Schooling Fish? - Coolest (Peaceful & Easy)

[Coralreefer1]

Anthias’ would be the best bet! Schooling fish numero uno.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I am not sure if they are paired, don't show any of the classical signs I have seen with other fish. My baby blonde naso also swims with them most of the day. They have become a nice trio. I do feed an unholy amount of food throughout the day. That is one thing that keeps everyone docile.

For such a generally peaceful fish they can be pretty intolerant of each other, so if they are 'chill' with each other than they are probably on their way to pairing up.

 

[drcrook]

Anybody want to post pictures of some of these fish? Especially things like the chromis that keep popping up repeatedly as a recommendation.

I've got 4 barstools to build and then I need to build the tank stand & floating lights before I can order the tank; then its to aquascaping; so I'm probably ~3-4 months before a fish purchase.

So far my desired fish are formulating; any opinions on compatibility? I definitely don't want WW3; I had that with the damsels last time. Even my square anthias had an ironfist over the tank; he didn't really take anybody out; but it was a 6 foot tank and he ruled it. I'm open to suggestions on order of adding fish, I would like to start with a schooling type though.

Schooling/Shoaling/Hanging Out Together Fish
3 Lyretail Anthias
4 or 5 Chromis (no decision on species)
bunch of dart fish

Individual Fish
Cleaner Wrasse
Copperbanded Butterfly
2 or 3 clownfish w/ anenomies
Flame Angel (maybe; they are so cool)
Yellow Tang
lawnmower blennie

Inverts
Typical Clean Up Crew type stuff & maybe a few interesting things like various clams.

Corals
Mixed SPS, LPS & Softies

Objective -> Beautiful w/ Lots of movement & life

 

[rstrann]

Don't bother with Bartlett's anthias in a 120. No matter how many you start out with, you'll end up with 1. They're vicious with one another when mature.

 

[RtomKinMad]

Here’s a picture of two of my three chalk basslets!

 

[BZOFIQ]

Pajama cardinals

...but they are ugly.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Don't bother with Bartlett's anthias in a 120. No matter how many you start out with, you'll end up with 1. They're vicious with one another when mature.

True, learned the hard way, started with 7 in 180 ended up with one.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Allen's damsels, I've got 10 coming hopefully tomorrow, not sure how tight they will be together, however one will become the dominant female, the rest follow on like chinese dolls smaller and smaller, don't get too big either.

Please report, looks very pretty.

 

[shred5]

Not many actual schooling fish are in the hobby but there are shoaling fish brought into the hobby regularly.. There is a difference between shoaling and schooling.

Most shoaling fish might shoal initially but eventually allot do not after a while.
There are some exceptions and there is a better chance in much larger tanks or in tanks with more aggressive fish.
Most fish school/shoal because for safety in numbers but if they feel comfortable it goes away allot of the time.

I have been in the reef hobby 30 + years and even longer saltwater.

A few species of anthias and some cardinals will usually shoal and a few in smaller tanks too like ignitus anthias.

Usually the shy species will stay together or smaller ones but you also run the risks of them just hiding most of the time.
Some will when small like my chromis did for a while, once larger they do not anymore. I got them really small.

Personally I do not know why some schooling fish are not collected, maybe because most are just silver in color but they still would be impressive in a larger tank.
Some would probably end up as food too..

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anthias, Banghai cardinals and firefish gobies

 

[JJKK]

I had 5 carberryi anthias that were shoaling. Had them for 4 months before I had an ich outbreak in the tank. The midas blenny loved swimming in the pack with them. Seemed to be pretty calm with each other but I only had expereience for 4 months. Will get them again if they are back in season. Here are a couple of pics from the early days of the upgraded tank.

https://www.google.com/search?q=car...=2ahUKEwj1_sahqOXiAhXCV98KHZJFDJEQsAR6BAgGEAE

 

[ycnibrc]

I love my staghorn damsel schooling fish and live in the staghorn Coral.

 

[blitzkragz]

I have 7 threadfin cardinals that I hoped would be a tight school in a large tank. When they were small in the confines of QT, they did just that.

But as @shred5 mentioned, being in a larger tank, they have started to spread out, but still hang out together mostly in a quasi-school.

If there were some kind of simple small saltwater bait minnow you could buy that always stayed in a tight school I would totally go for that instead of the cardinals.

 

[EmptyWallet]

I for one love my schooling chromis (9 in an 8ft tank) - green/blue and they separate from time to time but when the 'big fish' come out or when people walk by the tank, they hook backup. They give off a great blue shimmer. Never any aggression etc. had them over 12 months with no loss. They are a high metabolism fish so be mindful when talking auto feeders. I had to get 3x eheims, dumping 4x per day to keep them happy and fed on flake. They don't seem to like pellets (which would mean 1x auto feeder would be enough) and I'm too sooky to force it by withdrawing flake.

Here is a youtube from 12 months ago where they were giving Gill a hardtime for food. That didn't last long, now they sit back in the flow and wait patiently to avoid unleashing Gill's wrath!

https://youtu.be/LX2Si7F1kHs

 

[sfin52]

you're correct that the answer is certainly NOT chromis, haha.

Why I have a school of 5. They gorgeous. There been in my tank for 5 yrs as a group of five. Since I switched to my diy food they have spawned multiple times. Good color and good movement. I really think the key is a group so the aggression is spread out over the group and not just one. They establish a pecking order. There are squabbles from time to time. Its a latger number so not just one is picked on. Gentle to all other tank mates.

 

[Reefster]

Are you referring to this fish (AKA threadfin cardinal)

Or this fish?

I agree with previous poster...Blue Eyed Cardinals (Threadfins) are great schoolers. I had 7 before my azure damsel took most of them out! They're very peaceful fish.

 

[Haydn]

A vid of my Anthias group and Fusilier damsels. the Damsels are easy, the anthias are more challenging.

 

[TexasReefer82]

Why I have a school of 5. They gorgeous. There been in my tank for 5 yrs as a group of five. Since I switched to my diy food they have spawned multiple times. Good color and good movement. I really think the key is a group so the aggression is spread out over the group and not just one. They establish a pecking order. There are squabbles from time to time. Its a latger number so not just one is picked on. Gentle to all other tank mates.

Interesting... I've only ever had them pick each other off...

Do you know if you have the standard chromis viridis or the black axil chromis?

 

[shred5]

Why I have a school of 5. They gorgeous. There been in my tank for 5 yrs as a group of five. Since I switched to my diy food they have spawned multiple times. Good color and good movement. I really think the key is a group so the aggression is spread out over the group and not just one. They establish a pecking order. There are squabbles from time to time. Its a latger number so not just one is picked on. Gentle to all other tank mates.

They usually pick each other off... But for some reason there are some exceptions..
I have had 8 now for several years and only lost one just recently and it could been anything since I just moved them to a new aquarium.

Not sure why I have luck with mine. They do not shoal though, they either beg or hide.

When in a small tank they were super aggressive to my other fish. They also freak out other fish because they move so fast.

I think they also do better with a giant sps coral because they like to hover over them and duck down into them real fast.

 

[sfin52]

They usually pick each other off... But for some reason there are some exceptions..
I have had 8 now for several years and only lost one just recently and it could been anything since I just moved them to a new aquarium.

Not sure why I have luck with mine. They do not shoal though, they either beg or hide.

When in a small tank they were super aggressive to my other fish. They also freak out other fish because they move so fast.

I think they also do better with a giant sps coral because they like to hover over them and duck down into them real fast.

Leathers mimic sps to a degree. I wonder if that has something to do with it as I have 9 large leathers.