What's a good schooling fish?

[AlexG]

I have shrimp fish in my reef they are almost always in a tight school but they are a difficult fish and I am only 3 weeks into having them. I wrote about them in a post on the fish forum https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fi...h-aeoliscus-strigatus-first-2-weeks-tank.html These fish will need a very mature tank with tons of pods.

 

[dodgerblew]

Get a trio of fairy wrasses or flasher wrasses. They don't school but the male will be where they are flashing away.

Chromis in my experience slowly kill each other off. Bangaii pair is good but if you get more like poster above said there will be trouble when they pair up. Coral cats school great when they are small but there spines are venomous and they grow.

 

[DragKnee]

I've had 7 Chromis in my tank now for a couple months (80g Frag) and have yet to see any issues.

They're so hyper though, they freak the other fish out, when it comes time to feed.

 

[AQUAMAN21]

I've had probably around 20 over 4 years and there's been3 blizzard power outages that made the tank go really cold which didn't help my fish. But after all that they're normally the last to die.

 

[Dalmatia]

One species I have notices that schools well in a lot of situations are mono argentis. I don't suggest bangaii (unless they're tank raised), or green chromis which have a high death rate.

You know that a mono grows to 10", so you'd need a pretty big tank for a bunch of them?
Chromis have a high death rate? Personally I have never had one die on me in over 2yrs. I think your wrong about that one!!

 

[ChuckFu]

Chromic kill eachother off over time, that's what they mean by high mortality rate.

 

[Dalmatia]

Chromic kill eachother off over time, that's what they mean by high mortality rate.

Maybe if you introduce new ones? I have 6 for 2yrs and they are fine, never mind I have 11 tangs that get along! Feeding 3 times a day every day keeps aggression down to a minimal.
My brother has kept chromis for the same time just he lost some due to ich

 

[VirusAcro]

Blue eyes cardinal...I had like 8 of them and very beautiful fish..they shimmer too

 

[AQUAMAN21]

Only had issue's with tangs if i added just one randomly. The most defensive fish i've seen, has been my yelow tang, but thats also cause the other yellow one's died off in the last blizzard. So sad

 

[VirusAcro]

those fish is perfect for ur size tank and you can get up to 10s..I had 8 right now I'm gonna order 4more for my 90g

 

[Intricateart]

We were considering this as well. How peaceful are the chromis with each other and more importantly with other tankmates. We haven't tried them figuring they were aggressive like other damsels. What's their max size? We need to keep our six line and pygmy angel distracted.

 

[Mike J.]

A couple people have touched on why fish school; it's a defense mechanism. If you try to keep, say Chromis for example, and they aren't afraid of anything in the tank they will fight. IME there needs to be bigger, more aggressive fish and then they will school and not fight amongst themselves.

My Powder Blue will sometimes fall in formation with the Blue/Green Chromis, but then sometimes he'll put them in their place. My 6" Tribal Blenny will also sometimes keep them in check.

There really is zero aggression in the tank, just an attitude check once in a while.

 

[GOSKN5]

Red stripe cardinalfish are neat and pretty little fish.. school pretty well... I have 5 in my tank and they hang out together... also fun to watch zoom all around at dusk..

 

[mcarroll]

those fish is perfect for ur size tank and you can get up to 10s..I had 8 right now I'm gonna order 4more for my 90g

Each Chromie will get 2"-3" long, if given the chance. x8 or x12 is way too many fish for them to grow up in that tank - possible exception is if they are alone in the tank. (Who would do that besides me?)

Unfortunately no matter how many you syock it's not likely there will be more than 1 left within the next year - very, very unlikely there will be more than 3. It's just their nature.

The upside is that they are actually pretty cool as a single fish.

-Matt

 

[jt17]

I have a school of chromis in my 155. I call them the minions cause they're just like the minions from the movie Dispicable Me. They hang out like they're friends but every once in awhile one will just tag another out of the blue for the fun of it. I have a blue hippo tang that was as small as a chromi when he was introduced to the tank and he will still school with them sometimes even though he is up to 4".

 

[jjjhammer]

Sorry didn't see it register operator error smh

 

[jjjhammer]

I have a 50 gallon ULM I had a problem with my other fish being shy except at dinner time. The 2 florida dock blennies, Six line wrasse, clownfish and tomini tang were very timid. 3 months ago I added 3 green chromis they all swim together sometimes with the wrasse. Now my tanks buddies all seem more confident and playful so a good purchase...

 

[cracker]

Hello j I'm glad you blew the dust off of this thread ! It's old .However I'd like a number f schooling fish for the 180. Happy You like the chromis . I want anthias but they kill each other off after time.

 

[nkarisny]

I would like to have a bunch of fish swimming together.

tangs

 

[jt8791]

Old post but anyone pull off a species only tank in saltwater? Have debated on a few I might try but not sure it would work out. There’s always pjs that should be fine long term although dull since they barely move, maybe with a pair of banggai to mix it up.

Heard mixed results on groups of black bar chromis and Allen’s/neon damsels. Probably a lot more options on a big tank so my options are probably limited. For a 33g long I’m planning for my bedroom, will stock it with splits from my rbta.

Leaning towards cardinals for simplicity and captive bred but maintaining pod population would be difficult. Really curious about the Allen’s damsels but I’ve heard of better results with 10+ in a 50+ gallon tank. Seems to be limited options for actual schooling saltwater fish, just finding a fish that can tolerate each other in a group in captivity is enough of a challenge.