Schooling fish

[Jamokie01]

I am planning my fish list for a very large tank Im beginning construction on next summer. Its going to be 72"x72"x40" tall, 900 gallons. I love schooling fish and would like to keep a few different types. Ive been told that these would likely work, but wanted to ask here.

Chromis-Id like to keep a school of 30, maybe even more. Ive heard rumors that these fish may pick eachother off, I havent experienced this with the small school of 5 I have now.
Cardinals-Would like to keep a school of either Bangais or Pajamas, not even sure how many, but Im told Bangais will eventually fight eachother.
Firefish-I know someone that is keeping 7 firefish now, one becomes dominant and picks on the others. I would prefer purple firefish, but Im told theyre more aggressive, anybody know if this would work?
Anthias-My favorites are purple queens, but I havent heard good things, I also like dispars, hutchiis, sunbursts, and ventralis. Suggestions?
Flasher wrasse-I like the carpenter and the filamented flashers, I understand they are similar to anthias, but easier to keep, any opinions?
Again, this is a large tank, with another 400-500gal sump, 200-300gal refugium and 300-400gal liverock bin, so Im gonna have alot of water volume, around 2000gal, I can probably keep some big schools of fish. On top of this I want 4 or 5 tangs, a pair of triggers, Id love a Regal Angel but itll never work out so probably a flame and a coral beauty, and maybe 15 or so small fish (clowns, blennies, gobies, jawfish)Any suggestions on how many would be great, Im used to having a small tank, so I think my fish wish list may be too small. Or am I wrong? Any other cool fish reccomendations? Thanks guys!

[Jamokie01]

Anybody?

[gimmito]

How about a shoal of yellow or hippo tangs ? As far as the anthias, how about squarespot, lyretail, or bartletts ? Did you check out the tread of shoaling flame pygmy angels ?

[reefer1024]

I think schooling cardinal fish are awesome, but I don't thing Bangais or Pajamas will school. I am pretty sure the longspine cardinal fish in the link below school but you should double check.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...fm?pCatId=1428

I can tell you from my experience with lyretail anthias that they can be very picky eaters and need at lest 2 or 3 feedings per day to maintain there body weight. If you don't want to feed frozen 3 times a day I would pass on them.

Flasher wrasses are the some of the most beautiful fish out there in my opinion. In my experience they were less hardy than the lyretail anthias I kept, but easier to feed. They are kinda fragile and I'm not sure how they would do if you decide to but large fish in there with them. They dont really school either, but you can form a harem with 1 male and a few females. Check out Lubbock's wrasses (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki) they are similar in size and behavior to fairy wrasses, but in my experience much more hardy and much bolder.

I'm no expert. This is just my personal experience. Hopefully it gives you some ideas to research further. Good luck.

[Jamokie01]

Gimmito-Well I want to keep several different tangs and Id imagine tangs in a shoal will be more aggressive towards other tangs. And like I said purple queens are my favorite, but I also mentioned the others I liked. And as cool as it would look, a shoal of flame angels would undoubtedly wreak havoc on my corals.

Reefer-Feeding is not an issue, I tend to feed 4-5 times a day. And I have no issues with fish that arent hardy, as long as they eat. I quarantine everything and have never introduced parasites or disease into my tank. Also one thing 2000 gallons of water gives me is stability. I have a Hell of a local fish guy that has always provided me with top notch fish. Really Im not looking for expert advice, I can get that from a book. Its the personal experiences of people on this forum that Im interested in. Im looking into flashers almost as an alternative to anthias. I guess several kinds of fish I mentioned dont really school, but form harems. One thing I have noticed though, is that a school of chromis really draws other fish out, and fish of similar or slightly larger size tend to stick with that school.

Thing is Ive never kept alot of fish, I was always more interested in coral, but building this tank should afford me the size to have a pretty impressive display of livestock. Anybody else? Opinions? Suggestions? Anything is helpful. Suggestions dont have to be schooling fish, any cool livestock suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

[ReefBuilderNJ]

i have a school of 7 bangaii cardinals and they rarely stray from each other. but, i only had them for about 2 months. my chromis' became territorial to all other fish after about 2 years, so they were gone. ive also had banner fish that schooled.

