Larger fish to make chromis school?

[bkwonnn]

Hi Guys and gallz,

I want a schooling fish and considering a larger group of chromis. Could be something else but I think the theory is the same. The schooling fish must feel threatened a bit to school and have less time to bully eachother. What fish would be a good choice for this in a 175g?
It would be perfect if this species is reef safe. I was thinking blue jaw trigger or zebra eel, but not sure if they threaten enough.

 

[coralboi56]

1. The fish we have in our tanks are shoaling fish. Schooling fish are species lime sardines, anchovies, etc, species that form bait balls
2. Unless you have like 30 chromis, it can be hard to get them to shoal together. Banggai cardinals are very good at dong it. Anthias are also great shoaling fish, however, you need to feed anthias A LOT. Firefish are also great shoaling fish

 

[mfinn]

Hi Guys and gallz,

I want a schooling fish and considering a larger group of chromis. Could be something else but I think the theory is the same. The schooling fish must feel threatened a bit to school and have less time to bully eachother. What fish would be a good choice for this in a 175g?
It would be perfect if this species is reef safe. I was thinking blue jaw trigger or zebra eel, but not sure if they threaten enough.

I would think a larger fish that would make smaller fish feel threatened would make the smaller fish hide all the time in the rock work.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi Guys and gallz,

I want a schooling fish and considering a larger group of chromis. Could be something else but I think the theory is the same. The schooling fish must feel threatened a bit to school and have less time to bully eachother. What fish would be a good choice for this in a 175g?
It would be perfect if this species is reef safe. I was thinking blue jaw trigger or zebra eel, but not sure if they threaten enough.

anthias
pilot fish
pajama cardinals
Dart fish ( they do jump)

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A trigger or pebbletooth eel are both probably good options for that role - most people I've seen use tangs and large angels.

My understanding is that keeping a large school can theoretically work, but - as mentioned above - there are a number of things to keep in mind with schooling:

- The number of schooling fish in the tank (I've heard odd numbers are preferred, and the preferred number of fish that I've seen seems to be 9 to 11 at a minimum; the more fish, the more diluted the aggression is between them)

- The size of the tank (for quality of life purposes for your fish, bigger is better - yes, some animals will be calm when shoved into tiny spaces with large numbers of conspecifics where if there was just one or two conspecifics, it would be a deathmatch, but they obviously wouldn't be happy in that situation long-term)

- The amount fed, the quality of the feed, and the frequency of feedings (basically more food = less aggression; and better food = better health = happier, less aggressive fish [theoretically])

- Tankmates (big, scary tankmates that the schooling fish could view as a threat may act as an outside force that keeps the schooling fish focused on not getting killed rather than on fighting amongst themselves)

- The scape of the tank (lots of fish need lots of places to hide/sleep - the more hiding places, the safer the fish feel; line-of-sight-breaks can also help with feeling safe)

That's all I've got for the moment (and pretty much all of it has been mentioned above), but basically - to my understanding - it's a balance of making the fish feel threatened enough by external sources to prevent infighting while also making them feel safe enough (largely through their numbers, the tank's scape, and food security) to not be too stressed. If you're able to strike that balance, you should be able to see schooling behavior (to the best of my current understanding).

 

[Reefering1]

The only time my 9 chromis have schooled was when I 1st added my Desjardini sailfin. He would act aggressively and they would all come together in a orange sized ball, "evading danger". Once they figured out he won't eat them, they stopped.

 

[Reefering1]

Ohh and another time they all got together to simultaneously attack one of their own to death

 

[Dan_P]

Hi Guys and gallz,

I want a schooling fish and considering a larger group of chromis. Could be something else but I think the theory is the same. The schooling fish must feel threatened a bit to school and have less time to bully eachother. What fish would be a good choice for this in a 175g?
It would be perfect if this species is reef safe. I was thinking blue jaw trigger or zebra eel, but not sure if they threaten enough.

I have six green Chomis that hang out together in a 75 g. No other fish.

