way.

Even with a tank 23 feet long, there isn't much schooling activity with any of the fish. Acanthurus tend to school in the wild and in my tank, they will school at times. Siganus will tag along with one another at times, but at other times can be found at opposite ends of the tank. At least in my tank, Anthias seem the most reliable schooling fish.

The absence of preditors seems to be the reason. When the fish were first added, they behaved as they do in the wild. Once they figure out there isn't any threat, they focus more on feeding--a solitary effort.

Richard Harker

 

[delbeek]

The person to ask is Joe Yaiullo. He has a school in a 20,000-gallon reef tank.

I think that when discussing a "school" of fish we need to differentiate that from a "group" of fish. In my mind the term "school" brings up images of a group of fish moving about the tank in tight formation. I don't think that merely having a lot of one species in a tank necessarily makes them a school. As Richard pointed out, even fish that school in the wild will not do so in an aquarium when there are no predators and the fish do not feel vulnerable.

Also a lot of fish will form schools in the wild when they are juveniles but then pair up and move off once they are of a certain size e.g. rabbitfish. Other species are the exact opposite and tend to be solitary when small and school when adult e.g. sweet lips. At least this has been my impression based on the dives I have done in the south Pacific and Caribbean over the last 30 years.

Richard?

Aloha!

JCD

 

[rharker]

I think that when discussing a "school" of fish we need to differentiate that from a "group" of fish. [/guote]

I was thinking the same thing. If we stuff enough fish together in the same tank, they will "school" simply because they don't have any choice. They won't necessarily "move as one" as a school in the wild does, however. Perhaps a better way to phrase the question is to ask whether tangs behave in a large tank as they do in the wild. The answer is no, as it is with most fish. Schooling fish don't school, and secretive fish like Pseudochromis aren't so secretive. In the the wild, the first concern of any fish is to avoid becoming some other fish's meal. In an environment without threats, the priority turns to food. A fish's behavior in a tank simply reflects changed priorities.

Richard Harker

 

[Anonymous]

This is a question I receive not infrequently. Is there a semantic difference, then, between what we might agree is a proper "school" versus a "shoal"?

Also, I'm curious about this non-schooling behavior when the fish being mentioned are juveniles, yet they appear to school once they reach maturity. (Trying to pick this behavior apart in my head.)

It occurred to me that one might try a "faux" predator (something like those plastic owls), but I would expect the animals to be intelligent enough to figure out that it's a "faux" and not the real thing.

Now, what about other commonly available fishes (Pomacentrids, Apogonids, or Chaetodontids, for instance--please correct my spellings)? Would they also "require" a perceived predator to exhibit schooling? Finally, would this explain the general lack of schooling behavior I see in many of the displays at the LBAOP?