Anthias and other schooling fish?

[Corwyn]

Hi group,

I am setting up a 180G tank where I would like groups of different small fish that will get along.

Right now I am thinking
Bangaii and Pajama Cardinals,
FireFish ( I know these will pair off)
I would like to find some peacefull small fish that will group?

Anthias, Chromis? Any suggestions?
On the Anthias, any experience food preferences?

Corwyn

 

[Karm40]

How about Blue Chromis? They have been hard to find lately but I really enjoy them and they aren't as typical as the green chromis.
m

 

[tedh]

Corwyn,

I'm surprised you haven't received more responses. I too have recently setupa 180. Congratulations to you!! I had a 50 and this is pretty good stuff!

I have also been looking for schooling fish and have discovered that there are many opinions out there! I researched fire and purple gobies because they just look nice. The answer I got most often was that they will mostly stay together but they primarily hover in a general location and don't swim about the tank much.

It seems the best schooling fish in our size tank are:

1. Anthias (research suggest that they need a lot of attention especially in new systems because they will need to be fed 2-3 times per day.

2. A few people have told me that tangs school but that it would be tight to get a school of tangs in a 180 without the territorial fighting. I've seen some people schooling purple tangs (I think that would be awesome but I don't want to drop that kind of money!). I also understand that you would want to get them fairly small and let them school and grow to avoid the fighting.

3. Saltwater catfish school as well and if you like them they may be a good candidate. I'm not sure if they are reef safe.

4. Lastly, chromis and I guess some types of damsels other than chromis. I have a school of 6 green chromis and couldn't be happier. I got 6 to start the tank cycling. I actually moved a 50g into the 180g so there wasn't a lot of cycling involved. In fact the amonia never really shot up high. Anyway, I lost 4 of them and I blame it one the LFS. I got 4 replacements from another LFS couple of weeks ago and although they are smaller the school swims around the tank and it's exactly what I was looking for!

Hope this helps. I'm sure there are many other schooling species out there too. Perhaps you will get more responses to this thread. I would like to possibly have another small school of something!

Regards,

Ted

 

[danmhippo]

Pipe swim in groups.

 

[delbeek]

You are not going to see much schooling in a 180 gallon tank ... I run a 5500 gallon tank and don't see much schooling. Schooling is a defense behaviour for most species, remove the need for defense, as in an aquarium without predators, and you remove the stimulus to school. I have ten green chromis in the 5500 ... do they school? When first put in you betchya ... but not at all once they settled in and learned there was nothing in there going to eat them. All they do now is lay eggs and chase each other. 8O

Fire gobies will not school either ... when they are very small they will form small groups and share burrows ... but as they mature they pair up and drive off all the others. I have tried keeping all three species of dartfish in pairs and trios ... in the end we always end up with one.

Anthias really need large tanks (500 gallons plus) to house a nice school of 5-10 females and a male.

Cardinalfish will form loose groups but again, as they mature and pair up they will drive away the others. Also, if the tank is bright and open, they will hide in the shaded parts of the tank.

Bottom line ... juveniles of many species will school at first, but once they mature they will not stay in a group ... most tanks are too small and lack predators for schooling behaviour to be maintained.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[AuroraDave]

I have several groups in my 180. Sometimes they school or hang-out together, other times they swim on their own.
Including Royal Gramma's & blue Chromis