 

[BriansBrain]

I have 7 that I’ve had a while now. They’re always together for the most part. There is a kinda aggressive (towards the chromis) male bimac anthias that’ll dart toward them. They’ll break up to avoid the anthias and swim back together

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I have six green Chomis that hang out together in a 75 g. No other fish.

Interesting- how long have you had them? How often and how much do you feed them? Any pics of the tank/scape?

 

[kdx7214]

I have 7 that I’ve had a while now. They’re always together for the most part. There is a kinda aggressive (towards the chromis) male bimac anthias that’ll dart toward them. They’ll break up to avoid the anthias and swim back together

Wow, how have you kept them from killing each other? Every time I've had more than one green chromis they kill each other.

 

[Jesse Sunday]

I have three in a 90g tank with no other fish, and they all stick together.

 

[BriansBrain]

Wow, how have you kept them from killing each other? Every time I've had more than one green chromis they kill each other.

I’m not sure really. I guess good luck maybe? I feed twice a day, not that that’s a lot. I’ve had this group for 3 years with the except of one added a few months ago. I had a group of 5 like 10 years ago too. They do squabble at night going into the rock and digi they sleep in.

The blue chromis and bright red/orange bimac is one of my favorite things in this tank.

 

[slingfox]

I have 11 chromis together in a 110g display. They all hang out with each other swimming in a group. The key for me was having a super male Bimac who chases them around every so often. I have had zero deaths amongst the chromis after starting with 3 in October 2023 and adding another 8 in first week of January. When I added the more recent 8 chromis, the Bimac went crazy for a day chasing the chromis annd some the the wrasse I added around to same time. I put up a mirror for two days to disperse the aggression. It has been two full months with the full group of 11 chromis and they get along great. The Bimac has mostly chilled out but still chases around the chromis a few times a day to make sure they are in check.

 

[BriansBrain]

I have 11 chromis together in a 110g display. They all hang out with each other swimming in a group. The key for me was having a super male Bimac who chases them around every so often. I have had zero deaths amongst the chromis after starting with 3 in October 2023 and adding another 8 in first week of January. When I added the more recent 8 chromis, the Bimac went crazy for a day chasing the chromis annd some the the wrasse I added around to same time. I put up a mirror for two days to disperse the aggression. It has been two full months with the full group of 11 chromis and they get along great. The Bimac has mostly chilled out but still chases around the chromis a few times a day to make sure they are in check.

Same exact behavior I have with my chromis and male bimac. Maybe we’re onto something

 

[slingfox]

Same exact behavior I have with my chromis and male bimac. Maybe we’re onto something

Yeah, my make Bimac is sometimes not a fan of the chromis but there are so many of them he has no choice but to tolerate them. He chases them around for a second or two every so often but he'll also swim around with them every so often as well. My yellow tang also showed some aggression towards a wrasse and yellow hogfish I added a month ago but when I out up a mirror the Yellow Tang stayed in front of the mirror for a day and a half until I took it down before a 1-week trip. When I got back everyone in the tank was getting along. The 11 chromis were now one group and the male Bimac was back to normal with only sporadic signs of aggression. I feed my tank 4-5 times a day (4 times pellets from auto feeder which dispenses an exact amount I calibrated by weighing onto a scale + 0-1 feeding of frozen depending if I am around). The consistent feeding schedule also helps with aggression I assume.

 

[littlefoxx]

Hi Guys and gallz,

I want a schooling fish and considering a larger group of chromis. Could be something else but I think the theory is the same. The schooling fish must feel threatened a bit to school and have less time to bully eachother. What fish would be a good choice for this in a 175g?
It would be perfect if this species is reef safe. I was thinking blue jaw trigger or zebra eel, but not sure if they threaten enough.

I have 3 chromis, they swim around the tank together. I also have 3 zebra dart gobies and they also swim around with eachother.

 

[sky414]

Is it possible to have a school of chromis and a school of pyjama cardinals in the same tank?

 

[bkwonnn]

I was wondering about that also. Maybe that is the perfect way to make them school together

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

My Lyretail Anthias would do it. One male and a few females.

Had a lot of large Tangs and Angels along with a pair of triggers.