Schooling Fish for 230 Gallon, Suggestions?

[Hugh Mann]

I'm looking for suggestions for schooling Fish for my 230 Gallon build. Would love to have a school of fish to add constant movement, as most of my planned fish are relatively sedentary.

My first consideration were some sort of anthias. However I have read of many, many failed attempts resulting with them killing eachother over time.

Second consideration was Chromis, but the same issue. Have heard they can/will kill eachother off.

Third was a bunch of yellow tangs, but as I am sure the Tang Police will say, that's too many tangs for a 230 Gallon, as I already have a Hippo and want a Purple. That, and I'm sure the yellows would be bullied by the other fish as well, being quite peaceful.

If it matters, the fish I plan to have include
Marine Betta
Greyfaced Moray Eel
Maroon Clown, Pair
Hippo Tang
Purple Tang?
Niger Trigger
Flame Hawkfish

 

[naked_dog_reefer]

Pajama Cardinals school nice or bangai Cardinals

 

[PicassoClown04]

I would go for a school of purple tangs, a friend of mine had a mixed school of around 15 purples and yellows (like 7 of each) and they swam together quite peacefully. This was an ENORMOUS tank so maybe three purples oughta do ya. Good luck!

 

[Juniorh2r]

Anthias as long as its the same species of anthias you should be fine.

 

[Hydrored]

I have 8 blue green chromis in mine and I love them. Always up to something, like a frat party in my tank everyday. I just won’t do Anthias anymore. I feed homemade frozen 4 times a day and after about a year there’s always one left. They always look fat and healthy so no idea what kills them off and had the absolute worse luck getting them through quarantine. Just a unicorn fish to me for the long haul, I have only lost Anthias and 1 trigger from and that was carpet surfing.

I hope you have better luck

 

[Aiden Graves]

Moorish idol fish maybe?

 

[lion king]

@footgal has a good idea, a trio of purple tangs

 

[Hugh Mann]

A trio of purples does sound pretty awesome. As well as insanely expensive. But definitely would be worth it in the long run, assuming I could find 3 purples in stock in my area. Ever.

 

[Phil D.]

+1 on Banggais or Pajama Cardinals. They get big.

 

[lion king]

A trio of purples does sound pretty awesome. As well as insanely expensive. But definitely would be worth it in the long run, assuming I could find 3 purples in stock in my area. Ever.

I cant remember when it is, but purple tangs seem to be seasonal. When they come around here, there's bunches of them all over.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Moorish idol fish maybe?

I would think Moorish Idols would be too difficult to keep alive though; they are so extremely delicate.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I've never seen more than one or two at a time. Guess I could shop around a couple different stores. More concerned about dropping $700 for 3 fish. Still trying to unbend my cheapskate brain to adapt to this hobby.

As for Moorish Idols, I like them as a fish, but the difficulty of care is what concerns me. Not that a bunch of tangs would exactly be easy either.

 

[lion king]

I've never seen more than one or two at a time. Guess I could shop around a couple different stores. More concerned about dropping $700 for 3 fish. Still trying to unbend my cheapskate brain to adapt to this hobby.

As for Moorish Idols, I like them as a fish, but the difficulty of care is what concerns me. Not that a bunch of tangs would exactly be easy either.

We just suggested the purples because you said you wanted one, you could do a trio of other zebrasoma's. I don't care for yellows but I have a scopas, and a friend has 5 scopas in a 450g. Wonder if you could do a purple and 2 of another. I heard they do better in trio's or more in odd numbers(I think)

 

[PicassoClown04]

I don’t see why you couldn’t have a trio of yellows, scopas, white tail, tomini, purples, etc. I only said purples because it sounded like you really liked em . NY aquatic has had sales on purples for $99 which would make them a LOT more affordable

 

[count krunk]

As others have said pj or bangaii cardinals. You could do the purple tang tri and still add 5 or 6 of these guys.

I have a trio of pj's and they school nicely.

 

[lion king]

I just thought I would mention, the cardinals or chromis would be easy pickings for the greyface, so really not a good idea.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Chromis
Anthias
Cardinal
Fire fish goby

 

[lion king]

Chromis
Anthias
Cardinal
Fire fish goby

Chromis, cardinals, and firefish; all food for the greyface. They would also likely not hold their own with a mature niger trigger.

 

[nereefpat]

Bangaii cardinals do not school, at least not after they are tiny juveniles.

 

[DeniseAndy]

That is a nice size tank, but fish still rarely school/shoal after juvenile stage. However, you could get away with 3 Z. tangs. I am not a huge fan of the cardinals anymore due to lack of activity. I do love the azure chromis for the activity of darting in and out. They do not bother anyone either.