Rattooth
Active Member
Caribbean Blue Reef Chromis have been hardy and long lived for me. They are deeper blue with black markings compared to Pacific Blue Chromis. They don't bother other fish or corals, and my other fish ignor.
SCHOOLING Fish!!
- Thread starter TD13
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My indigo dotty back trio hang out near each other except when the female is laying. Going on 3 yrs. Cardinals, I have two kinds and the pick down over time to a pair each kind. Anthias in 3 or 5 would be nice although mine picked down to a pair. Not many hang together in home aquaria when full grown.
GoGo98102
Community Member
I have had my blue green chromies for a couple years- 8 of them. They school sometimes and fight sometimes. They lock lips but never for more than a couple seconds.
I also have 7 long spine/blue eye cardinals. Most peaceful saltwater fish I have ever seen. Never fight among themselves and always avoid other fish. All 7 for a couple years also and still always school together. Shy but always together.
I also have 7 long spine/blue eye cardinals. Most peaceful saltwater fish I have ever seen. Never fight among themselves and always avoid other fish. All 7 for a couple years also and still always school together. Shy but always together.
I bought 7 dispar anthias and ended up with 4. 3 from one group that the store treated for ich (only because one of the new fish that they had gotten in had ich in a multi tank closed system). The first one came from a group of three that I lost two of within the first three weeks of adding them to my DT. I will honestly say that the three from one school hang out together and the one that was left by himself is kind of a loner so you may want to buy a large group to insure that they stay together "school"-- this is just from my experience. They all get a long fine and eat like champs. I feed them small Misys shrimp a couple times a day and they are some of the toughest fish in the tank that have no problem competing for food against fish five times their size. I, like you, always wanted schooling fish and yes they may be glorified goldfish but they are by far my favorite fish in my DT!
OP
OP
TD13
Well-Known Member
Those are pretty!I bought 7 dispar anthias and ended up with 4. 3 from one group that the store treated for ich (only because one of the new fish that they had gotten in had ich in a multi tank closed system). The first one came from a group of three that I lost two of within the first three weeks of adding them to my DT. I will honestly say that the three from one school hang out together and the one that was left by himself is kind of a loner so you may want to buy a large group to insure that they stay together "school"-- this is just from my experience. They all get a long fine and eat like champs. I feed them small Misys shrimp a couple times a day and they are some of the toughest fish in the tank that have no problem competing for food against fish five times their size. I, like you, always wanted schooling fish and yes they may be glorified goldfish but they are by far my favorite fish in my DT!
Question, I've heard that you can buy a school of chromis and eventually they pick each other off one by one until you end up with one very fat happy chromis versus the school you started out with? If I remember right it was an issue with all chromis? I'm I correct about that or am I thinking of a totally different species all together?
Sorry but these saltwater goldfish can do no wrong lol. They are constantly on the move and always together. And at $20 a pop $100-$200 bucks can add a whole lot of life to any reef with a good 60+ gallons worth of swimming room. Even at night they all post up within a few inches of each other. They literally find a comfy spot spread their fins out and sleep through the night. Oh I forgot to mention ( in my earlier post) that you may want to start them out on mix of Cyclopes and the hikari bio-pure mysis shrimp. It's sometimes sold in a double pack of frozen cubes. The Cyclopes definitely helped the smaller ones acclimate however they all chowed down on the Cyclopes. IMO I would not try these fish without both options and maybe even live brine shrimp if available but frozen should work just fine with good current. Also turn off all of your lights for a couple of hours except for maybe your moon lights when adding these guys it will really give them a fighting chance at acclimating.
I really like the evansi, bartletts and the flavoguttatus however I heard they can be much more challenging overall especially to the initial acclamation to their new environment. And not to mention they are 2 to 3 times the price. I've personally had very good luck with the dispar anthias that I have. Yes I lost a few and expected to. The ones that made it and have been in my tank for months now are absolute troopers. If anyone is considering adding anthias to their tank please buy from a very clean knowledgeable fish store if not you are setting yourself up for disaster. When your LFS gets in a new shipment make sure they are eating and maybe even get the store to hold onto them for about a week before purchasing. The second batch that I purchased I bought all three of them and they were treated with copper ( only because they were in a multi tank system and one of the new arrivals had it so everything in that system was treated) for a week before I purchased them and they are tough as nails. A few fish in their school did die from that shipment over the course of a few days so I'm very glad I waited and didn't set a few $20 bills on fire.
iramack
Community Member
I would also try to find a trio or more of the Blue Gudegeon Dartfish. I have four in my 45 gal tank. They need a sand bed however.
