Schools of fish?

ErikJL · #1 07/04/2007, 07:55 PM

I've seen FW tanks that contain schools of smaller fish, but I have yet to see a SW or reef tank with one. Has anyone done or seen this, and what type of fish did they use?

AS11423 · #2 07/04/2007, 07:58 PM

Nemo went to a fish school, but that's where his troubles started. I'd be careful with schooling fish. Look into Chromis, Anthias etc etc. In the end, they'll all kill each other anyway.

lvpd186 · #3 07/04/2007, 08:07 PM

I have seen a few tanks with small schools of fish (like chromis). I think it looks pretty cool but IMO it requires a fairly good size tank. A school of fish would be a large bio-load after all.

BWine · #4 07/04/2007, 09:35 PM

I have 5 blue-green chromis in my 210g and they school together all the time.

Springmo · #5 07/04/2007, 09:44 PM

How about a harem of pygmy angels? That'd be cool in a big tank.

Iron Maiden · #6 07/04/2007, 10:28 PM

I have a school of pink smiths damsels, and lemon fin damsels that seem to do well in my 125gal.

Jutta · #7 07/04/2007, 11:06 PM

I have 7 blue/green chromis in my 180g and they hardly school. Each does its own thing most of the time. Only when they are threatened will they get together

King-Kong · #8 07/05/2007, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ErikJL
I've seen FW tanks that contain schools of smaller fish, but I have yet to see a SW or reef tank with one. Has anyone done or seen this, and what type of fish did they use?

Look into Apogon Leptacanthus, aka threadfin cardinals.

They are poor shippers (very very poor shippers.. I had 9 die out of a shipment of 10!), but they seem to be one of the few great choices in this hobby for a schooling fish that wont kill its own kind (like some other cardinals, or even Chromis).

They are very popular in Japan, and we even have a TOTM that uses them.

GuOD · #9 07/05/2007, 08:14 AM

I have about 8 chromis in my tank. 6 of them swim around all day and 2 hide and do their own thing. When food comes they'll all swim around together for awhile and maybe a few hours later but then they seperate. Nothing like in the LFS

BreefMe · #10 07/05/2007, 08:31 AM

Blue/Green Chromis are the only thing to try. The Chromis are inexpensive and hardy.

King-Kong · #11 07/05/2007, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BreefMe
Blue/Green Chromis are the only thing to try. The Chromis are inexpensive and hardy.

They are not the ONLY thing to try..

Look at my post a bit above.

frederickk · #12 07/06/2007, 08:10 AM

It all depends how big is your tank?

If it's big enough you can try to go with Banggai Cardinals

Frick-n-Frags · #13 07/06/2007, 08:17 AM

i think chromis are always ultimately a loser. I have been wondering about this ever since I started with salt. they just happen to be inexpensive, but that ien't the whole story.

The real question would be:

"What kind of fish will school and actually live for 5+ years?"

Wouldn't that be great to switch cardinal tetras over to salt if you could

samherston · #14 07/06/2007, 09:20 AM

Green Chromis are an AWESOME schooling fish! They do VERY well in about 3 or more!

geekreef_05 · #15 07/06/2007, 09:36 AM

I have a school of 7 dispair athias; their pink and blue.

Ive had the school about 2 years with no problems so far. Other tank inhabitants are tangs. Very friendly school, always out and around; never intimidated by the large tangs.

They are together most of the day, but tend to break into groups of 2-3 and play in the current during the day.

Kung · #16 07/06/2007, 10:13 AM

My chromis school of nine systematically killed each other off until there were two. My blue damsel took them out one at a time after that.

Never again.

Ursus · #17 07/06/2007, 11:38 AM

I have a school of five chromis in my 75. They school constantly and I've had them for about 4 months now. I tried a school of chromis about 9 months ago but they all died one by one except the smallest one. I don't think they killed each other, I think they were diseased or something.

Another cool schooling fish is Zebra Barred Dartfish. Not a lot of people have them, but if you do get them, make sure you have some kind of gaurd over your tank as they like to jump.

Justin James · #18 07/06/2007, 11:48 AM

I have a school of 5 chromis in a 6' foot tank and they do very well. I love the look of the school moving back and forth. Never heard of chromis killing eachother before though?

ahullsb · #19 07/06/2007, 04:10 PM

I have five that have been o.k for a few months....but I am waiting for a year before I post whether I think they are o.k longterm. I have been trying to feed twice a day, hoping that if they don't feel like they are competing for food then they might be less likely to take each other out.

JeffersonReef · #20 07/06/2007, 05:43 PM

If you have some money to spend.... anthias will school together... really pretty fish too. Otherwise, you will do best with chromis... they wont add much bio-load. If you arent concerned with bio-load, yellow tangs will school together if you add all at once...

btkrausen · #21 07/06/2007, 06:49 PM

My school of 6 chromis killed each other off until only two were eft, and I've had those two for almost two years.

Gonna try about 4-6 anthias when I can get my 8ft long 200 gal tank going.

atzak · #22 07/06/2007, 07:05 PM

pygmy sweepers are awesome if you can find them