Having multiple fish of the same species?

[oscar ortiz]

Ive always wondered and never gotten a clear answer as to exactly which fish i can keep in groups like ive heard if you keep 2 fish of the same species they attack each other and ive also heard that a bonded pair is good or if you just add in the fish at the same time and even just buying a smaller fish of the same species in the tank so the become bonded, but ive just kept wondering if theres like specific fish that are like proven to be safe in groups and what not

 

[Mike N]

cardinals and anthias for sure, you should start there. Im sure there are others.

 

[oscar ortiz]

cardinals and anthias for sure, you should start there. Im sure there are others.

Yeah i know about those, there basics, im more interested about like gobys, dragonets, blennys, jawfish, wrasses

 

[Mike N]

Diver's den shows trios of Court Jester gobies, Link's gobies, Kamohara blennies

 

[atoll]

Royal grammas, I have 4 together never a problem. I added 2 to the tank where an established pair resides no issues what so

ever
I also have 2 species of damsels made up of 5 stary damsels and a pair of Talbots damsels none of which bother any of my other fish.

 

[GHsaltie]

I've heard of a couple instances where someone was able to house multiples of a species of goby together. I know there is a thread on here where someone shared their experience doing this, I'll try to find it later. I haven't heard of many successes housing multiples of blenny, jawfish or dragonet. With wrasses I think it's a problem of trying to find females, as the males will fight each other. In the wild gobies live in large groups and wrasses create harems with a dominant male, maybe a couple sub-males, and the rest being female, however it can be quite tricky to recreate these environments in captivity. @eatbreakfast might have some experience or knowledge on this subject and @evolved is our resident wrasse expert, hopefully those two will pop in now .

 

[GHsaltie]

Here's one thread that might be interesting for you. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/school-of-gobies.278281/
Housing multiples also seems to vary depending on species, as mentioned in the thread some species will school/shoal while others claim their own territory. Also as @atoll posted basslets are a good option, royal gramma, yellow and blue assessors, chalk bass all of those have been kept in multiples successfully.

 

[eatbreakfast]

It really all depends on the species, because there are exceptions to just about everything.

Most anthias are social, but there are exceptions, such the sunburst or borbonius.

Most basslets are semi territorial, but can be kept together if added while small enough and simultaneously.

Most blennies do best kept singly, but young fang blennies can be kept in groups. Barnacle and pike blennies are social.

Some cardinals are strongly pr forming, and intolerant of conspecifics, whereas others are quite social.

Gobies are such a large and diverse group. Some are best kept singly, others in pairs, and still others in groups.

Angels can be kept in m-f-f harems.

Most tangs are best kept singly, but there are instances of groups of specific species working in exceptionally large tanks.

Wrasses, while social in the wild, are best kept in groups of 1 specimen per species, but there are also a few exceptions to this.

 

[evolved]

For wrasses, it's best to only try one specimen per species:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/pairing-wrasses-thats-not-how-any-of-this-works.3/

Also:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.28/

 

[atoll]

You know it's rather strange, in my 36 years of reefkeeping I have been constantly been told you can't keep more than one fish of each species. Back in the day it was you can't keep 2 dwarf angels together, you can't keep 2 Royal grammas, you can't keep 2 6 lined wrasse, you can keep a number of damsels together etc etc etc. And yet I have always kept pairs and groups of fish. I still hear from time to time similar things with the sentence starting "you can't keep". I guess I am doing something wrong and need to read more books and listen to the experts more or my fish need to read those books and listen to those experts.

 

[GHsaltie]

@evolved I haven't read those threads just yet, but I've heard that female wrasses almost always transition to male in captivity, even with a male present. Is this why it's so difficult to house multiples of one species, because they will all end up males?

 

[evolved]

@evolved I haven't read those threads just yet, but I've heard that female wrasses almost always transition to male in captivity, even with a male present. Is this why it's so difficult to house multiples of one species, because they will all end up males?

Exactly.

 

[GHsaltie]

So do we know why it is that in captivity females transition to male while in a harem situation? Or is it just one of those mysteries that we may never figure out?

 

[Larry L]

I also have 2 species of damsels made up of 5 stary damsels and a pair of Talbots damsels none of which bother any of my other fish.

Talbot's damsels are some of my favorite fish, although they have a reputation for being hard to ship. For multiples of the same species, I have a pair of Talbot's damsels (Chrysiptera talboti), three Kupang damsels (Chrysiptera hemicyanea), two black bar chromis (Chromis retrofasciata), and two captive bred yellow assessors (Assessor flavissimus), and they all get along fine. The damsels all went in at about the same time, but after I already had my foxface, diamond goby, and one of my assessors. I added the second assessor recently with no issues. It helps to use an acclimation box so the current residents have a chance to get used to the newcomer for a while before you let it loose in the tank. Standard disclaimer: Maybe I've just been lucky, your mileage may vary.

 

[Forsaken77]

Royal grammas, I have 4 together never a problem. I added 2 to the tank where an established pair resides no issues what so

ever
I also have 2 species of damsels made up of 5 stary damsels and a pair of Talbots damsels none of which bother any of my other fish.

I see your Magnificent Foxface there. I currently was lucky enough to get 2 of them to peacefully coexist together in the same tank, and it's only a 93 gallon cube. They, and their tankmates, are getting upgraded to a 180 as soon as I finish getting all the expensive stuff that I have to rebuy for a bigger tank.

They tell you never to have more than one Mag Foxface because they'll constantly fight, and I planned it that way and is a long story how I wound up with the two, but the first one was not happy at first. But after a few days they settled down and now the 2nd one follows the first around the tank.

I had to keep the second one in something like a big breeding box in the display tank for 3 days to get them acquainted without contact, and it worked.

I'm surprised more people go with the yellow species more. The Magnificent is such a gorgeous fish.

 

[atoll]

I see your Magnificent Foxface there. I currently was lucky enough to get 2 of them to peacefully coexist together in the same tank, and it's only a 93 gallon cube. They, and their tankmates, are getting upgraded to a 180 as soon as I finish getting all the expensive stuff that I have to rebuy for a bigger tank.

They tell you never to have more than one Mag Foxface because they'll constantly fight, and I planned it that way and is a long story how I wound up with the two, but the first one was not happy at first. But after a few days they settled down and now the 2nd one follows the first around the tank.

I had to keep the second one in something like a big breeding box in the display tank for 3 days to get them acquainted without contact, and it worked.

I'm surprised more people go with the yellow species more. The Magnificent is such a gorgeous fish.

I often see foxfaces in the same tank in LFSs here in the UK. To be honest I am.not a particular fan of them. I bought mine to do a job as I had some low growing species of caulerpa that was getting in amongst my SPA. The foxface made short work of it.

 

[Hans-Werner]

So do we know why it is that in captivity females transition to male while in a harem situation? Or is it just one of those mysteries that we may never figure out?

I guess it is the same in nature but in nature constantly females are growing up while surplus males can leave the territory or are caught away by predators.

 

[tyler1503]

I once read a guy kept 30 coral gobies in a 20gal with success hahaha. True story

 

[BCSreef]

Depends on species and individual fish. Yes on some and definite no on others. What fish are you thinking of?

I have always kept multiple fish of same species. Currently 3 perculas, 3 blue hippo tangs, 2 yellow tangs, boded pairs of flame hawkfish and scarlet scooters along with 2 other tangs, a firefish, a basslet. All in a 180 gal.

You do have to be careful even with some similar shaped fish.

 

[BCSreef]

I just noticed this at the top of the page: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/marine-compatibility-chart.25569/

That should give you an idea.