Wonderful color blue and very active especially at feeding time.
Steve
Wonderful color blue and very active especially at feeding time.
Steve
ca1ore
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Oops! Sorry didn't mean anything by it....can't help it, science is my thing and profession.
Nothing wrong with a little 'precision' in this hobby every once in a while. Fish don't 'school' in the absence of predators; but some will 'shoal'. Even that is helped out by a little intimidation. I keep anthias (fancy goldfish to people who cannot keep them; living jewels to those who can
)in my tank including a six-pack of resplendents who hang together because the larger tangs in the tank intimidate them clearly.
mcarroll
10K Club member
I like most of what I've seen - "schooling fish" is a sketchy concept in the marine aquarium - so +1 to the thread so far!
Just to pile on...
Just to pile on...
- Freshwater schooling behavior - like neons - is what almost everyone has in mind when they think they want schooling fish in their saltwater tank.
- Blue-eyed Cardinalfish are the only thing like a freshwater schooling fish I've seen in the hobby. They also look like a freshwater fish.
- Mono's are supposedly a great schooling option for large tanks, but I've never actually seen someone keep them. (Nice post above!)
- Klein's Butterflyfish has one of the strongest "grouping" instincts I've personally seen, but they aren't ideal for many tanks.
- Any of the common marine "schooling" fish should generally be avoided in my opinion....tangs, damsels, chromes (which are damsels), anthias, etc.
- When these fish do school in the wild, it's in the number of hundreds or thousands...the behaviors we see as a problem are diluted by a thousand in the wild, so nobody ends up hurt. In the aquarium, you end up with one left.
- The funny thing about tangs in particular is that lots of them aren't really schoolers at all. Some are apparently solitary, some only travel with a mate or small groups. The mostly-solitary Bristletooth tangs (Tomini, Kole, etc) are some of the best-suited tangs for aquarium life. What the tangs all seem to share in common is traveling long distances...which is why they don't actually fit the "reef aquarium fish" mold as well as their popularity would suggest. Most tangs live a pretty stressed out existence in the home aquarium....more-so than other types of reef aquarium fish.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Monos school really well, but get kinda big to do an actual school in a 120g
I have found there are a few smaller species that stay as a school, parvulus cardinals, Ailiops mesastigma, blue eye mini dartfish, but most would be diminutive in a 120g.
Scissortail, blue gudgeon, and zebra dartfish shoal, and contrary to common belief do not require sand.
Some anthias are better than others at staying in a group. Pulcherrimus, randall's, dispar, and ignitus have stayed in groups for me. High flow over the rocks helps with this.
High flow also helps keep green chromis in a group too. If you can find acares chromis, they stay together too.
Of larger cardinals, blue eyes are more apt to stay together.
I have found there are a few smaller species that stay as a school, parvulus cardinals, Ailiops mesastigma, blue eye mini dartfish, but most would be diminutive in a 120g.
Scissortail, blue gudgeon, and zebra dartfish shoal, and contrary to common belief do not require sand.
Some anthias are better than others at staying in a group. Pulcherrimus, randall's, dispar, and ignitus have stayed in groups for me. High flow over the rocks helps with this.
High flow also helps keep green chromis in a group too. If you can find acares chromis, they stay together too.
Of larger cardinals, blue eyes are more apt to stay together.
Smite
2500 Club Member
Not everyone is a fan of these red spot glass cardinalfish, but I like them. They do remind me of those FW neon gobies but I like those 2
Unfortunately I only had them for a couple months in my 66 before having a velvet outbreak that took almost the whole tank out. They were one of the first fish added to the tank, they didn't start to group until larger fish were added. After that they actively grouped together and added constant motion to the tank. I tried a second group from a local fish store of 18. Only 1 made it past the 24 hour mark in QT. If I try again it will be from DD only. Showed up fat and healthy, eating like little pigs.
That's a first for me.
super cool to see that. thanks for sharing!Not everyone is a fan of these red spot glass cardinalfish, but I like them. They do remind me of those FW neon gobies but I like those 2
I tried a second group from a local fish store of 18. Only 1 made it past the 24 hour mark in QT. If I try again it will be from DD only. Showed up fat and healthy, eating like little pigs.
my 2 banggais just flat out don't get along the bigger one is constantly after the (slightly) smaller one. I'm assuming they are the same sex.?.?