[Jamokie01]

I think bangais would be sweet, but heard they eventually fight, Id like to see how yours progress. Territorial chromis? Were they the usual greens or were they blues? I cant imagine such a small fish threatening others, but I guess in a group anything could happen. And if it does, time to trade them in and buy some fresh chromis. Cheapest fish I ever bought and 75% of the time theyre the first thing non reefers comment on, "Ooooo, pretty"

Bannerfish, are they the black and white striped with the yellow tail? Are they reef safe? I always assumed they were butterflies and would nip my zoos and whatnot.

[reeferaddiction]

i have three heniochus "banner fish" in my tank that school beautifully, i am sure you could have a larger school in a tank that size but they must be added at the same time

[Jamokie01]

Everywhere I read says they arent reef safe, is that not your experience?

[reeferaddiction]

I didn't realize you would be putting them in a reef tank due to the triggers being on your wish list. mine are in a fowlr tank but I did purchase one a while back to try in my reef and it was a picker. there is one banner fish that is supposed to be reef safe in the heniochus family but I'm not sure the name.

[Jamokie01]

Oh, the triggers will be Blue Throats, or Crosshatches if I got a good deal on them.

[reeferaddiction]

oh ok i have a blue jaw in my reef and he acts like a puppy begging for food and staring at me through the glass. i think the sargassum is wrth a look as well more attractive than the blue jaw in my opinion

[eskymick]

Here's a different thought .... how about a group of yellow Pyramid Butterfly fish. They are hardy, reef safe and can be kept in groups. I'm tempted to try that myself.

[mcmxc17]

One note on the Anthias, one male and the rest females...

[darkcirca]

I love lyretails, and they honestly aren't that hard. I feed mine 2-3 times a day, sometimes only once (I currently have 1 male, I had 2 females but they came from a bad batch both times I purchased them). He's a fat, happy, pig to be honest. Flasher wrasses are nice, I'm not sure how schooling them would work. The anthias though are just amazing looking to me. That'll be a nice tank, I hope to see pictures once you get it up.

[Jamokie01]

Im not big on the sargassum, for some reason it reminds me of a vladmingi tang. I really dig the yellow tipped fins of the blue jaw or crosshatch. As for the pyramid butterfly, I considered it, but Ive never seen one in person, only pics. Dunno if I like em, all the butterflies I really like arent reef safe, and the copperband could be iffy. On the anthias, if I keep them Id be keeping at least 2 males with at least 6 females. Since they live in large groups in nature Im guessing thats how it works? Or should I buy all females and let them sort it out?

As for the tank itself, Im going to take lots of pics as I go, and when its finished Ill post the whole experience. I want to get a solid plan now so Im not changing things mid construction. I also want an entire fish list done so I can add them in a particular order to best suit the fish.

[edwing206]

I would take a look at orange lined cardinals. Beautiful fish in person. I saw them in a group at my LFS.

[dhnguyen]

Hey edwing206 what LFS was that that carried the orange line cardinals.

I have 3 and want/need more for my tank

[King-Kong]

I hear that long term, Orange Line cardinals will become very aggressive towards each other.

I would get a huge school of Apogon Leptacanthus (threadfin cardinals), but good luck getting them shipped a live.

[dhnguyen]

Yeah tell me about it. Not only that but the thread fins are rarely available anywhere.

[King-Kong]

I've had a $100 deposit down at the LFS for close to 2-3 months for mine... and they use Quality Marine as a supplier (same as LA)... STILL WAITING.

[dhnguyen]

What'sw funny is that everywhere they listed the thread fins as easy

Maybe if you can get them alive

[techreef]

Jamokie, the most reef-safe of the bannerfish is Heniochus diphreutes. I had two that picked at one of my large SPS corals, but this proposed tank of yours is so large that unless you buy a large group of bannerfish, I'd wager that your corals could repair themselves from occassional peckings from the H. diphreutes. The "bad" bannerfish is Heniochus acuminatus, BTW.

Good luck! Please post pics as this monster tank build progresses!

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by dhnguyen
What'sw funny is that everywhere they listed the thread fins as easy

Maybe if you can get them alive

exactly.. they are easy, once they stop dying from shipping stress!

[dhnguyen]

Well so far so good with my 3 orange lined cardinals. They're eating already and I only received them yesterday.

Haven't seen any agression between them and they do school nicely.